Published date: 15 December 2021

Last edited date: 16 December 2021

This notice was replaced on 18 March 2022

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 18 March 2022)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

Location of contract

EC2Y 5AS

Value of contract

£39,000 to £45,000

Procurement reference

FRC2021-0190

Published date

15 December 2021

Closing date

24 January 2022

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

9 February 2022

Contract end date

22 July 2022

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries and sets the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. We seek to promote transparency and integrity in business; our work is aimed at investors and others who rely on company accounts, audit and high-quality risk management. As the Competent Authority for audit in the UK, the FRC sets auditing and ethical standards and monitors and enforces audit quality.
This project concerns shareholder votes of 20% or more against resolutions at company Annual General Meetings (AGMs). We are interested in how such votes are reported and the level, and quality, of engagement that subsequently takes place between company boards and investors.


The aim of this research project is to assess:

• The level and quality of companies' reporting against Provision 4 of the Corporate Governance Code and the usefulness of this reporting to shareholders.
• The level and quality of engagement between companies and their shareholders following a vote of 20% or more against a proposed resolution.
• How this engagement has impacted companies' subsequent actions and subsequent shareholder stewardship, including engagement and voting.

This research project will support the work of the Corporate Governance and Stewardship team in the FRC, as well as the broader aims of the FRC, to understand and promote good governance and best practice. The output from this research may be used in an FRC publication(s) and where this is the case the contribution of the contracted research team will be cited and acknowledged appropriately.

Scope
The research will include all companies that were constituents of the FTSE 350 index on 1 January 2019 and will cover all AGMs of those companies in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Approach
The data needed for this research is available from the following sources:
• The Investment Association's public register
• Companies' AGM notices
• Companies' statements/updates/announcements (including those of AGM voting results)
• Companies' annual reports
• Other information sources (e.g. media coverage, stock exchange announcements, stewardship reports, dialogue with IA, etc).

The successful bidder will need to establish criteria/scale to reliably assess:
• Quality of reporting by companies in the areas listed
• Quality of engagement between companies and shareholders
These criteria should allow for comparisons between companies and between time periods (within the scope of the research sample).

** THIS IS A SUMMARY ONLY, PLEASE SEE THE PDF DOWNLOAD FOR THE FULL DETAILS **

More information

Attachments

Additional text

Please apply directly to the buyer using the contact details provided, or follow the instructions given in the notice description or information section.

About the buyer

Contact name

Head of Procurement

Address

8Th Floor,125 London Wall
LONDON
EC2Y 5AS
England

Telephone

020 7492 2300

Email

procurement@frc.org.uk

Website

www.frc.org.uk