This Technical Report establishes techniques for the evaluation of tribological performance of sliding contacts with a lateral size of between a few nanometres (nm) and 10 µm, and where the applied load is between 50 µN and 100 mN. It describes procedures for undertaking these measurements, and provides guidance on the effect of parameters on test results. It does not cover existing SPM techniques, such as frictional force microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM).