Market research services

Tender description

The purpose of this invitation to tender is to establish an agreement with a service provider for the provision of qualitative research services (e.g. focus groups, depth interviews, workshops etc.) The duration of the proposed contract will be for 2 years with the option to extend for a further year. Each year NS&I carry out a number of ad-hoc qualitative research projects. These projects can cover a range of topics so qualitative research may be needed to support: – Blue sky thinking and strategy development; – Product development — both in terms of new product development and product enhancement; – Understanding of customer service expectations; – Communications testing; – The exploration of consumer segment attitudes, needs and behaviours; – Advertising development; – Branding and image development. As well as bespoke ad-hoc projects we may require support with the facilitation of workshops and input into meetings with other agencies that we work with such as our marketing agency. The contract will be designed to be ‘call off’ in nature. The aim is to have the contract in place by November 2016. In the 1st instance the contract will be for 2 years, with the potential to extend to 3 years. Annual reviews will be held. Although NS&I will take all practical steps to give reasonable advance notice of the research projects and endeavour to find mutually agreeable time-frames, some projects will need to be set up at relatively short notice. Based on previous years, NS&I would expect to commission around 3 or 4 qualitative research projects per year during the period of the contract. However, these figures are for guidance only and there is no commitment on our part to any specific volume of work. With regards to support with the facilitating of workshops and input into meetings this will be on an ‘as and when’ basis, with as much notice given as feasible, but again may be at short notice.