CPG01679 - Archive Inventory Audit

Tender description

The FCO is requesting proposals for a records audit to be carried out of its non-electronic archive special collections. The audit must be carried out chiefly in the FCO’s archive at Hanslope Park (MK19 7BH) near Milton Keynes. A smaller subset of special collection records is held in an FCO London building which must also be audited. The date range of the records is very wide and some records are at least 100 years old. The audit entails a significant element of professional judgement regarding the identification of records series and the use of finding aids contemporary to the records themselves (such as file registers). Contract staff carrying out the audit must have excellent reference skills in order to search relevant information sources which may provide useful contextual information which helps in interpreting the records. These reference sources will be provided by the FCO and include online as well as printed sources. Attention to detail, accuracy, intellectual curiosity, indexing skills and the ability to summarise the content of large volumes of information succinctly are all key competencies for this requirement. It is envisaged that the records audit will be carried out as a managed service, with the contractor quality assuring the work of those contract staff working on the records audit. Work on this requirement is expected to start in January 2013 and is expected to be completed by the end of March 2013. Prospective providers interested in bidding for this work must register on the FCO's e-Procurement portal BRAVO Solutions and access the Request for Proposal documentation at Project 210, entitled "CPG01679 - Archive Inventory Audit".