Tate Galleries - Tate Time Machine

The contract start date is 30 October 2026. The initial total duration of the contract is 4 years, with an option to extend for additional periods of up to 2 years, potentially making the total duration up to 6 years.

Key milestones and phases include:

• A prototype phase, after which the contract may conclude if funding for the full rollout is not secured.
• A potential Phase 2, which is a full rollout phase, contingent on securing additional funding. This phase would be awarded to the successful tenderer without further competition, assuming satisfactory completion of the prototype phase and agreement on pricing and terms.

The procurement timetable leading up to the contract award includes:

• Tender Notice placed: 16 July 2026
• Closing date for clarification questions: 02 September 2026
• Closing date for submission of tenders: 11 September 2026
• Presentations: Week commencing 28 September 2026
• Evaluations of tenders completed: Week commencing 12 October 2026
• Contract award: Mid-October 2026

The core scope of work for this tender involves the design and delivery of a prototype XR (Extended Reality) experience, referred to as the "Tate Time Machine".

Key aspects and deliverables include:

• Prototype XR experience: This includes a working model for testing with users, stakeholders, and potential funders.
• Content development: The prototype will initially include two viewable scenes, which could be two past commissions or one past commission plus the Turbine Hall when it was a power station. A list of select past commissions with initial preferences is provided in Appendix 1 of the document.
• Service design: This covers how audiences will access, engage with, and conclude the experience.
• Indicative designs for hardware: The tender requires proposing the technology and physical device, along with an indicative design, suitable for a live gallery environment and scalable to a full multi-scene creative experience.
• User Experience (UX) considerations: The approach must address UX questions, constraints, and objectives outlined in the brief, including the end-to-end user journey.
• Delivery Plan: Tenderers must provide a plan for delivering the prototype within the available timeframe and budget, including an indicative schedule with key milestones, dependencies, and feedback/sign-off points with Tate leads.
• Subcontracting (if applicable): If any elements are subcontracted, the plan should identify who will deliver them and how quality and coordination will be managed.
• Model readiness for user-testing: The plan must explain how the prototype will be ready for separate user-testing activities conducted by Tate and how findings would be incorporated.
• SLA/Maintenance Planning (indicative): Looking towards full rollout, the tender requires a description of how the prototype would be built and handed over to allow for extension to additional scenes and cost-effective maintenance. This includes an indicative view of a two-year support/SLA arrangement at full scale.

Tate will manage all internal and external stakeholder communications and will undertake user testing of the prototype separately; therefore, user testing is not within the scope of delivery for this contract.The core scope of work involves the design and delivery of a prototype XR (Extended Reality) experience, referred to as the "Tate Time Machine". Key deliverables include a working prototype XR experience for testing, incorporating two viewable scenes (either two past commissions or one past commission and the Turbine Hall as a power station). The scope also covers service design, detailing how audiences will access, engage with, and exit the experience, and indicative designs for the necessary hardware, along with a creative and technical approach. A delivery plan with an indicative schedule, key milestones, and feedback points is required, as well as an explanation of how the prototype will be prepared for Tate's separate user-testing activities. Additionally, tenderers need to outline how the prototype can be extended to additional scenes and maintained cost-effectively, including an indicative two-year support/SLA arrangement for a full-scale rollout.