Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKM - Scotland
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10482
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
DECON-Labour Market Statistics and Financial Data Feasibility Project
Reference number
795891
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79310000 - Market research services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Scottish Government’s Labour Market Statistics team has awarded a contract for a feasibility study to assess the potential of using anonymised financial data to enhance national and sub-national labour market statistics. The feasibility study will establish if and how we can extract and assess labour market trends such as employment, unemployment and economic inactivity from financial data such as bank transactions, payroll records, or other administrative financial data. The ultimate aim of this study is to establish whether or not this type of data and methodology could add valuable insights to our existing statistics on an ongoing basis (subject to future procurement activities).
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £148,000
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 73110000 - Research services
- 79311400 - Economic research services
- 71241000 - Feasibility study, advisory service, analysis
- 79314000 - Feasibility study
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKM - Scotland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Scottish Government’s Labour Market Statistics team has awarded a contract for a feasibility study to assess the potential of using anonymised financial data to enhance national and sub-national labour market statistics. The feasibility study will establish if and how we can extract and assess labour market trends such as employment, unemployment and economic inactivity from financial data such as bank transactions, payroll records, or other administrative financial data. The ultimate aim of this study is to establish whether or not this type of data and methodology could add valuable insights to our existing statistics on an ongoing basis (subject to future procurement activities).
Objectives
- Evaluate the feasibility of using financial data to enhance Scottish labour market statistics on employment, unemployment and economic inactivity.
- Develop a Scotland-specific dataset using anonymised financial data for feasibility analysis
- Validate Scotland-specific dataset against official statistics (e.g., Census 2022).
- Develop inference methodology and provide strategic recommendations for future data use in Scotland and the rest of the UK based on this.
Scope of Requirement
The requirement is for services. Specifically, we ask that suppliers provide the following, however, bidders are invited to suggest alternative approaches that could also meet the needs of the specification:
- Segmentation and categorisation of suppliers financial datasets to meet Scotland and sub-Scotland level breakdowns and categorisations of data, with a focus on demonstrating high quality data and robust sample sizes.
- Validation of dataset and research outputs against official national statistics, including the Scottish Census and other reference datasets, to evidence representativeness of the data based on criteria to be agreed, and accuracy of outputs.
- Methodology development to establish economic trends from suppliers financial data, specifically employment, unemployment and economic inactivity (see glossary).
- Data analysis services using anonymised financial data that the suppliers have access to, analyse outputs for trends in employment, unemployment and economic inactivity, alongside other economic variables, for Scotland and sub-Scotland geographies and different population groups.
- Geodemographic analysis to identify labour market trends across sex, age, and Local Authority as a minimum, although breakdowns by other protected equality characteristics would be beneficial.
- Strategic reporting to summarise methodologies and findings and potential uses of financial data in economic trends, recommend data provision formats and frequencies for ongoing delivery of data, and identify gaps in current labour market data provision.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: Quality / Weighting: 80
Price - Weighting: 20
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2025/S 000-054594
Section five. Award of contract
Contract No
795891
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
4 February 2026
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 0
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Smart Data Foundry
Edinburgh Futures Institute, Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9EF
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKM75 - Edinburgh, City of
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £148,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
(SC Ref:823222)
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Edinburgh Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court
27 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LB
Country
United Kingdom