---
title: "Invitation to Tender (ITT) for University Benchmarks for Better Social Mobility"
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION"
published: "2024-03-20"
---

# Invitation to Tender (ITT) for University Benchmarks for Better Social Mobility

Buyer: SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc

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## Summary

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) has awarded a contract for the "Invitation to Tender (ITT) for University Benchmarks for Better Social Mobility" project to UCL Consultants Limited. The tender had a procurement method of open procedure (below threshold) and the contract period is from 11 December 2023 to 14 March 2025. Bidders needed to submit their bids before 4pm on 20 November 2023. The project falls under the main procurement category of social research services and the buying organisation is the Social Mobility Commission located in London, England.

This awarded contract offers opportunities for businesses, particularly those in social research services, to contribute to enhancing social mobility through educational choices. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations would be well-suited to compete for this contract. The project aims to improve information available to students about the labour market value of qualifications and their impact on social mobility. By developing benchmarks for access to universities, the SMC seeks to identify and address potential disparities in university entry opportunities for different student backgrounds.

## Notice

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 created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. In March 2022, the government published the Inclusive Britain policy paper. It set out the government's actions in response to the recommendations made by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED). The paper highlighted a number of recommendations which overlap with areas of interest for the Social Mobility Commission (SMC), particularly the focus on enhancing social mobility through educational choices. The SMC has committed to take forward Action 53 of the Inclusive Britain report. It states: "To help disadvantaged students to choose the right courses for them and to boost their employment prospects, the Social Mobility Commission will seek to improve the information available to students about the labour market value of qualifications and, where possible, the impact of those qualifications on social mobility." To achieve this, the SMC has been working on multiple projects which can help deliver on Action 53. One of these was to publish a report that summarises the evidence base on the labour market outcomes resulting from studying qualifications in both higher (HE) and further education (FE). The next step is to develop and publish a set of benchmarks for access to universities. The SMC recently published a blog post outlining a proposed idea for these new sets of university benchmarks. The main driver for this project is the need for a set of university benchmarks which can better capture social mobility. We can potentially achieve this by using a single measure of deprivation that provides a fuller picture of the distribution of access. Using this measure we can look at the rates of students from each background who get into each university. This can then be compared to the overall proportion of students who meet the university entry requirements. By combining these two measures, we could potentially identify if there are subgroups of the student population that have greater chances of access to certain universities compared to other subgroups. Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm on 20 November 2023. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5a081848-09a0-4321-a413-1665ae6efe5d |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure (below threshold) |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 20 Mar 2024 |
| Submission deadline | 20 Nov 2023 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 11 Dec 2023 |
| Contract period | 11 Dec 2023 - 14 Mar 2025 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £60,000 |
| 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 | SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1A 2HQ |
| 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 | UCL CONSULTANTS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

- 79315000 - Social research services

## Release History

- 20 Mar 2024 at 14:23 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5a081848-09a0-4321-a413-1665ae6efe5d
- 14 Nov 2023 at 14:33 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0c45dc38-a432-4988-9362-9f4eb79365ba
- 13 Nov 2023 at 15:15 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0c45dc38-a432-4988-9362-9f4eb79365ba

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5a081848-09a0-4321-a413-1665ae6efe5d
  20th March 2024 - Awarded contract notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0c45dc38-a432-4988-9362-9f4eb79365ba
  14th November 2023 - Opportunity notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/61dcfd8c-3604-433f-94c8-cb92598ad9a0
  Invitation to tender (ITT) for University Benchmarks for Better Social Mobility
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/7c6bb682-a4ff-4da1-8bf7-855b141c2df8
  Templates and declarations which are required to be completed by all bidders in an accessible document - word document
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/d3b153a5-b7d0-45e1-8547-cf95585970e6
  Clarifications to bidders' questions as of 09.00 13/11/2023
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/90d0b777-43f7-4381-9728-85db8826e5df
  Clarifications to bidders' questions as of 14.30 14/11/2023
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/SupplierAttachment/a34dd976-78a2-4413-b015-9ca51d79f987
  Signed contract (redacted) between UCL Consultants Limited and the Social Mobility Commission.

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-f7e10ae5-6ac7-4813-b5ff-68d0031becdc.json.