Published date: 19 October 2017

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 12 June 2017

Contract summary

Industry

  • Market research services - 79310000

Location of contract

West Midlands, London

Value of contract

£0 to £79,053.75

Procurement reference

PROC.01.0557

Published date

19 October 2017

Closing date

12 June 2017

Contract start date

29 June 2017

Contract end date

31 March 2018

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Call-off from a framework agreement

A mini-competition or direct purchase from a pre-established framework agreement.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

From 1 April 2017, about 1.2 million eligible non-household customers (businesses, charities and public sector) whose business is wholly or mainly in England have been able to choose who supplies their water and wastewater (also known as 'sewerage') retail services. Retail services include things like water meter reading and customer services. There are over 20 active retailers in the market, and nearly 20,000 switches have already taken place. Details on retailers can be found here. Details on wholesalers can be found here.

The new market is one of the largest retail water markets in the world, delivering an estimated £200 million of overall benefits to customers and the UK economy. Being able to switch water and wastewater retailer means that business customers are able to negotiate the best package that suits their needs. Or by successfully applying for a licence, business customers can also choose to supply themselves with retail services.

We expect that the most effective way to carry out the survey will be through CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) but we are open to exploring different solutions if they will achieve our aims whilst securing best value for money.

We also want to explore with the Supplier the most appropriate way to secure meaningful results, where practical, against the customer segments that we are interested in and look to the Supplier to advise on suitable sample sizes, both overall and for individual segments. For the purposes of responding to this tender, suppliers should quote on the basis of 2,000 interviews per wave.

We intend to carry out two waves of surveying. The first should take place as early as possible (ideally early-mid July 2017 before the onset of the main summer holidays), so that we can get an initial sense of customers' views and establish a baseline, with the second taking place later in the year, around January 2018, so that we can get both a picture of customers' experiences in the first year of market opening and some sense of trends over time.

More information

Attachments

Award information

Awarded date

28 June 2017

Contract start date

29 June 2017

Contract end date

31 March 2018

Total value of contract

£79,053.75

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

Opinion Research Services

Address

The Strand
Swansea
SA1 1AF

Reference

None

Supplier is SME?

No

Supplier is VCSE?

No

About the buyer

Address

Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham
B5 4UA
England

Email

mailbox@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk