– This opportunity is now closed –
Invitation to tender
Call for proposals: Market demand for data assurance products and services
- 03/05/2022
- Tender reference: ODI_DA_06
- Call for tenders by the Open Data Institute
- Contact: [email protected]
In 2021, as part of the ODI’s wider programme of work on data assurance, we commissioned research to deepen understanding of the UK data assurance ecosystem. This work quantified the size of the supply side of the data assurance market and found a nascent but buoyant market of firms offering services focused on trust in data.
We know that data assurance practices are at the heart of building confidence in the way that UK companies are run and scrutinised and we expect to see high growth in years to come, as more organisations grapple with demand to build confidence with customers, shareholders and the public.
We would like to build on earlier research by commissioning a review of the demand side of the data assurance market to improve understanding of the challenges that businesses are facing, current products and services used to meet those challenges, and where there are gaps, to improve confidence and trust in their data and data practices.
The primary audience for the outputs of this work are those who are interested in supporting adoption of, or offering new data assurance products that will lead to greater trust and data sharing.
The market review should focus on business to business data assurance products which support and enable the responsible, trustworthy and ethical use, publication and sharing of data. We are particularly interested in the demand and uptake of services including consultancy, audit type activities, digital software tools, certification and accreditation.
Questions we are keen to have explored include:
- What are the key user needs in this context?
- What are the relevant business problems customers need to solve with data assurance products and services?
- Which roles/people are responsible to solve these challenges in different types of organisations (small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large corporates, public sector)/
- How are they currently addressing/solving these problems?
- What are the current levels of customer satisfaction when using existing solutions?
- Where are the gaps in currently available services and products?
- Are there barriers to entry/ uptake of data assurance products and services and why?
- What language do people and firms engage with in terms of how data assurance products and services are described?
- What is the current impact of data assurance products & services on trust in data and trustworthiness of organisations?
This work will be published by the ODI under an open licence to improve understanding of the current market around UK data assurance products. This will help inform decisions on where the ODI and others can best support adoption of, or to offer new, products that will lead to greater trust and data sharing. The work will also serve as a benchmark for later years.
Summary and timeline
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Terms of payment
Payment of 50% the agreed contract price will be made half way through delivery, and 50% on completion.
Background
To create a world where data works for everyone, we need trustworthy data to flow in well-governed ways around the data ecosystem. Data sharing is restricted when governments and companies that could share or reuse data are unable to assess the trustworthiness of datasets or other organisations. This reduces their willingness to provide access to data they steward and to use data from third parties, leading to missed opportunities for the use of data and duplicated data collection effort.
The ODI are looking into the role of data assurance in improving data sharing by helping organisations assess, build and demonstrate both trust in and the trustworthiness of data and data practices. Organisations and individuals collecting, using and sharing data need to be confident, or provide assurance, that data is fit for purpose and trustworthy to inform their decisions and support their product and service offerings. We believe the adoption of data assurance products and services should reassure organisations who want to share or reuse data, and support better data governance practices, fostering trust and sustainable behaviour change.
We know that data assurance practices are at the heart of building confidence in the way that UK companies are run and scrutinised and we expect to see high growth in years to come, as more organisations grapple with demand to build confidence with customers, shareholders and the public.
We are commissioning a review of the customer demand side of the data assurance market to improve understanding of the customer business problem, products and services used, and where there are gaps, to improve confidence and trust in data and data practices.
This market review will build on and add to earlier related ODI work:
- In 2022 we commissioned the global marketing agency, Metia, and strategic advisors, Critical Futures, to undertake a short analysis of the market and related commercial opportunities, specifically in relation to services to provide assurance that shared data is trustworthy. This work is currently unpublished but we will share the reports and insights with the successful organisation.
- In 2021 we commissioned Frontier Economics to deepen understanding of the UK data assurance ecosystem. This work quantified the size of the supply side of the data assurance market and found a nascent but buoyant market of firms offering services focused on trust in data.
- In 2021 we responded to the UK government’s restoring trust in audit and corporate governance consultation. We argued a need for policymakers, the governance profession and the proposed new regulator ARGA to work together to increase use of data for effective corporate governance, ensure accountability of data users - including mechanisms for auditing data use, data sharing, and data re-use -, and to ensure accountability of data providers and intermediaries through provision of mechanisms for auditing data provenance and data exchange.
- In 2021 we published research into the role of certification and audit in building trust and trustworthiness in data and data practices. We found that trust and trustworthiness are highly context dependent and that third-party assessments are useful, but only to a degree, and within certain contexts. In other cases, alternative methods of building trust may be more appropriate. As part of this we began to collate a list of tools & resources related to building trust around data.
- In 2020 we commissioned Frontier Economics to evaluate the economic impact of trust in data ecosystems. This found that trust, ethics and openness around data directly link to increased data flows and value creation.
- In 2019 we commissioned Oxford Insights to undertake exploratory work around certifications for data trusts. This looked at what it would mean to give a data trust an official stamp or seal of approval by some body or group, and who this regulatory body could be.
This commission should be informed by our earlier research, and supplemented with richer information around consumer demand for data assurance products and services.
This review will help improve understanding of the current market around UK data assurance products including areas where the market is flooded, and areas where there are gaps. This will help inform decisions on where ODI and others can best support adoption of, or to offer new products that will lead to greater trust and data sharing.
Deliverables
We anticipate research findings will be delivered through a report or similar summary output, the length and format of which is flexible and can be agreed with the project lead. We are also open to other suggestions for final outputs.
Regardless of the format, the output(s) should include:
- List of personas that would be interested in better assuring the data they collect, process and share with key challenges, motivations and incentives, opportunities and barriers to uptake data assurance product and services
- Examples of the business problems customers need to solve with data assurance products and services
- List of existing key user needs in relation to products, tools and services that enable the responsible and ethical use, publication and sharing of data.
- A summary of the levels of customer satisfaction in regards to existing offering
- Gaps in service provision, in relation to user needs
- Insight into the language people and firms engage with in terms of how data assurance products and services are described
- Evaluation of the current impact of assurance products & services on trust in data and trustworthiness of organisations.
The primary audience for the outputs will be those who are interested in supporting adoption of, or offering new data assurance products that will lead to greater trust and data sharing.
The final output should be written in non-technical language, designed, proofed and in a format suitable for publishing. The output will be published by the ODI under an open licence for anyone to see and comment on. Relevant figures or findings may be used in reporting, communications and for future ODI bids.
A draft of the output should be submitted to the ODI for comments by 25 November 2022. Feedback from the ODI will be returned by 6 December 2022. A finalised version is to be submitted no later than 16 December 2022.
We expect project teams to:
- Attend feedback sessions with team members
The ODI will provide:
- Documentation and links to existing, related work
- Access to team members involved in previous and current work
Activities
The successful organisations will work in close collaboration with the ODI team to ensure the deliverables meet the needs of the project.
We anticipate there will be certain types of activity required – such as desk research, stakeholder interviews and engagement, assessment of research findings and drafting of output(s) – however applicants should propose specific activities and research methods as part of the tender response.
Form of tender response
Applications can be on behalf of a consortium of organisations. Interested parties should submit a costed proposal (in English) to [email protected], which includes:
- A short (no more than five page) explanation of your proposed project, with references to any relevant existing work or activities
- A description of why you are best placed to deliver this project
- A clear definition of the impacts, outcomes and outputs from the project, how you will achieve and measure them
- A description of the team who will do the work, including biographies
- The total value (£) of your proposal, with a break down of the costs by activity and people
- A high-level project plan identifying any key milestones
- Where required, what form of in-kind support from the ODI team would be useful, for example, to provide training, technical support etc
- Targeted stakeholders that will be approached/engaged as part of this work and proof of their commitment (where appropriate)
- Any risks and data protection considerations
If you have any questions about the tender, please contact [email protected] quoting the tender reference. The ODI reserves the right to make both anonymised questions and answers public or shared with other organisations having stated their interest.
Decision criteria
All proposals will be assessed as described in our public procurement policy. In addition, for this procurement we will be looking for:
- Evidence that the organisation collaborates with other key stakeholders, such as letters of support
- Applications submitted by a consortium should highlight how money is being spent across the organisations involved and the roles each consortium member will be taking.
- Alignment with the ODI’s goals and priority areas
- Social and environmental commitments for example, policies on inclusion and diversity in the workplace and sustainable and responsible supply chains.