---
title: "WP5 Social Science - The future of food regulation"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-077a62"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-077a62"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a62.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a62.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Food Standards Agency"
published: "2026-09-25"
---

# WP5 Social Science - The future of food regulation

Buyer: Food Standards Agency  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-077a62

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## Summary

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned social science research and consultancy to build the evidence base for its Future Food Regulation programme. The work reviews the programme’s case for intervention, examining its programme-wide and workstream-level problems, identifying evidence gaps, and assessing relevant market, behavioural, regulatory and government failures. The findings are intended to support policy development, economic appraisal, engagement with stakeholders and future business cases. The wider programme seeks a trusted, sustainable system that keeps food safe and accurately described. It includes a national approach to regulating large food retailers, improvements to local and online regulation, business registration, enforcement and the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, and a central guidance hub. The buyer is the Food Standards Agency; the work is research and research consultancy rather than operational regulation.

The procurement is complete and the contract is active. The FSA used a direct award without competition, calling off from an existing social science research arrangement. The Social Agency/Basis Social Limited was selected. The contract was signed on 18 September 2026 and runs from 21 September 2026 to 15 January 2027. Its value is £49,997.88 excluding VAT and £59,997.46 including VAT. There was one lot, covering the evidence review for the Future of Food Regulation programme’s rationale for intervention. The published award records the requirement as services, specifically research and related consultancy. No award scoring basis or supplier eligibility requirements are provided in the contracting data.

For suppliers interested in future work of this kind with the FSA, this award shows demand for focused social science research that can underpin regulatory policy and economic appraisal. A credible competitor would need to design a systematic evidence review, test programme-level and workstream-level problem statements, identify evidence gaps, and assess market, behavioural, regulatory and government failures. The work requires the ability to turn research into a clear, defensible case for government intervention and outputs useful to policy development, stakeholder engagement and business-case preparation. Experience spanning food regulation, regulatory policy and applied social science would be directly relevant to the programme’s scope, including national oversight of large retailers and local and online regulation. The award was made through a call-off without competition, so familiarity with the relevant research arrangement is commercially pertinent.

## Notice

Calling off from C425727 Research: Social Science Call-Off. The Food Standards Agency (FSA)'s Future Food Regulation (FFR) programme aims to deliver a regulatory system that is effective, sustainable and trusted, ensuring food is safe and is what it says it is. The programme aims to establish a national approach to regulating large food retailers, rather than at a local level. Alongside this, the programme aims to implement improvements at the Local Regulation and Online Regulation level, as well as enhance and ensure food business Registration, Enforcement and the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) works alongside regulatory changes. A central Guidance hub is also being developed. A programme and workstream-level Theory of Change (ToC) has consequently been developed, which articulates the problems the programme seeks to address and the outcomes it intends to achieve. Following ToC development, the FSA now requires a comprehensive evidence review to establish a clear and defensible rationale for intervention across the programme. This should systematically evidence programme-level and workstream-level problem statements and identify any evidence gaps. Then identify relevant market, behavioural, regulatory and government failures, to assess whether government (FSA) intervention is justified. The outputs will directly support policy development, economic appraisal, stakeholder engagement, and future business case development.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090930-2026 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Below threshold - without competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 25 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 21 Sep 2026 - 15 Jan 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £49,997 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Food Standards Agency |
| Locality | YORK |
| Postcode area | York |
| Postcode | YO1 7PR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE2 North Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE21 York |
| Local authority | York |
| Electoral ward | Guildhall |
| Westminster constituency | York Central |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | The Social Agency/Basis Social Limited |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 73110000 - Research services
- 73210000 - Research consultancy services

## Release History

- 25 Sep 2026 at 11:50 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090930-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090930-2026
  25th September 2026 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.food.gov.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-h6vhtk-077a62. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a62.json.