Research & development
Public sector contract notices in research & development, from Find a Tender.
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Research & development notices
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Small-firm friendly
Proposal Development Support for Applicants to EU Funding Opportunities
The University of Nottingham needs help supporting academics across all faculties as they develop proposals for EU funding. The work involves iterative feedback on draft bids from early stages through to submission.
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Small-firm friendly
Child Poverty Action Plan - Programme Evaluation
The North East Combined Authority wants an independent evaluator to assess the design, implementation and impact of its Child Poverty Action Plan from August 2025 to March 2030. The work involves synthesising evidence from project-level evaluations and monitoring to provide a cross-cutting programme-wide assessment.
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Small-firm friendly
High-Throughput Experimentation (HTE) Software for Drug Discovery
University of Dundee seeks software for high-throughput experimentation in chemistry and drug discovery. The software should support multi-parameter optimisation, plate-based synthesis (96-384 compounds), and integration with direct-to-biology testing approaches to accelerate the design-make-test-analyse cycle.
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Small-firm friendly
SBRI - Agri-Food Tech Contracts for Innovation Cymru Phase 1 Challenge
Welsh Government-backed innovation challenge to develop agri-food tech solutions aligned with Wales's Sustainable Farming Scheme. The scheme supports four objectives: sustainable food production, climate change mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem resilience, and countryside conservation.
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Small-firm friendly
ITT - Stakeholder Research - UID 310
Historic England wants strategic research into stakeholder awareness, sentiment towards the organisation, and views on its Strategic Priorities for the 2026-2031 plan. The work includes understanding how the organisation can maximise its heritage and community impact.
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Next Generation on Train Wifi (Members of RM6370)
LNER is procuring on-train Wi-Fi hardware, installation, end-user service, data backhaul, authentication and data capture for 65 trains (with 10 more planned). The solution must use satellite communication technology via the GCA Dynamic Market RM6370.
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CivTech 12 - Challenge 12.4 - How can technology improve both the efficiency and the patient experience in NHS transport, starting with renal services?
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde wants technology solutions to improve dialysis patient transport efficiency and patient experience across NHS Scotland. The challenge focuses on reducing costs, improving reliability, and cutting administrative burden for a service that currently costs £9.1m annually.
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Civtech 12 - Challenge 12.2 - How can technology enable fast-growing digital public service providers to dynamically scale their service management capabilities as demand, complexity and customer expectations increase?
The Scottish Government's Directorate for Digital is seeking a scalable, technology-enabled service management solution to support their growing portfolio of digital services including ScotAccount, ScotPayments, and mygov.scot. The solution must handle increasing demand, complexity and user expectations while maintaining resilient, secure and efficient operations.
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Small-firm friendly
CivTech 12.6 - How can technology improve living conditions and quality of life for social housing residents in Scotland?
Cloch Housing Association is seeking innovative technology solutions to help identify and support vulnerable social housing residents facing cold homes, damp, mould and fuel poverty. Solutions must predict risk, enable targeted intervention, protect privacy, and work within the constraints and timescales of registered social landlords.
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CivTech 12 - Challenge 12.3 - How can we use technology to demonstrate the commercial value of circular economy business practices?
Zero Waste Scotland wants an interactive software tool that helps businesses measure and demonstrate the financial benefits of circular economy practices to investors and stakeholders. The tool should incorporate wider benefits like supply chain resilience and resource security alongside traditional metrics.
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Small-firm friendly
CivTech 12.5 - How can technology support multi agency processes for the protection of children in Scotland?
Scottish Government is seeking technology solutions to streamline Inter-Agency Referral Discussions (IRDs) for child protection. The work involves building secure multi-agency information sharing systems and real-time data analytics to replace fragmented manual processes currently used across Scotland's child protection system.
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How can technology enable fast-growing digital public service providers to dynamically scale their service management capabilities as demand, complexity and customer expectations increase?
The Scottish Government's Directorate for Digital wants to design a scalable, technology-enabled service management solution to handle growth across its digital services (ScotAccount, ScotPayments, mygov.scot, Cloud Platform). The work involves consultancy and research into approaches that improve resilience, efficiency and security as demand and complexity increase.
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Small-firm friendly
DfT National Freight Model
The Department for Transport is commissioning development of a new National Freight Model to replace existing approaches. The model will forecast freight demand and flows across road, rail and maritime, and support policy analysis on infrastructure, decarbonisation and mode shift.
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Small-firm friendly
North Hertfordshire District Council Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Assessment (GTAA)
North Hertfordshire District Council needs a consultant to carry out a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) to inform Local Plan allocations for 2029-2040. The study must follow national planning policy guidance.
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Small-firm friendly
CivTech 12.1 - How can digital technologies assist people living with substance use issues (and their families/friends) to easily connect with trusted help and substance use support when services are unavailable?
University of Strathclyde is seeking a digital solution to help people with substance use issues and their support networks access trusted help and services outside normal hours and across fragmented Scottish services. The solution should connect users with existing support, reduce emergency service demand, and create feedback loops for continuous improvement.
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Small-firm friendly
Full Business Case Consultancy Services
Barnsley Council needs a consultant to develop a Full Business Case for the Health on the High Street programme to support future investment decisions. The work will cover business analysis, economic research and impact assessment.
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Together for Families Support Programme
The National Lottery Community Fund needs a supplier to provide support services for the Together for Families programme, a £59.2m partnership with Northern Ireland's Department of Health. The work involves embedding and sustaining structural, relational and cultural elements of the programme, with accessibility and lived experience as core principles.
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Non-Domestic EPCs
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing needs non-domestic Energy Performance Certificates for their properties including shops, community centres, offices and stores. Work involves site visits, lodging EPCs and providing documentation within set timescales.
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Small-firm friendly
Waste Disposal Contract Technical Advisor
North East Lincolnshire Council is looking for a consultant to advise on re-procuring its waste disposal contract. The role covers market engagement, options assessment, procurement documentation, evaluation, award and mobilisation.
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Small-firm friendly
Wrexham Library and Information Service Feasibility Study (Proc-26-128)
Wrexham County Borough Council wants a consultancy to produce a feasibility study for a long-term sustainable model for Wrexham Library and Information Service and its assets. The study will support future investment applications and develop the library's capital assets and revenue services for lifelong learning across the borough.
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Small-firm friendly
UREGNI - Customer Care Register Project Manager
The Utility Regulator needs a project manager to develop and implement Phase 1 of a Customer Care Register for electricity and gas suppliers in Northern Ireland. The register will have two tiers for electricity/gas (medical and needs-based) and a single tier for water.
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Review of the Business Finance Landscape in Wales
Development Bank of Wales needs an independent review of Wales' business finance landscape, assessing how well current public, private and alternative finance meets business needs and identifying gaps and opportunities. Phase 1 will map the current landscape and assess supply.
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Small-firm friendly
Trace, Evaluate and Reinforce (TracER)
The Department for Transport is seeking to improve assurance of Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) screening for detecting explosive trace contamination. The work is titled Trace, Evaluate and Reinforce (TracER) and is valued at £135,000.
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Cheshire and Warrington Outline Water Plan
Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority needs consultants to develop evidence on water infrastructure needs to support regional growth and align with a new Regional Systems Planner for the North West. The work feeds into both a local Independent Economic Review and government water planning for 2029 onwards.
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Small-firm friendly
Exploring the appeal of 30by30 for Landowners/Managers
Natural England wants qualitative research to understand why medium and large landowners/managers might engage with the 30by30 biodiversity target, and what barriers or incentives matter to them. The research will inform strategy to increase uptake among this group.