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 27 September 2021
Content design and strategy capability
£150,000
- Closed tenderPublished 24 September 2021
C21938 Centre for Digital Design (CDD) – Product Centricity Transformation Partner
£4,950,000
- Closed tenderPublished 24 September 2021
Content design and strategy capability
Value not stated
- Closed tenderPublished 24 September 2021
National Access Point Beta & Support
£400,000
- Expired contractPublished 22 September 2021
Award of Provision of 4 X SENIOR USER RESEARCHER Interim’s
£142,742
- Closed tenderPublished 22 September 2021
Housing First - Service User Research
Value not stated
- Closed tenderPublished 21 September 2021
A discovery and alpha for a service that collects data to generate and disclose an energy rating.
£375,000
- Expired contractPublished 21 September 2021
WP1968 Recruitment of User Research Participants for the Digital Identity Programme
£75,000
- Expired contractPublished 21 September 2021
Alpha Phase of Seafarer Services
£132,829
- Expired contractPublished 21 September 2021
Talk to FRANK website technical development
£250,000
- Closed tenderPublished 21 September 2021
NHSX:NHSEI Open Source Discovery
£245,000
- Expired contractPublished 20 September 2021
Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space User Research and Evaluation
£167,320
- Awarded contractPublished 20 September 2021
Development of Health & Social Care Standards Register and Alpha of contribution model features
£500,000
- Expired contractPublished 20 September 2021
CS21477 - User Researcher
£43,373.2
- Awarded contractPublished 20 September 2021
Transactional Project Services 3 (TPS3)
£2,000,000
- Closed tenderPublished 20 September 2021
British Transport Police - Safer Streets Mobile Safety Platform
Value not stated
- Awarded contractPublished 20 September 2021
DVSA Commercial Vehicle Services Assurance Team
£1,700,000
- Awarded contractPublished 18 September 2021
WP1989.1: UX/product outcome for identity and authentication
£1,950,000
- Closed tenderPublished 17 September 2021
Supporting residents in, and managing properties for temporary accommodation
£310,000
- Closed tenderPublished 16 September 2021
Accessing Adult Social Care (Beta) service
£700,000
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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