Award

SU09(26) Contract Award for Data Collection for Survey-based Study of the 2026 Senedd Election

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

07 Nov 2025 at 15:18

Tender

10 Sep 2025 at 10:36

Summary of the contracting process

Swansea University has concluded a procurement process today, 7th November 2025, awarding a contract for a significant data collection effort to study the 2026 Senedd Election. The project falls under the services category within the industry of data services and market research. The procurement stage has reached the award phase, with Ipsos (market research) Limited chosen as the supplier. This initiative will take place in the United Kingdom, particularly focusing on Wales, and will run from November 2025 to November 2026. The contract was awarded through an open procedure and is financed by UK Research and Innovation’s Economic and Social Research Council, underlining its academic and social influence. The total budget earmarked for this project is £368,000, inclusive of all expenses, and will aim to develop a comprehensive understanding of Welsh voter behaviour through various survey waves.

This contract offers valuable growth opportunities for market research and data service providers interested in contributing meaningfully to political and social research. Businesses with a strong capability in executing robust data collection, especially within an electoral context, would find this tender particularly aligned with their expertise. Engaging in such a project can enhance a company's portfolio in delivering high-quality, representative social research data. Additionally, businesses proficient in deploying innovative methodologies, like push-to-web for random sampling and data processing, stand to gain considerable recognition and future opportunities in similar domains. This tender highlights the significance of quality over quantity and would suit entities that prioritise meticulous data analysis, ensuring impactful insights into voter behaviour are drawn from the collected data.

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Notice Title

SU09(26) Contract Award for Data Collection for Survey-based Study of the 2026 Senedd Election

Notice Description

Contract Award Notice to commence 8-working day standstill period before entering into a contract with Ipsos (market research) Limited to deliver the Data Collection requirements for the Survey-based Study of the 2026 Senedd Election. The Senedd election is scheduled to take place by May 7th, 2026. In order to study this election, the project academic leadership team are leading a survey-based research project seeking to capture and disseminate representative data on Welsh voters' attitudes, behaviours, and socio-demographic attributes (including an enhanced focus on the themes of 'place, power, and political engagement'). The wider project toward which this work will contribute is entitled 'The 2026 Welsh Election Study: Place, Power, and Political Engagement' As a result of this procurement process, Swansea University wish to award this contract to Ipsos (market research) Limited to undertake a series of representative sample survey waves of the Welsh electorate, encompassing one pre-campaign wave, one in-campaign wave, and one post-campaign wave. The overarching aim of the WES 2026 Survey is to implement a high-quality data collection strategy to capture voters' attitudes and behaviours pre-election, during the campaign, and after the Senedd election in May 2026, resulting in a cutting-edge public opinion data resource that is, as far as possible, robust, representative, and generalisable for inference about the Welsh electorate. The research team has identified push-to-web as the representative sampling methodology that they will deploy. A clear, granular account is required of how this approach will be rolled out to deliver 3 x representative samples across the project timetable. A minimum n of 2,000 is stipulated for each survey wave, but the approach is one that prioritises data quality over quantity. As such, an emphasis is sought on the survey frame coverage, on the randomisation of selection, and on the protocols to secure a 20% plus response rate, as well as the generation of survey data weights. In addition and as stipulated above, an approach is also sought to the provision of anonymized respondent location data using the ONS Output Areas system. The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). WES 2026 is part of a UK-wide set of national election studies, and its work supports the delivery of ESRC's data infrastructure strategy. The total maximum budget for this work was PS368,000.00 (inclusive of VAT, all Welsh language translation & all expenses) This tender was conducted electronically via etenderwales BravoSolution, in project 31576 and itt 119846 and the contract will run from November 2025 to November 2026.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: We are not expecting to extend this contract as the current election timing stands, but this is a 6 month contingency just in case the election date is moved for whatever reason, since we have no control over the election timing or decisions made by the UK or Welsh Governments

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-059763
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/072126-2025
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security


CPV Codes

72300000 - Data services

79300000 - Market and economic research; polling and statistics

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£306,667 £100K-£500K
Lots Value
£306,667 £100K-£500K
Awards Value
£278,000 £100K-£500K
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
7 Nov 20253 months ago
Submission Deadline
10 Oct 2025Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
10 Jul 20257 months ago
Contract Period
19 Nov 2025 - 30 Nov 2026 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Pending
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY
Contact Name
Sue Davies
Contact Email
sue.davies@swansea.ac.uk
Contact Phone
+44 1792 295890

Buyer Location

Locality
SWANSEA
Postcode
SA2 8PP
Post Town
Swansea
Country
Wales

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLL Wales
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLL4 Mid and South West Wales
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLL43 Swansea
Delivery Location
TLL18 Swansea

Local Authority
Swansea
Electoral Ward
Sketty
Westminster Constituency
Swansea West

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

IPSOS (MARKET RESEARCH

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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