This opportunity is closed for applications

The deadline was Monday 21 December 2020

The Corporate Officer of the House of Lords and The Corporate Officer of the House of Commons

Parliament Digital Service (PDS) User Research Participant Recruitment

3 Incomplete applications

3 SME, 0 large

4 Completed applications

4 SME, 0 large

• Published: Monday 7 December 2020
• Deadline for asking questions: Monday 14 December 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Monday 21 December 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: PDS requires participants for regular user research supporting a range of projects and programmes across its digital portfolio (including its website) and possibly PDS's Transforming Digital programme. The supplier must reliably deliver participants nationwide.
• Location: London
• Research dates: The exact research dates are currently unknown and are subject to a brief to identify each round.
• Organisation the work is for: The Corporate Officer of the House of Lords and The Corporate Officer of the House of Commons
• Budget range: We anticipate spending approximately £50,000 on participant recruitment in the 12 month period covered by this contract, however that number could be higher or lower dependant on individual research round requirements. A typical project will include a recruitment price per participant and the payment of incentives. A research round may require the payment of incentives only where participants are independently recruited by Parliament.

About the work

About the research

• Description of your participants: Some of the types of participants we may need to recruit are:; - Political or other specialist journalists; - Professional lobbyists; - Legal professionals ; - Academics; - Industry experts; - Civil servants ; - Members of political parties ; - Politically engaged members of the public; ; Each research brief may require further participant skills / behaviours / attributes, e.g. a specific level of digital skills, or use of digital technology, or users who have basic online skills.
• Assisted digital and accessibility requirements: Some of the requirements we may need include:; - Participants with conditions that affect mobility ; - Participants with visual impairments; - Neurodiverse participants, e.g. dyslexia, autism, ADHD, dyscalculia; - Participants with low digital literacy or confidence; - Participants with accessibility needs
• Research plan: Individually briefed for each recruitment round. Typical research methods may include, but are not limited to: interviews, focus groups, card sorting, tree testing, accessibility and usability testing. Research may be in-person or remote.
• Research location: Remote research will be conducted with participants located across the entire UK. Any face-to-face research will be conducted in London.
• Access restrictions at location: The majority of research is expected to be conducted remotely. Each research brief will identify the research location, along with any and all restrictions that may affect participants, including access.
• Number of research rounds: PDS estimates issuing 5 to 25 briefs over the initial 12 months, generally last one or two days each
• Number of participants a round: This is variable. The likely range is between 5 and 40 participants per round.
• How often research will happen: The frequency and type of research will fluctuate in line with the demand for user research within the organisation. We are looking for a supplier that can supply the necessary research participants for our variable activities as and when required.
• Evening or weekend research:
  • Weekday evenings
  • Weekends

Additional information

Skills and experience

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

• Essential skills and experience:
  • Experience in recruiting research participants who meet a given brief and manging the recruitment process end to end including obtaining consent, scheduling and payment of incentives [Weighting: 4]
  • Experience in recruiting very specialist participants (such as lobbyists and political journalists) or participants for whom money may not be a motivation for taking part [Weighting: 4]
  • Experience in recruiting participants with accessibility needs or low digital literacy [Weighting: 3]
  • Experience in providing visibility of the recruitment and screening process, ideally, though not necessarily, through an online portal [Weighting: 4]
  • Experience in assuring the quality of participants recruited and allowing the customer to make the final judgement on whether participants fully meet the brief provided [Weighting: 4]
  • Experience in providing backup participants and replacement participants in case of unsuitability or dropouts [Weighting: 3]
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Ability to assign a reliable dedicated recruiter to our organisation for the duration of the service to enable Parliament to build a relationship with that person [Weighting: 2]
  • Ability to effectively manage the physical attendance of participants at research locations [Weighting: 1]
  • Ability to pay incentives on our behalf where a recruit has been conducted independently by Parliament [Weighting: 1]

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Detail your approach to deliver Parliament's requirement, including: All participants types; Recruitment channels; Screening of participants; and How visibility of this is provided to Parliament [Weighting 8]
  • Detail your approach to assuring the quality of participants recruited and allowing Parliament to make the final judgement on whether participants fully meet the brief provided [Weighting: 8]
  • Detail your approach to identifying risks and respective contingency planning to manage them. This includes providing backup participants and replacement participants in case of unsuitability or dropouts [Weighting: 8]
• Additional assessment methods:
  • Case study
  • Interview
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  35%

  Availability

  15%

  Price

  50%

Questions asked by suppliers

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