Procurement details: Call off contract for Participant Recruitment from UK companies

• Summary of work:

  Call-off contract to recruit participants from UK companies to attend user research sessions for Universal Credit and Working Age at the Department for Work and Pensions

• Where the research will take place:

  North East England

  North West England

  Yorkshire and the Humber

  East Midlands

  West Midlands

  East of England

  London

  South East England

  South West England

  Scotland

  Wales

  Northern Ireland

• Who the organisation using the products or services is:

  Department for Work and Pensions

• Any pre-market engagement done:

  N/A

• Number of research rounds:

  This is a Call-Off Contract. There will not be a set number of rounds.

• Number of participants per round:

  The size of rounds will vary depending upon the research projects however most will involve around 10-20 participants for moderated studies, but up to circa 50 for unmoderated studies.

• Research dates:

  Call-Off Contract from April 2024 until March 2026

• How often research will happen:

  On average every 1-2 weeks

• Research location:

  Research activities will be remote - over phone, Microsoft Teams, UserZoom, or similar - or in-person at participant homes, DWP job centres or a neutral location like a community centre. Research at a research lab is also possible and would be in London, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham or Manchester where we have DWP offices. We will seek participants from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Ideally researchers would have a single point of contact to organise research sessions. The agency will be responsible for venue when stated in brief.

• Access restrictions at location:

  There should be no access restrictions at the research location.

• Description of participants:

  The recruitment brief will vary by project but may include the need for participants with a wide range of conditions and personal circumstances including the below representative, but NOT exhaustive list: -- In receipt of a DWP benefit or tax credits, for example Universal Credit or New Style Job Seekers Allowance -- Usage of assistive technologies to access digital services -- Requirements for non-digital support to access digital services -- Digital usage or experience -- Cognitive and/or learning disabilities -- Mental and/or physical health conditions -- Motor skills impairments -- Visual impairments -- Auditory disabilities -- Household income levels -- Prison leavers -- English as a second language; non UK residents -- A mix of gender, age and educational attainment For each project, we may need to recruit participants who have a single or combination of circumstances or conditions. Users of our services may include vulnerable users so should be recruited ethically and sensitively. Participants should have a good understanding of the service they are being recruited to test, what it entails, how their data is handled, and possible requirements around non-disclosure, this information will be provided by each project. There may also be a need for a user research panel, where we would like the vendor to maintain a list of participants referred directly from DWP. These may be users of DWP services who volunteer to take part in research but are not aware of the vendor directly. We require the vendor to maintain this panel list on our behalf.

• Describe accessibility requirements:

  Participants with assisted digital or access needs will need to be included in the research as described by the project brief. We expect any vendor we engage for this Contract to actively work with national and local charities, and other offline channels, to find such hard to reach or more vulnerable users, even going so far as to ensure charities are incentivised to give their time/effort contribution to recruiting.

• Research plan:

  The Contract will cover multiple research plans. The recruiter will be expected to adapt to new requirements as new plans emerge.

• special term or condition:

  N/A

• Indicative maximum:

  The contract value is not specified by the buyer

• Indicative minimum:

  The contract value is not specified by the buyer

• How many suppliers to evaluate:

  5

• Technical Competence:

  30%

• Availability:

  30%

• Social values:

  10%

• Price:

  30%

• Essential skills and experience:

  10%

• Nice-to-have skills and experience:

  5%

• Technical questions:

  85%

• Description:

  Cyber Essentials Plus certification or is ISO27001 certified or will have gained either within 6 months of contract start date. Scope must cover the entirety of services (people, process and technology) offered under the contract.

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last five years of of recruiting people for research ethically and sensitively

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of recruiting participants with a range of socioeconomic status, educational attainment, household make up, and benefit and/or tax credit background

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last five years of working to short deadlines

• Weighting:

  20%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of recruiting participants with low digital literacy or confidence, as well as the very hard to reach, vulnerable, and/or those with access needs through existing panels, established links and relationships with health/disability charities and other non-digital methods.

• Weighting:

  20%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of handling all participant communications around recruitment and incentives including sending specified (DWP) consent forms and incentives by way of shopping vouchers eg Love2Shop

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of managing recruitment for multiple research projects across a large department with multiple researchers

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of providing monthly reporting to see overall projects and usage against budgets and clear project labelling for any email communications so research team can differentiate between project recruitments.

• Weighting:

  10%

• Description:

  Experience in the last 5 years of creating/maintaining a research panel database to include participants referred or redirected from digital services via formal opt-in, including managing the data capture, storage and transfer back to (DWP)

• Weighting:

  50%

• Description:

  Be able to provide 24 hour contact / support.

• Weighting:

  50%

• Question:

  Describe how your approach to recruitment will meet DWPs goals of inclusivity (finding participants with low digital literacy or confidence, as well as the very hard to reach, vulnerable, and/or those with access needs), and how you'll do that ethically and sensitively.

• Weighting:

  20%

• Question:

  Describe how your approach will ensure you meet DWPs tight time scales and deadlines.

• Weighting:

  20%

• Question:

  Describe your approach to data handling and risk management whilst capturing, storing and transferring citizens personal information.

• Weighting:

  20%

• Question:

  Describe your approach to keeping all relevant colleagues updated with how project goals, usage and budgets are being met

• Weighting:

  20%

• Question:

  Describe how the end to end solution will meet requirements around privacy and information/cyber security aligning with good practice such as that specified within ISO27001/Cyber Essentials Plus and relevant legislation such as DPA and GDPR

• Weighting:

  20%

• Question:

  Describe the commitment your organisation will make to help tackle economic inequality

• Weighting:

  30%

• Question:

  Describe the commitment your organisation will make to help tackle workforce inequality

• Weighting:

  30%

• Question:

  Describe the commitment your organisation will make to help improve health and wellbeing

• Weighting:

  40%

• Additional assessment methods:

  Presentation

  Reference

  Interview

  Scenario or test

  Case study

  Work history

• Level:

  Fail

• Score:

  0

• Description:

  The Supplier’s response provides information of such a poor standard as to provide no confidence that the service meets the requirements.

• Level:

  Poor

• Score:

  1

• Description:

  The Supplier’s response provides little confidence that the Service meets the requirements. The response shows many or all of the issues listed below: · The approach described appears to only partially meet the requirement; and/ or · The approach described appears not to deliver expected levels of (as appropriate) functionality, performance, environmental performance, outcome, ease of use or other relevant characteristics; and/or · The approach does not reflect accepted good practice; and/or · The response is insufficiently specific; and/ or · The supporting documents are of insufficient quality, depth or relevance.

• Level:

  Acceptable

• Score:

  2

• Description:

  The Supplier’s response demonstrates some clear strengths but giving some concern, because some of the following apply: The approach described appears to only partially meet the requirement; and/ or · The approach described appears not to deliver expected levels of (as appropriate) functionality, performance, environmental performance, outcome, ease of use or other relevant characteristics; and/or · The approach does not reflect accepted good practice; and/or · The response is insufficiently specific; and/ or · The supporting documents are of insufficient quality, depth or relevance.

• Level:

  Pass

• Score:

  3

• Description:

  The Supplier’s response demonstrates degree of weakness but where the weakness(es) does not cause fundamental concerns and is outweighed by the strengths.

• Level:

  Good

• Score:

  4

• Description:

  A good response where the strengths clearly outweigh any minor weakness(es), and the majority of aspects below apply: · The approach described fully meets the requirement · The approach reflects accepted good practice · The response is specifically meets our organisational requirements and, where relevant, to the organisations specific circumstances · The approach offers good levels of (as appropriate) functionality, performance, environmental performance, outcomes, ease of use and other relevant characteristics; and · The supporting documents are of good quality, relevant and of sufficient depth.

• Level:

  Excellent

• Score:

  5

• Description:

  A robust and fully comprehensive response with all relevant bullet points below applying: · The approach described fully meets the requirement · The approach reflects accepted good practice · The response is specifically meets our organisational requirements and, where relevant, to the organisations specific circumstances · The approach offers good levels of (as appropriate) functionality, performance, environmental performance, outcomes, ease of use and other relevant characteristics; and · The supporting documents are of good quality, relevant and of sufficient depth.

• Publication of stage 1:

  26/01/2024

• Clarification period closes:

  02/02/2024 16:00

• Deadline for suppliers to submit their stage 1 responses:

  2024-02-09T16:00:00Z

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