PS21167 Impact evaluation of UKRI's and R&I response to Covid-19

***** THIS IS AN AWARD NOTICE, NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION *****

This procurement is being concluded following a mini competition under the CCS Research Marketplace DPS (RM6018).

UKRI has played a critical role in the UK Government's research and innovation response to COVID-19. UKRI has mobilised a huge amount of its resource on short timescales to intervene through a combination of:

• Funding, in various forms, to support cutting-edge research and innovation aimed at understanding and/or tackling COVID-19 or its consequences;
• Targeted, financial support to researchers, universities and businesses as part of an overall package to 'steady the system' and help the R&I community face down the logistical and financial effects of lockdown.

Alongside the above, UKRI has made changes to many of its processes to make bidding for funds easier, to improve the speed of funding decisions and to some of its nonfinancial policy processes. These changes have enabled UKRI to respond in a more agile manner to the urgent need to fund critical research and innovation to address the pandemic.

UKRI is committed to evaluating its programmes and so wants to robustly evaluate the short- and longer-term impact of its response to Covid-19. Such evaluation is vital to support and inform how UKRI responds to the pandemic as it continues to unfold; and also, to build UKRI's capability and understanding of how to respond to any future pandemics or crises that may arise which once again demand a strong, coordinated response from UKRI.