Data Services for Research Excellence Framework 2029

The UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 team is seeking a data services provider to support the next cycle of research assessment across UK higher education institutions. The successful supplier will provide research output data, metadata, and integrated services to support REF 2029 submission and assessment systems, handling approximately 200,000 research outputs. Key service requirements include: bibliographic matching, metadata provision, citation data provision, supply of versions of record, classification and validation of research outputs, assessment allocation to expert review panels, audit support, and eligibility checking. The service must be robust, automated, and scalable to operate across two phases—submission (output classification and validation) and assessment (reviewer allocation, supporting material supply, and audit analysis) across up to 34 disciplinary units of assessment. This is a pre-market engagement notice to assess supplier capability, market appetite, and indicative costs. Interested suppliers should contact ddatprocurement@uksbs.co.uk referencing DDaT26374 to access the full specification draft and validation questions. The final procurement route remains undecided and will be informed by this market consultation.