Multiply (adult numeracy) RCTs and 'What Works' programme of RCTs and trials Supplier pre-market engagement discussion

What are you seeking to procure? We want to procure: • Up to 20 separate RCT/QED trials across the UK in 2023/24 and 2024/25 • Management of funding to organisations delivering the RCT interventions during the lifetime of the trials. • Quality assured individual reports on each trial, to include all technical information • High-quality, accessible interim and written overview reports, in the DfE house-style, identifying which of the tested approaches are the most and least effective and the implications of this for policy makers, practitioners, providers and commissioners to inform current Multiply delivery and future policy making It is important that these trials are robust, replicable and stand up to scrutiny. We expect them to be undertaken in a transparent way and to the highest possible standards using the protocol guidance we are developing, based on the Educational Endowment Foundation protocol guidance. (We will share this information with you prior to the pre-market engagement discussions.) Part of achieving this is ensuring that all activity is co-ordinated and run in as standardised way as possible. As such, we also want to procure: • Programme management to oversee the delivery and funding for the intervention of each trial, and to co-ordinate this across the project as a whole, to include monitoring and reporting on progress to DfE on a regular basis • Quality assurance, to include: a) working with researchers delivering the trials to review and refine trial protocols, to ensure they are of a consistently high quality; b) developing and implementing a peer review process for both trial design and analysis and c) undertaking quality assurance on all research instruments, data collection methods, data analysis, interpretation and reporting, to ensure that all conclusions drawn are robust • Fieldwork management, to include: a) engaging with Multiply local authorities and providers to secure willingness to participate in trials and b) working with local authorities and providers to develop a staggered fieldwork timeline to avoid saturating them and distracting from core delivery What kind of organisation are you looking for? We would like our supplier to have: • extensive experience and expertise in running and quality assuring RCT/ and other experimental activity, including quasi-experimental trials and A/B trials, • experience in developing experimental trials and a willingness to work with us to generate additional RCT/trials over the period of the contract • a track record of managing large and complex primary research projects, • knowledge of adult education sector, • experience of setting up and managing payments (to public expenditure standards) to organisations delivering trial interventions and, • excellent written and verbal communication skills. This opportunity will be open to any bidder, single or consortium, who can meet the requirements and we are seeking your feedback on the above at the engagement events.