Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings, Cardiff Road
Newport
NP10 8XG
Contact
Amy Chard
Telephone
+44 1633580049
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/Home
Buyer's address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Other type
Non departmental government body
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Contract for the provision of the Crime Survey for England and Wales
Reference number
PU-18/0001
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79310000 - Market research services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) contract for research & data services supports the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) strategic objective of reliable and trusted data, which informs policy makers, Parliament and the public about crime.
The services improve knowledge of the volume and changing nature of criminality and victimisation which, in turn, informs the public policy response to crime.
The services under the CSEW contract act as a research and data source for ONS to produce crime statistics and inform the development of public policy response to crime. The Contractor provides the rolling annual datasets, on a quarterly basis, based on research interviews with a representative sample of:
(a) Households and adults' resident in England and Wales; this covers their experience of crime in the previous 12 months, attitudes to crime and crime-related issues, awareness and use of crime prevention measures and essential demographic and background information to inform further analyses.
(b) Children aged 10 to 15 years living in such households; this covers similar topics to the main interview but with a narrower focus on experience of personal crime and issues related specifically to children, such as bullying.
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: £18,315,399
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79315000 - Social research services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
ONS is seeking to increase the sample size for the survey, following requests from the Home Office and the UK Government's Implementation Unit, with an increase in the target number of interviews to 70,000 per year by 2024. This will include a boost to the face-to-face interview numbers and the introduction of a longitudinal panel element to the survey with further interviews conducted by telephone at 12 month intervals.
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.14) Additional information
The total value at the time of conclusion of the contract in Section V.2.4 (Information on value of the contract/lot/ concession) does not take into consideration indexation. Under the terms of the CSEW contract, the Contractor is permitted to increase charges in line with an agreed inflationary indexation adjustment. As such, the total value of the contract after indexation is £19,234,018.23.
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations
Explanation:
Due to COVID-19, all face-to-face survey operations ceased in March 2020 and the CSEW changed to a telephone survey operation (TCSEW), with the option of changing back to face-to-face surveys.
In April 2019, Kantar announced that it was unifying all its legacy brands (including Kantar TNS) and consolidating all services and offerings under the Kantar brand name, hence the name change to Kantar Public.
It is under a contract variation in July 2021 that ONS confirmed it would continue to operate the contract with Kantar for a further two years to 31 March 2024. A Modification Notice was published on 13 July 2021 for this contract variation (2021/S 133-355188), with an increased total value of £28,849,818.23.
ONS is seeking to increase the sample size for the survey, following requests from the Home Office and the UK Government's Implementation Unit, with an increase in the target number of interviews to 70,000 per year by 2024. This will include a boost to the face-to-face interview numbers and the introduction of a longitudinal panel element to the survey with further interviews conducted by telephone at 12 month intervals.
ONS will be running a competitive tender exercise for the CSEW Contract 2024 - 2029. A Prior Information Notice was published on 24 June 2022 (2022/S 000-017318) to inform the market of our intentions. ONS will update the market further in relation to the requirements for the future CSEW Contract in due course.
The CSEW interview is conducted using trained interviewers and a specialised script programmed by Kantar. Another contractor would need to adapt the script to its systems, which would be a considerable amount of work. A new panel of interviewers would have to be trained to conduct the survey, which would result in a significant additional cost for ONS. It would not be possible to develop a new telephone script to complete the follow up interviews within the required timeframes.
ONS (and the Home Office) require the uplift in sample size from October 2022, with the telephone survey starting at the same point. The rapid mobilisation of the uplift in interview numbers is critical and appointing a new contractor would cause significant delay to ONS' ability to deliver the increased interviews.
ONS will continue to update the market, and recommends that interested suppliers register their for upcoming market warming & engagement events on our e-tendering portal Intend via the following link - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/Home.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2017/S 127-259083
Section five. Award of contract/concession
Contract No
PU-18/0001
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
9 March 2018
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Kantar Public
6 More London Place
London
SE1 2QY
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £34,099,818.23
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
The Contract Notice was published on 6 July 2017 (2017/S 127-259083).
A Contracts Finder Notice was subsequently published on 9 March 2018, which is available here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/710869e2-5b5f-4f6f-9c33-12e9bd378766.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
High Court of England and Wales
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
Telephone
+44 2079477882
Country
United Kingdom