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Social Mobility Commission - State of the Nation 2027

Social Mobility Commission

This public procurement record has 4 releases in its history.

Award

07 Sep 2026 at 10:01

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
TenderUpdate

15 Jun 2026 at 10:35

UK4 - Tender Notice
TenderUpdate

10 Jun 2026 at 14:56

UK4 - Tender Notice
Tender

26 May 2026 at 11:25

UK4 - Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Social Mobility Commission commissioned analytical support for its 2027 State of the Nation report on social mobility in the UK, which is laid before Parliament and covers progress in England and across the UK. The work covers methodological development, statistical analysis, quality assurance and interpretation, with emphasis on robust, reproducible analysis and selected improvements rather than routine production already supported by the Commission’s in-house code. It relates to the Social Mobility Index, including mobility outcomes, intermediate outcomes and the drivers of social mobility. The service is classified as social research. Delivery covers the United Kingdom, and the buyer is the Social Mobility Commission, an independent statutory central government body based in London.

The procurement is complete and the contract was awarded to Nuffield College in the University of Oxford. It used a below-threshold open competition. The award was made on 13 July 2026, with the contract signed on 17 July 2026. The signed contract is worth £59,325 excluding VAT (£71,190 including VAT), covering 17 July 2026 to 31 July 2027. The buyer may extend it to 29 December 2028, subject to an additional maximum cost of £68,649 excluding VAT. Bids were due by 12:00 noon on 19 June 2026, with enquiries closing at 10:00 on 12 June 2026. There was one lot. Evaluation weighted methodology and analytical approach at 20%, team and organisational experience at 16%, quality assurance, reproducibility and data security at 16%, interpretation and presentation at 16%, project management and collaboration at 12%, and price at 20%.

This award indicates demand for specialist public-sector social research and official-statistics capability, particularly around social mobility measurement and publication. A credible future supplier would need experience with longitudinal and survey data, including the Labour Force Survey or transformed Labour Force Survey, robust change-over-time analysis, index development and proportionate treatment of uncertainty and limitations. Strong evidence of reproducible quantitative work, independent reruns or code review, secure handling of official or sensitive data and well-documented code would be important. The requirement also favours teams able to turn technical findings into accurate plain-English narrative, accessible Excel, visual and tabular outputs, and public-facing analytical material. Capacity for structured project management, risk control, collaboration with government analysts and delivery to a fixed reporting timetable would strengthen competitiveness. The opportunity is suitable for SMEs and VCSEs.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Social Mobility Commission - State of the Nation 2027

Notice Description

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body. Its annual State of the Nation report is the Commission's main publication on UK-wide progress on social mobility and is laid before Parliament. The Commission is seeking a supplier to provide analytical support, methodological development, statistical quality assurance and interpretation for the 2027 State of the Nation report (with possible extension for the 2028 report). The supplier will work closely with the SMC secretariat. The emphasis of this contract is on robust analysis, reproducibility, interpretation and selected methodological improvements, rather than routine production work where SMC already has established in-house code. The Social Mobility Index provides the framework for State of the Nation. It includes mobility outcomes, intermediate outcomes and drivers of social mobility. The current indicators are available through the SMC State of the Nation data explorer: https://social-mobility.data.gov.uk/

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: If the contract is extended, it will be extended to 29th December 2028, with an increased cost of PS50,000 (ex VAT). If extended, the strategic priorities for 2028 are: - Support the transition to the transformed Labour Force Survey (tLFS), including changes to variable names, weights, quality, discontinuities and comparability over time. - Investigate equivalent longitudinal resources for Scotland and Northern Ireland if access and feasibility allow. - Deliver a distinct topic of interest for the 2028 report. Explanatory geographical analysis may be considered as an example topic, subject to SMC priorities, feasibility, budget and timetable. - Continue the emphasis on reproducible R code, plain-English technical documentation, accessible Excel outputs and GitHub-based code sharing. The extra deliverables, if extended, would be the following: Deliverable 1: 2028 tLFS transition and comparability plan - 30 September 2027 - A review of changes arising from the transition from LFS to tLFS, including variable names, weights, data quality, breaks in series and implications for comparability over time. - Advice on whether and how existing LFS-based indicators should be updated, bridged, caveated or temporarily paused. - Updated or new code where required to adapt existing analysis to tLFS variables and weights. - A plain-English note for use in the report explaining any discontinuities or limitations in the time series. Deliverable 2: 2028 feasibility review: Scotland and Northern Ireland longitudinal resources - 30 September 2027 - A short feasibility review of equivalent or complementary longitudinal resources for Scotland and Northern Ireland. - Advice on access routes, governance requirements, coverage, comparability and analytical value for State of the Nation. - A recommendation on whether any such resource should be used in the 2028 report, deferred to a later year, or treated as unsuitable for the current purpose. Deliverable 3: 2028 topic of interest - 30 September 2027 - A distinct analytical contribution for the 2028 report, to be agreed with SMC during the contract. - The topic may include explanatory geographical analysis, for example using Census 2001, 2011 and 2021 to relate occupational-structure change to education, inactivity, unemployment, GVA and other local conditions. This is included as an example option, not as a firm requirement. - For any agreed topic, the supplier should provide a scoped analysis plan, analysis or methodological advice as agreed, QA, interpretation and reproducible documentation. - If the topic is not feasible within the contract timetable or budget, the supplier should provide a short rationale and recommend a narrower alternative. Deliverable 4: 2028 reproducibility, accessibility and publication support pack - 31 July 2028 - Quality-assured analytical outputs for new work conducted for the 2028 report. - Accessible Excel files containing the underlying data for charts and tables used in the report or data explorer, using an SMC-supplied template where provided. - Technical documentation sufficient for SMC analysts to rerun or audit the analysis. - Support for checking the final report, data explorer and press materials so that the statistics are interpreted accurately. Deliverable 5: Final handover - 29 December 2028 - Complete, documented code and outputs for all new analysis conducted under the contract. - A final limitations and lessons-learned note, including recommendations for the 2029 State of the Nation analytical cycle. - A handover meeting with SMC analysts to walk through code, outputs, outstanding caveats and any recommended next steps.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a2fb
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/084223-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Below threshold - open competition
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

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

CPV Codes

79315000 - Social research services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£60,000 Under £100K
Lots Value
£60,000 Under £100K
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£59,325 Under £100K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
7 Sep 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
19 Jun 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
17 Jul 2026 - 31 Jul 2027 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Social Mobility Commission
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
SW1A 2HQ
Postcode Area
South West London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Westminster
Electoral Ward
St James's
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Nuffield College in the University of Oxford

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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