Official UK procurement notice
Food and You 2: Waves 13-16
Authority: The Food Standards Agency (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionIn order to protect consumers, we need to understand their attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in relation to food. The Agency’s main source of methodologically robust and representative evidence regarding consumers’ attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in relation to food is our annual Official statistic Food and You 2 survey. This survey has an important role in measuring the FSA’s progress towards its strategic objectives, providing evidence to support FSA policy decision-making, communication campaigns and other activities as well as identifying topics for further research or action.
The survey currently samples 4,000 households (including 1,000 households in both Northern Ireland and Wales). Since Wave 8, we have also worked with our counterparts in Food Standards Scotland, to achieve an additional 1,000 households in Scotland on an annual basis. This data is reported and published separately by Food Standards Scotland.
The FSA is seeking an experienced research agency to continue delivering the FSA’s official statistic Food and You 2 annual survey, for waves 13-16 (one survey wave per year).
This specification sets out key deliverables in 5 stages as follows:
- Questionnaire development: Working with the FSA to develop the questionnaire and survey materials for Waves 13-16
- Conducting fieldwork for Waves 13-16 including the distribution of invite letters and incentives.
- Data processing: Processing and cleaning of the survey data
- Production of data sets: The production of all data files and supporting documentation
- Production of final outputs such as aggregate data tables and reports required for the project. In recent years, the FSA has produced data tables and findings reports in house. We welcome bids where data tables and reports are conducted by suppliers. More information is provided under this section.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Jul 2030, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Data collection and collation services · Market research services · Social research services · Survey analysis services · Survey conduction services · Survey services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,100,000
- Economic & financial standing
See PSQ
- Technical & professional ability
Detailed within the Specification
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 (2)
- Technical: 80%
- Commercial: 20%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical: The extent to which the bidder demonstrates a clear understanding of the requirement and provides a robust, credible, and deliverable methodology. Responses will be evaluated against the quality of the proposed approach, technical capability, relevant experience, project management arrangements, risk management, resources, and ability to achieve the required outcomes and deliverables. Scoring methodology will be provided in the specification.
- Commercial: Commercial / Value for Money (20%) – Assessment of the bidder's proposed pricing and overall value for money. Evaluation will consider the transparency, reasonableness and competitiveness of costs, ensuring that the proposed solution delivers the required outcomes and quality standards while providing the best value for public funds. Scoring methodology will be provided in the specification
- Economic & financial standing
See PSQ
- Technical & professional ability
Detailed within the Specification
- 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
- Yes · next expected 1 Jul 2030
- First published
- 31 Jul 2026, 16:43 BST
- Last source update
- 26 Oct 2026, 15:05 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 21 Oct 2026
- Authority reference
C457884- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-072892- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d93fFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
Payment of undisputed invoices will be made within 30 days of receipt of invoice, which must be submitted promptly by the Supplier.
All invoices must be sent, quoting a valid Purchase Order Number (PO Number).
Within 10 Working Days of receipt of your countersigned copy of this Order Form, we will send you a unique PO Number. You must be in receipt of a valid PO Number before submitting an invoice.
To avoid delay in payment it is important that the invoice is compliant and that it includes a valid PO Number, item number (if applicable) and the details (name, email, and telephone number) of your Buyer contact (i.e. Buyer Authorised Representative). Non-compliant invoices may be sent back to you, which may lead to a delay in payment.
- Risks
Risks associated with this contract may include, but are not limited to, delays in project delivery, budgetary pressures, changes in scope or requirements, difficulties in obtaining representative samples, sampling plan amendments, sample quality or availability issues, lower than anticipated survey response rates, failure to achieve sample targets or demographic representation, stakeholder approval delays, challenges maintaining trend comparability between survey waves, accessibility and translation requirements, postal or incentive distribution issues, data quality concerns, duplicate, fraudulent or AI-generated responses, weighting and statistical processing errors, delays in dataset production, platform or system failures, cyber security incidents, data protection breaches, subcontractor performance issues, staff turnover, resource constraints, and delays to key milestones, reporting or publication timelines.
There is also a risk that future changes to legislation, government priorities, government statistical standards, policy priorities, data protection requirements, accessibility obligations, technology, artificial intelligence governance, survey methodologies, public participation levels, or wider economic and societal factors may affect delivery, scope, costs, outputs or timelines during the contract term.
Furthermore, decisions regarding the inclusion of Scotland in future survey waves, changes to sample design, or additional reporting requirements may affect project scope and resource requirements.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 25 Sept 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 28 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders for FSA funded projects must be submitted through the health-family single e-Commercial System (Atamis), using the following link: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗
Timeline
31 Jul 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 8 dates- Tender notice published88 days ago31 Jul 2026, 16:43 BST
- Clarification questions by61 days ago28 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline33 days ago25 Sept 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by6 days ago21 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent2 days ago26 Oct 2026
- Latest notice published45h ago26 Oct 2026, 15:05 GMT
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Standstill endsin 8 days5 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 64 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 31 Jul 2026- Tender notice published31 Jul 2026, 16:43 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published26 Oct 2026, 15:05 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete26 Oct 2026, 15:05 GMT
- Contract signature expected30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPSOS (MARKET RESEARCH) LTD1 Jan 2027 – 31 Mar 2031 · up to 31 May 2031Extensions: (optional 2-month extension), subject to an annual break clause exercisable by the Buyer at the end of each Contract Year on not less than three months' written notice. · Options: subject to an annual break clause exercisable by the Buyer at the end of each Contract Year on not less than three months' written notice. | £1,198,648 | 26 Oct 2026standstill to 5 Nov 2026 | Standstill |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders | 2 | 1 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Ipsos (market research) LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender