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
- Expired contractPublished 23 August 2021
CCS User Research Platform
£52,000
- Closed tenderPublished 23 August 2021
ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO SET OUT REQUIREMENTS FOR A STRUCTURED/COMPONENTISED CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Value not stated
- Closed tenderPublished 19 August 2021
Identity and Access Management Discovery
£225,000
- Expired contractPublished 18 August 2021
Licenses for online learning platform
£237,440
- Closed tenderPublished 18 August 2021
Discovery and Alpha for an Access Service for Digital Records at The National Archives.
£41,324,250
- Expired contractPublished 16 August 2021
User Research Participants
£33,520
- Expired contractPublished 16 August 2021
(NU/1589-32) Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership (WTTP) Website and Content Development
£20,720
- Awarded contractPublished 16 August 2021
Development, hosting and CMS for a New Council Website
£191,209
- Closed tenderPublished 16 August 2021
DHSC – Weight Management Services - Discovery Phase
£150,000
- Closed tenderPublished 13 August 2021
DWP Digital ServiceNow Natural Language Understanding (NLU) Business Analyst
GBP/DAY 650
- Closed tenderPublished 12 August 2021
National School of Healthcare Science Discovery Work
Value not stated
- Expired contractPublished 12 August 2021
2954MH Consultancy for CRM User Research and Design
£250,000
- Closed tenderPublished 11 August 2021
NAO website redevelopment alpha-beta
£127,500
- Awarded contractPublished 10 August 2021
HMCTS Civil, Family and Tribunal User Experience Services
£5,000,000
- Expired contractPublished 10 August 2021
The Bunkers Project
£75,000
- Awarded contractPublished 9 August 2021
To design and build a new Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Website based on existing LocalGov Drupal.
£66,490
- Awarded contractPublished 9 August 2021
Provision of Digital Service Project Portfolio Delivery 2021-23
£4,200,000
- Awarded contractPublished 6 August 2021
Investment Security Unit - build of a digital service Beta phase, and provision of ongoing support
£2,466,950
- Closed tenderPublished 6 August 2021
Digital information hub for youth services in Southwark
£80,000
- Closed tenderPublished 5 August 2021
Delivery of digital capability to transition claimants from legacy benefits to Universal Credit (UC)
£5,025,000
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 2,117 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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