Published date: 23 September 2022

Closed future opportunity - This means that a potential contract has passed its approach to market date. A buyer can choose to consider any supplier interest or convert this notice into an opportunity ready for live procurement.


Approach to market date: 23 September 2022

Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

Location of contract

England

Value of contract

£55,000

Procurement reference

prj_984

Published date

23 September 2022

Approach to market date

23 September 2022

Contract start date

1 December 2022

Contract end date

31 March 2023

Procedure type

Call-off from a dynamic purchasing system

A mini-competition or direct purchase from a pre-established dynamic purchasing system.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No


Description

BEIS introduced the Subsidy Control Bill1 to Parliament in June 2021. The new Subsidy Control Regime will commence in January 2023.

The Regime will enable public authorities (PAs) to deliver subsidies that are tailored for local needs and deliver government priorities such as levelling up and transitioning to a net zero economy. It will promote the effective operation of a dynamic and competitive UK market economy.

The Subsidy Control Bill makes provision for Streamlined Routes. Streamlined Routes will offer public authorities a way to award subsidies more quickly. They are intended to promote confidence and legal certainty among public authorities and businesses undertaking projects that are routine and low risk or aligned to UK priorities.

It is important to understand if they are meeting their objectives2 and what effects they are having on PAs' behaviour. To achieve this, we must first conduct research to establish a pre-Streamlined Routes baseline against which PAs' experience of Streamlined Routes (Streamlined Routes) will be compared once the new regime commences.

Research summary

The baseline will be established by engaging with PAs and analysing subsidies in areas that Streamlined Routes will cover post commencement: Energy Usage; Research, Development, and Innovation; and Local Growth.

The following key research questions form our objectives for the research:

Which PAs have been awarding subsidies in these areas and how many subsidies have they awarded?

What sized subsidies are being awarded in these areas and who are the beneficiaries (enterprise size, sector, purpose of the subsidy)?

How easy have PAs found awarding subsidies in these areas? How long has it taken them to develop schemes, and have they developed these themselves or contracted out to a consultant?

How well do PAs feel they have understood the current subsidy control guidance? Have they used it?

The methodology will include:

Analysis of subsidy awards on the public database.

Identifying the sample of PAs to survey.

Mapping the subsidy award process, to ensure our questions on the awarding experience are as specific as possible.

Online survey sent to every PA in the sample, asking closed questions, on an ordinal scale, about the subsidy awarding process.

In-depth interviews will with a smaller sample. We expect open-ended questions to be asked, allowing for detailed views from PAs on the current subsidy control regime.

The outputs will include:

A full report on the research findings on the project's completion, including but not limited to an analysis of subsidy award data on the public database and anonymised data provided by PAs in the Energy Usage, RDI, and Local Growth areas, the themes of respondents' answers to the open-ended questions, and aggregated responses to the online survey.

A brief interim report at the project's midpoint containing the process map developed and the quantitative findings from the online survey.


More information

Spend profile

This table displays the spend profile of the notice
Financial year Budget
2022/2023 £55,000

Additional text

This opportunity will be procured through the Research and Insights Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) through the Crown Commercial Service. Suppliers who are interested in bidding for this opportunity should register on the DPS through the Crown Commercial website.


About the buyer

Contact name

Marcus Wright

Address

1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H0ET
England

Email

marcus.wright@beis.gov.uk