Researcher Tenders
See open user research tenders and awarded contracts for the UK public sector.
User research reaches the market two ways: as a standalone commission for research, usability testing or participant recruitment, and as a named workstream inside a larger digital delivery contract. Stotles tracks 4,691 notices on this topic, 1,959 of them awarded and 76 sitting at pre-tender.
Departments, councils, NHS bodies and public broadcasters all buy it, usually to meet the GDS service standard. Volume is thin: expect a couple of notices a week, so the awarded records are where the pattern shows.
4,672 results
- Closed tenderPublished 12 October 2021
RBGKEW982 Accessibility audit
£45,000
- Awarded contractPublished 11 October 2021
Search Alpha/Beta - Empowering users to search The National Archives catalogue and website
£100,000
- Expired contractPublished 11 October 2021
Award of 5 x User Researchers
£138,684
- Closed tenderPublished 11 October 2021
Defra Data Services Platform 3 (DSP3)
£10,000,000
- Closed tenderPublished 11 October 2021
Alpha and (optional) Beta phases of the ‘Voter Card’ service for EIP programme
£1,075,000
- Closed tenderPublished 8 October 2021
Cancer Waiting Times User Research
£76,000
- Closed tenderPublished 7 October 2021
DfE Service Delivery Capability
£3,000,000
- Closed tenderPublished 7 October 2021
Procurement for user research and insight work to carry out a discovery of NMC’s website
£30,000
- Expired contractPublished 7 October 2021
Award of Interim IT Staff Services Framework - 1 x Senior User Researcher
£69,300
- Expired contractPublished 6 October 2021
Incentive Vouchers
£95,000
- Awarded contractPublished 4 October 2021
Develop DiAGRAM prototype to meet accessibility standards and make improvements to user interface
£65,000
- Awarded contractPublished 4 October 2021
A partner agency to work with us to build discrete features on our new website content platform
£567,367
- Awarded contractPublished 4 October 2021
Discovery and Alpha for an Access Service for Digital Records at The National Archives.
£62,000
- Awarded contractPublished 30 September 2021
HMCTS Reform - Civil, Family and Tribunal Services – Family Jurisdiction
£5,500,000
- Expired contractPublished 29 September 2021
User research on NHSX Information Governance Web Pages
£33,475
- Closed tenderPublished 29 September 2021
HR Data and Insight Hub (DIH)
£1,300,000
- Awarded contractPublished 27 September 2021
WP1943 - Digital Capability for Urgent DDaT Requirements
£4,000,000
- Expired contractPublished 27 September 2021
Award of User Researcher x 7
£76,642
- Awarded contractPublished 27 September 2021
CP2093-21 Public Health Nursing Digital Transformation
£60,000
- Expired contractPublished 27 September 2021
User Research Call Off Contract for IT Projects
£49,500
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about user research, usability testing, design research, user insight, user experience research, ux research, research participant recruitment in the UK public sector.
How do I find user research contracts in the UK public sector?
Two routes. Watch the portals for live notices, or get in earlier by following the buyers who keep commissioning this work. Stotles pulls notices from 100+ portals into one feed, so a research brief published on a Welsh or Scottish portal sits next to a Find a Tender notice. Platform-wide, 0 notices were added in the last seven days and 2,119 are open across every topic.
What sort of user research work do public sector buyers tender for?
Four recognisable shapes in the recent sample: participant recruitment agencies, usability testing on a service being rebuilt, research and design people supplied into a multidisciplinary team, and licences for a user research platform. Recruitment is the most self-contained of them, and the one most often let as a contract of its own.
What CPV codes are used for user research tenders?
There is no dedicated code, which is why this page filters on keywords rather than classifications. The three that come up most alongside the filter are 73110000 (Research services) with 125 matching notices, 79315000 (Social research services) with 43, and 72000000 (IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support) with 257. That last one is the tell: plenty of this work is procured as digital delivery rather than as research.
How many user research tenders are open right now?
Six, against 4,691 notices on record and 1,959 already awarded. That is the honest shape of the topic: a small live pipeline and a long award history. Read the awarded notices anyway. They carry the buyer, the incumbent and the contract dates you would need to time a bid for the retender. Platform-wide, 0 award notices were published in the last seven days.
Is user research bought through frameworks?
Often. The recent sample includes call-offs under the Crown Commercial Service RM6126 Research & Insights agreement and briefs run through the Digital Outcomes route, alongside notices published straight to a portal. Stotles' 2026 Supplier Benchmark Report found 44% of suppliers treat frameworks as their main route to market, so check which agreements a buyer already holds before chasing an open notice.
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