---
title: "Opportunity Areas (OA) - Place-Based Evaluation"
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-e9d82872-0bcd-477a-b755-c62ed9a6e407"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-e9d82872-0bcd-477a-b755-c62ed9a6e407"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e9d82872-0bcd-477a-b755-c62ed9a6e407.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e9d82872-0bcd-477a-b755-c62ed9a6e407.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION"
published: "2021-03-19"
---

# Opportunity Areas (OA) - Place-Based Evaluation

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-e9d82872-0bcd-477a-b755-c62ed9a6e407

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## Summary

The Department for Education is currently engaged in a procurement process for a qualitative evaluation of its Opportunity Areas Programme titled "Opportunity Areas (OA) - Place-Based Evaluation". This contract, which is at the award stage, has a maximum budget of £200,000 and pertains to the category of research and development services. The evaluation will cover all twelve Opportunity Areas across the United Kingdom, assessing how factors related to location influence programme delivery. The procurement used an open method and was published on 3 August 2020, with an initial deadline for expressions of interest set for 17 August 2020. The contract period will commence from 28 October 2020 and extend until 31 March 2022.

This tender presents a valuable opportunity for businesses specialising in qualitative research, evaluation methodologies, and data analysis. Companies with experience in educational assessments, especially those familiar with the complexities of local interventions across diverse areas, may find this procurement particularly relevant. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to apply, given the contracting authority's willingness to engage with innovative and agile research proposals that can adapt to variances across urban, rural, and coastal regions. Engaging with this project could enhance a business's portfolio through association with a government initiative aimed at improving educational outcomes.

## Notice

Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are being sought to deliver a qualitative evaluation of the Opportunity Areas Programme. This evaluation will principally involve qualitative research across the 12 Opportunity Areas that focuses on programme beneficiaries as well as delivery partners. It will build the evidence base on the extent to which location/place, (e.g. rural, coastal or urban regions) affects the implementation, deliverability of local interventions. The final research findings will help inform the programme, department, and others, in tackling similar educational priorities in different areas or regions. An EOI and tender exercise was originally carried out for this project in the summer of 2019. We are now looking to re-procure the project with a reduced scope and budget of maximum PS200,000. The research design should allow for research/ data collection to be conducted in all 12 OAs -although the level of depth in understanding may differ across areas. Research should aim to engage beneficiaries of the programme and explore their experiences. It should also explore perspectives of delivery staff and partners to gain a good understanding of delivery in different contexts. The fieldwork will be expected to run from shortly after the project initiation to Autumn 2021 - with interim findings shared with DfE at suitable points. We expect suppliers to need to conduct at least two waves of data collection. We expect potential bidders to provide a rationale for fieldwork timings. If two waves of data collection were used, we envision that the first wave of fieldwork is likely to focus on reflecting back on years 1-3 of the programme, Covid-19 and set-up of delivery changes in year 4. Whilst the second wave of fieldwork, could build on this and additionally explore how these delivery changes in year 4 have been operationalised and provide some early indication on potential benefits from this. Potential bidders are invited to suggest innovative and agile methodological approaches that would meet the research objectives of this project. This research will build on published outputs from the OA programme and other existing qualitative data captured during the previous evaluation opportunities. Data from these waves will be made available to the successful bidder. We also expect the contractor to draw on the monitoring data where necessary and to liaise with analysts working on other areas of the evaluation The contractor will be expected to produce an overarching research report combining all fieldwork, data collection and analysis. This should, where possible, be supplemented with previous data collected as well as relevant monitoring data. We will also ask for interim reporting to ensure we are capturing learning and feeding this back into the programme at required stages (frequency and format, but we envisage this will include at least one interim report in the first quarter of 2021). Additional information: email addresses for contact: Andrew.Zacharia@education.gov.uk Katharine.Beaney@education.gov.uk Rebecca.Evans@education.gov.uk

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/76a31009-648f-4d14-b7c6-93680f30e11e |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure (below threshold) |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 19 Mar 2021 |
| Submission deadline | 17 Aug 2020 |
| Future notice date | 2 Aug 2020 |
| Award date | 20 Oct 2020 |
| Contract period | 28 Oct 2020 - 31 Jan 2022 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £200,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £199,311 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 3BT |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

## Release History

- 19 Mar 2021 at 13:07 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/76a31009-648f-4d14-b7c6-93680f30e11e
- 10 Aug 2020 at 16:34 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/110b2474-4b5c-48e9-aaad-a9e9150e83c8
- 3 Aug 2020 at 15:31 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/110b2474-4b5c-48e9-aaad-a9e9150e83c8
- 22 Jul 2020 at 10:43 - Planning - Planned Procurement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/31cd05d0-8002-473d-99b0-380d5ac1ed68

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/76a31009-648f-4d14-b7c6-93680f30e11e
  19th March 2021 - Awarded contract notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/110b2474-4b5c-48e9-aaad-a9e9150e83c8
  10th August 2020 - Opportunity notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/31cd05d0-8002-473d-99b0-380d5ac1ed68
  22nd July 2020 - Future opportunity notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-mobility-package-unveiled-by-education-secretary
  Social Mobility Package
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-announces-6-new-opportunity-areas
  A further six Opportunity Areas
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/opportunity-areas-programme-to-support-young-people-hit-hardest-by-pandemic
  Year 4 of the Opportunity Areas programme
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/0e7ed180-2401-4af0-9979-dba6ac51c28d
  EOI Advert
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/7f0b6c0d-2111-4077-b399-fb9d672fefe1
  Ts&Cs
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/c288cd46-bc7f-41aa-a727-7a2f23f66cd6
  EOI Reply form
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/b3886e5a-805b-4863-af34-53e32e948f2c
  EOI Advert
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/SupplierAttachment/b724d032-602d-42e4-a513-823e03d0e4c8
  Redacted contract 20-21/012

## Provenance

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