Official UK procurement notice
Methodological and Research Services
Authority: Office for National Statistics (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Office for National Statistics (ONS) is planning a forthcoming procurement for Methodological and Research Services to support the delivery and development of the UK's economic, social and population statistics.
CPV: Research services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1ONS is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and the National…Planned
ONS is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and the National Statistical Institute for the UK. It operates as the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non‑Ministerial Department established under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
ONS collects and publishes statistics relating to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels, and plays a leading role in UK and international statistical best practice.
Scope of Services (Indicative)
The future specification is expected to include a range of methodological, statistical and research services to support official statistics including economic, social and population statistics. This may include, but is not limited to, expertise in the following areas:
Statistical and Methodological Expertise
*Sample survey design and weighting/estimation
*Statistical modelling using survey and non‑survey data, including:
-Non-response propensity modelling
-Small Area Estimation
-Bayesian modelling
-Machine learning techniques
-Spatial and temporal modelling
*Editing and imputation methods
*Index number methods for prices and inflation measures
*Time series models and seasonal adjustment
*Statistical disclosure control
*Measurement of uncertainty including Variance Estimation
*Multisource statistical design, including statistical record linkage and measurement of error
*Quality measurement for non‑survey sources, multisource statistics and linked data
*Statistical methods that support Census collection
Applied and Subject‑Matter Methods
*Qualitative research methods, data collection and analysis
*Demographic methods
*Economic methods including National Accounts
*Operational research in survey design and delivery
*Artificial intelligence and its application within official statistics
The final scope will be confirmed as part of the formal procurement documentation. Additional information: Anticipated Timescales (Indicative)
The current indicative timeline is as follows:
Notice published: 29/06/2026
Tender deadline: 29/07/2026
Contract award: 03/09/2026
Contract start: 01/10/2026
These dates are indicative and will be confirmed in due course.
Procurement Route
The decision on the use of Lots has not been finalised at this stage and full information will be made avaiable in the tender documentation.
ONS is currently exploring the most appropriate sourcing route and will provide further information on next steps when available.
One route under consideration is the Research and Insights Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) - RM6126. Suppliers who are not already registered and who may be interested in this opportunity are encouraged to review the DPS and consider applying via the Crown Commercial Service / Government Commercial Agency website:
www.gca.gov.uk/agreements/RM6126 ↗
Next Steps
This notice is issued for market awareness purposes only and does not constitute a commitment to commence a procurement. ONS welcomes interest from suppliers with relevant expertise and encourages organisations to monitor future communications for further updates.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Office for National Statistics buys Research services (CPV 7311), and who usually turns up
Office for National Statistics’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Research services (CPV 7311) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 31 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid19%
2–331%
4–635%
7+15%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate43%
Within ±2%42%
Above estimate14%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1ONS is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and the National…CPV 7311Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 78 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid19%
2–331%
4–635%
7+15%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 28 Apr 2026, 13:48 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Apr 2026, 13:48 BST
- Authority reference
CS-27-001- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-038583- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068cc8Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
28 Apr 2026 → 29 Jun 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published179 days ago28 Apr 2026, 13:48 BST
- Tender notice expected117 days ago29 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.