Scope
Reference
ref. 2025/26-04
Description
This invitation to tender is for longitudinal research into awareness, attitudes, motivations and claimed behaviours around various circular behaviours and lifestyles amongst a representative sample of Londoners (referred to as 'citizens' throughout the following document).
Our research purpose is to track shifts over time, identifying opportunities and challenges for ReLondon and its stakeholders as we develop, deliver and evaluate the impact of our circular strategies and actions.
While this brief is primarily for the design, set-up and delivery of year one's baseline-setting research, it includes a requirement to provide recommendations and costings for subsequent years so that resources to support our longitudinal approach are clear and able to be planned for.
The budget for this piece of work is £30,000 plus VAT. The work will be awarded as a fixed-term contract subject to ReLondon's standard terms and conditions (available on request).
Background
ReLondon is a partnership of the Mayor of London and London's boroughs to improve waste and resource management in the capital and accelerate our transition to a low carbon circular city. Our mission is to make London a global leader in sustainable ways to live, work and prosper by revolutionising our relationship with stuff and helping London waste less and reuse, repair, share and recycle more.
More on ReLondon can be found on our website.
Citizen-facing work:
ReLondon runs campaigns direct-to-citizens on behalf of the Mayor and the London boroughs, and collaborates with partners to deliver localised circular neighbourhood and recycling pilot projects. The campaigns currently run by ReLondon are:
London Recycles
• Educates Londoners on what can and can't be recycled in their boroughs
• Provides tips and hints on reducing waste and materials use generally
• Hosts London Repair Week (and supports UK-wide Repair Weeks in other cities)
• Creates local authority toolkits for waste and recycling communications
Love Not Landfill
• Encourages 16-24-year-old Londoners never to throw an unwanted item of clothing in the bin
• Encourages fast fashion fans to buy second-hand, swap, share and give to charity through clothing swaps, second-hand pop-ups and social media
• Advises on what to do with clothes when they can't be worn any longer
Eat like a Londoner (now concluded pending a new food waste campaign in 2026)
• Run on behalf of London boroughs
• Helped families and young people reduce food waste at home
• Encouraged sustainable diets
• Provided planning, shopping, storing, cooking and eating tips
NB: a new food campaign is in development focusing on recycling and waste prevention. It will be live by summer 2026.
Local pilots over the past two years have included flats recycling and flats above shops research projects; circular neighbourhood projects e.g. Heston in the loop; deep engagement on recycling participation with primary schools and mosques in Tower Hamlets; and a community food project in Islington, to test an approach promoting sustainable food behaviours using a network of nudges built around a community café.
The brief
While ReLondon has an annual survey of both businesses (SMEs and startups in our network) and local authorities to help measure outcomes for reporting purposes, we have relied until now on campaign-specific surveys and the polling of other organisations (e.g. London Councils' citizen climate survey) to provide data for tracking and reporting on the outcome of our citizen-facing work.
As London Councils' climate survey is no longer taking place, and budgets are no longer available for comprehensive campaign evaluation, ReLondon is now seeking a better value but effective way of monitoring shifts in Londoners' awareness of and attitudes towards more circular, or waste-busting, lifestyles and behaviours. This is likely to be conducted annually as a minimum, but this initial brief and contract is for year one baseline setting, including reporting, plus recommendations/suggested costings for subsquent years.
Research approach:
We would like responses to suggest optimum approaches and costings against the following core requirements:
• Baseline setting in March 2026, possibly through a quantitative survey of up to 25 questions of a representative sample of Londoners (at least 1,100+), with results split by borough; age group; ethnicity; housing type; and living arrangements. Household or individual income may also be of interest. Alternative approaches to baseline setting will also be considered with interest.
• Ongoing methodology for subsequent years against year one baseline, to provide longitudinal tracking data.
We are also interested in proposals which suggest alternative or supplementary approaches to longitudinal behaviour, attitude and motivational tracking, such as:
• Quarterly 'dip' polling against smaller subsets of questions
• Ad hoc insights on one-off topics via online polling or using qualitative methods
• Occasional topic-specific qualitative 'dips' which interact usefully with the quantitative survey data
Costings for any of the above should include data analysis and reporting. We will contract work in the first instance to cover:
(a) design and delivery of the baseline setting research in this first year; and
(b) the provision of recommendations on methodology and costing/resourcing implications for future iterations in the next financial year.
Objectives
Our objectives with the tracker (or alternative approach to this piece of longitudinal research) are:
• To measure awareness and impact of ReLondon campaigns, events and behavioural interventions and projects
To track awareness of, and (shifts in) attitudes towards, circular behaviours and lifestyles such as swapping and sharing household items, buying second-hand, renting or leasing instead of buying, making things last and repairing more stuff
• To track trends and provide insight about areas to focus on amongst different communities and neighbourhoods, as well as at a London-wide level
• To test understanding of circularity amongst the general population, including language and specific terminology, what circular behaviours mean in practice and their perceived benefits for people and communities
Scope of work
The work proposed and costed for must include the following:
Item By
Inception meeting completed, notes provided and detailed timeline agreed 2-3 March 2026
Refined methodology proposal for year one baseline signed off and recruitment initiated By 3rd week of March
Fieldwork underway By end March
Conclusion of fieldwork End April
Report on baseline research and its implications, with a wrap-up presentation of up to 1.5 hours in-person Mid-May 2026
Future years' methodology and costings recommendations presented Mid-end May 2026
Budget
The budget for the baseline setting research for year one plus the provision of recommendations and costings for subsequent years' behavioural tracking activity is up to £30k plus VAT. We are also interested to see estimates against any alternative or supplementary methodologies you wish to suggest for either year one or future years.
Contract management
The contract will be formally let by the London Waste and Recycling Board (operating as ReLondon), and ReLondon's standard terms and conditions will apply (available on request).
Quality of service:
The Service Provider shall provide the services in a competent, timely manner in accordance with recognised industry quality standards. The Service Provider shall ensure an adequate supply of suitably qualified and competent personnel are available to fulfil the requirements of the Contract.
Acceptance of bids:
In issuing this invitation to bid, ReLondon is not bound to accept the lowest or any bid and reserves the right to accept the whole or any specified part of the bid unless the bidder expressly stipulates otherwise. ReLondon will not enter into discussion with non-selected potential suppliers or justify its decision. Potential suppliers are deemed to have accepted these conditions by the act of submitting their quote. The selected preferred supplier cannot assume they have been granted the contract until a formal contract is signed.
Period for which bids shall remain valid:
Unless otherwise stipulated by the bidder, bids shall remain valid for 30 days from the closing date for receipt of tenders.
Total value (estimated)
- £30,000 excluding VAT
- £36,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 March 2026 to 31 May 2026
- 3 months
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 79310000 - Market research services
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Participation
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
21 January 2026, 5:00pm
Submission type
Tenders
Tender submission deadline
9 February 2026, 9:00am
Submission address and any special instructions
Please send any clarification questions by email to katie.moriyama@relondon.gov.uk by 21 January 2026. Answers will be provided to all bidders by 28 January.
Your proposal should be submitted by email to tenders@relondon.gov.uk by 9am (GMT) on 9 February 2026. Please reference 2025/26-04.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
16 February 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 2. Award criteria | Adaptability: We are looking for approaches and teams that are flexible and can adapt quickly to meet the needs of real-world scenarios, without jeopardizing outcomes. |
Quality | 40% |
| Stage 2. Award criteria | Context-awareness: We expect appointed contractors to demonstrate a deep understanding of citizen behaviours and the social, economic and political context of our work - to ensure that the tracker... |
Quality | 40% |
| Stage 2. Award criteria | Co-creation: We want to work with suppliers who are collaborative and can work closely with both the ReLondon team and our wider stakeholder group. |
Quality | 20% |
Other information
Payment terms
30 days from the date on the invoice.
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Competitive flexible procedure description
Submission and evaluation
The procurement will follow a two-stage process, with stage 1's purpose being to shortlist a maximum of three candidates to take to stage 2.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is a written submission. Please include the following in your submission:
• Details of your suitability to fulfil the contract, how the contract is to be managed and your approach to delivering the brief within the timeline outlined above in section 4.
• Details of the team that will work on the research and a description of their role.
• Three examples of previous work (preferably carried out by the team included in your proposal), that shows your understanding of the brief and your ability to deliver similar projects. Please keep examples to a maximum of one side each.
• A pricing schedule showing the anticipated total amount for the project, broken down by phases as outlined in section 4 above. All costs to detail VAT.
The process we use to select contractors is a competitive one. Stage 1 scoring criteria and their weighting are:
Criteria Weighting
Price 15%
Methodology proposed and its ability to meet the objectives for the tracker 40%
Project management and demonstrated ability to deliver the project within the timescale 15%
Experience of allocated personnel, their technical capability and skills 20%
Social value (5% EDI; 5% carbon reduction) For EDI, please describe your organisation's approach to equity, diversity and inclusion and how you will apply it in the delivery of this contract; and for carbon reduction: please describe your organisational approach and ambition in relation to sustainability and specifically carbon reduction. 10%
Stage 2
Stage 2 will involve in-depth interviews of one hour each with a maximum of three shortlisted candidates. Stage 2 scoring criteria are:
Criteria Weighting
Adaptability: We are looking for approaches and teams that are flexible and can adapt quickly to meet the needs of real-world scenarios, without jeopardizing outcomes. 40%
Co-creation: We want to work with suppliers who are collaborative and can work closely with both the ReLondon team and our wider stakeholder group. 20%
Context-awareness: We expect appointed contractors to demonstrate a deep understanding of citizen behaviours and the social, economic and political context of our work - to ensure that the tracker does not duplicate existing research, and feels relevant and tailored to London's needs. 40%
Please send any clarification questions by email to katie.moriyama@relondon.gov.uk by 21 January 2026. Answers will be provided to all bidders by 28 January.
Your proposal should be submitted by email to tenders@relondon.gov.uk by 9am (GMT) on 9 February 2026.
Documents
Associated tender documents
https://relondon.gov.uk/about-us/jobs-and-tenders
citizen tracker tender FINAL.docx
Contracting authority
London Waste and Recycling Board operating as ReLondon
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PBNP-9149-XDTM
Sustainable Workspaces, 5th Floor, County Hall, Belvedere Road
LONDON
SE1 7PB
United Kingdom
Email: tenders@relondon.gov.uk
Website: https://relondon.gov.uk/
Region: UKI45 - Lambeth
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government