Official UK procurement notice
B2B Research Community - User Panel
Authority: NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT SAVINGS TRUST (NEST) CORPORATION
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis year Nest is in the process of planning a major enhancement of its service platform for employers and TPA's. As from June, we will need to embark on a major programme of CX and usability research with B2B customers to ensure that this enhancement is optimised.
Much research has already been carried out on where the critical "pain points" are that need to be addressed, and what needs to be changed in order to properly improve the customer experience. This new programme of CX research will test service design that will start in earnest in June and continue (at least)
until the end of the 26-27 financial year. As from June therefore we need to have a research supplier in place who will be able to support us in managing this programme.
The supplier will need to recruit B2B research respondents, design interview materials and carry out the interviewing, and provide a regular flow of feedback to us so designs can be modified, after which we may return to respondents to check on changes in an iterative manner. We are agnostic about how the supplier should provide this.
On the consumer side we have our research community, however we realise that aiming to build a "community" in the B2B context would be more of a challenge and perhaps not the ideal approach to this. To sum up, what we basically need is to have B2B respondents who will be able to engage quickly with requests for interviewing and feedback, so we can deal with the research and design in an agile manner.
Given the nature of these busy, time poor respondents, we acknowledge that this is a considerable challenge. What kind of incentives, access platforms or approaches to enable this to happen should be thoroughly considered in suppliers' responses.
It is expected the whole research programme will be undertaken online.
CPV: Research services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£300,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (3)
- Experience: 30%
- Approach to Project: 50%
- Cost: 20%
Published award criteria (3)
- Experience
- Approach to Project
- Cost
- Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 30 Mar 2026, 13:43 BST
- Last source update
- 9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 21 May 2026
- Authority reference
TEN-2526-049 (PA2023)- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029099- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0677d5Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 24 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 2 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
30 Mar 2026 → 9 Jul 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published208 days ago30 Mar 2026, 13:43 BST
- Clarification questions by205 days ago2 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline183 days ago24 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by155 days ago21 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent151 days ago26 May 2026, 00:00 BST
- Contract starts131 days ago15 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published107 days ago9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BST
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 30 Mar 2026- Tender notice published30 Mar 2026, 13:43 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published26 May 2026, 19:48 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete26 May 2026, 19:48 BST
- Contract signature expected15 Jun 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrangle Research Group LtdSME15 Jun 2026 – 14 Jun 2027 · up to 14 Jun 2028Extensions: 1 year extension if required to continue research services. | £299,990 | 26 May 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Quadrangle Research Group LtdSME
- Signed
- 8 Jul 2026
- Value
- £299,990
- Period
- 8 Jul 2026 – 7 Jul 2027 · up to 7 Jul 2028 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- 1 year extension if required to continue research services.
No agreed KPIs: TBC
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9final-stage tenders | 3 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- QUADRANGLE RESEARCH GROUP LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender