Official UK procurement notice
RFI: AISI - Post-Award Research Grant Administration
Authority: Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Artificial Intelligence Security Institute (AISI), a directorate of the former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is seeking information from the market to help test the feasibility, deliverability, and commercial attractiveness of a proposed requirement for the AISI Grants Portfolio.
The AISI funds external research through competitively awarded grant programmes. Awards are made to universities, research institutes and non-profit organisations. The Authority currently administers grants in-house and is considering whether a specialist delivery partner could provide all or part of the post-award administration function for future grant programmes.
This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to inform the Authority's understanding of market capability and delivery models. This engagement does not constitute a procurement process and places no obligation on either the Authority or participating suppliers.
The Authority's current portfolio comprises approximately:
- £20m of live grant funding;
- around 100 active grants;
- individual grants ranging between £100,000 and £1,000,000;
- typical grant durations of 6 to 24 months.
Future programmes are expected to be broadly similar in nature, although scope, scale and delivery models may change.
The grants are primarily research-focused and commonly involve:
- UK universities;
- overseas universities;
- research organisations;
- non-profit entities;
- collaborative research projects.
The Authority is seeking information on supplier capability to deliver post-award grant administration services.
For the purposes of this engagement, "post-award" includes all activities following the Authority's funding decision, including due diligence activities conducted prior to execution of grant agreements.
The assessment of applications, evaluation of proposals and selection of grant recipients will remain the responsibility of the Authority and its expert reviewers and are not within scope. Accountability for each grant remains with the Authority under GovS 015: Grants. Any operating model will retain the Authority's grant manager in a decision-making role, with defined thresholds for what a delivery partner may decide and what must be escalated.
Potential activities may include, but are not limited to:
- issuing and executing grant agreements using Authority-provided templates;
- managing amendments, variations, novations and extensions;
- managing monitoring and reporting processes;
- validating claims and expenditure submissions;
- administering payment schedules and disbursements;
- administering grants to overseas recipients;
- managing underspend, reprofiling and no-cost extensions;
- supporting suspension, recovery and clawback activity;
- operating assurance, audit and counter-fraud controls;
- maintaining grant records and management information;
- undertaking grant closure activities and record retention.
The Authority is keen to receive feedback from established grant-administration providers, specialist organisations, SMEs, new entrants and other organisations with relevant delivery experience.
The Authority currently anticipates that, should it decide to proceed with a procurement following this preliminary market engagement, the opportunity would be conducted through the Fund Administration & Disbursement Services Dynamic Purchasing System, RM6322 (“FAADS”).
You do not need to be an existing supplier on the Fund Administration & Disbursement Services DPS, RM6322 (“FAADS”), to respond to this market engagement. Suppliers that are not currently appointed to RM6322 are encouraged to consider applying to join the DPS if they may be interested in participating in any future procurement. Further information about RM6322 and the supplier application process is available through the Crown Commercial Service Supplier Registration Service: Fund Administration & Disbursement Services DPS (FAADS) - GCA
The RM6322 application process and this RFI are independent:
- completing the RFI does not result in appointment to the DPS;
- applying to the DPS does not constitute an RFI response; and
- neither activity guarantees that a procurement will proceed or that an organisation will receive work.
RFI responses are requested solely to help the Authority understand market capability, delivery models, commercial viability, risks and implementation considerations. Responses will not be scored and participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in a future procurement. The Authority does not guarantee that a procurement will take place or that RM6322 will ultimately be used.
CPV: Administration services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Science, Innovation & Technology buys Administration services (CPV 7510), and who usually turns up
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Administration services (CPV 7510) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 23 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid4% / 40%
2–316% / 50%
4–628% / 0%
7+52% / 10%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate64% / 29%
Within ±2%36% / 43%
Above estimate0% / 29%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7510Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 10 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid40%
2–350%
4–60%
7+10%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 25 Sept 2026, 13:50 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 13:50 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091020- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077aa2Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
25 Sept 2026 → 31 Dec 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published32 days ago25 Sept 2026, 13:50 BST
- Market engagement17 days ago10 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
This Request for Information is issued for preliminary market engagement purposes only. It is not an Invitation to Tender, a procurement process, or a commitment by DSIT to procure any goods or services. DSIT reserves the right, at its absolute discretion, to amend, pause or discontinue this engagement and is not obliged to proceed to a procurement, issue tender documents, award a contract or enter into any commercial arrangement as a result of this RFI.
Participation in this RFI is voluntary. DSIT does not commit to cover any cost incurred in the preparation or submission of any response to the RFI.
Responding or failing to respond to this RFI will not preclude the respondents from participating in any future DSIT calls or requests for information or other opportunities.
Responses will not be formally evaluated or scored, and participation in this RFI will not advantage or disadvantage any supplier in any future procurement. If a procurement is launched, it will be conducted in accordance with applicable procurement law and all suppliers will be treated fairly and transparently.
Suppliers should clearly identify any commercially sensitive information included in their response.
The RFI questions are organised under the following sections.
- Organisation information
- Experience and Capability (Mandatory)
- Commercial Model (Optional)
- Risks and Dependencies (Optional)
- International Delivery (Optional)
- Due Diligence and Assurance (Optional)
- Systems and Reporting (Optional)
- Frontier AI research (Optional)
Please complete survey here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/A2HGiemFA4 ↗
The deadline for responses is 23:59 BST, 09/10/2026.
DSIT reserves the right to follow-up and ask clarification questions on any responses.
The guidance provided also accompanies the associated question within the Microsoft Forms survey. If you require a Word version of this request for information, please contact Emma.bracey@dsit.gov.uk.
In each section, please feel free to include as much relevant information as you like (responses limited to 4000 characters). All questions require a free-text response unless otherwise specified.
Note that questions denoted with an asterix, *, are mandatory.
Please provide answers including indications of where answers are actual or anticipated or where the information requested is currently unknown (for example subject to ongoing development).
- How the information provided will be used and treated
AISI wishes to use this RFI to help test the feasibility, deliverability and commercial attractiveness of the proposed requirement.
In the course of responding to this request for information, you have provided information about yourself ('personal data'). DSIT are the 'data controller' for this information, which means we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it.
In providing the information requested in this document the respondent confirms that they are giving written consent that the information provided may be shared with other departments, agencies, public bodies, and subsidiaries owned by the above, and their advisors. If any information is shared within government, it will be anonymised and will not identify any specific individual or organisation who provided it.
Information provided in response to this Request for Information, including personal information, may be disclosed in accordance with any applicable law (including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004), by order of a court or as required by any body or inquiry which has the power to compel disclosure.
The RFI participation process, including how to send responses, appears in the section directly after the questionnaire, below. If the respondent wants the information provided to be treated as confidential, they are asked to please inform us. No commercially sensitive information will be shared outside of government. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances. For any questions about this process, please email: emma.bracey@dsit.gov.uk.
We will process any personal data included in the responses for this Request for Information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws.
The information gathered will not be used beyond the stated purpose without explicit permission.
- The type of personal information we collect
We will collect and process the following personal data:
Personal identifiers (name and contact details).
- How we will use your data?
We will use your data to understand the origin of your submission - see above "How the information provided will be used and treated" in the RFI document for more information.
The lawful basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is: Legitimate interests. As such, we will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it or one that is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent separately to use it for that new purpose.
- Who has access to your data?
Access to your data held by DSIT will be limited to staff within the department who need to view it as part of their work in carrying out the purposes described above.
Your personal data will not be shared outside of the department. Where information from the responses is shared wider, it will be anonymised.
- Retaining your data
We will retain your personal data for no longer than one year. Anonymised and non-personal data may be kept for up to four years for statistical purposes.
- Where we store and use your data?
Your personal data will be processed in the UK within secure UK government systems which use the Government Microsoft 365 environment hosted in UK-based data centres. As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will be shared with our data processors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case, it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, the use of Standard Contractual Clauses or a UK International Data Transfer Agreement. We will not make additional copies of personal data to store outside of this environment.
To exercise your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details below.
- How to contact us?
If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information or are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department's Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details below;
DSIT Data Protection Officer,
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology,
22-26 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2EG.
Email: dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk
If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ ↗
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 63 days31 Dec 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Sept 2026, 13:50 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender