Contract opportunities
Find out about contract opportunities to support Wellcome's mission to improve human health – including an overview of each project, who can apply and how.
At Wellcome, we invite organisations to apply for contract opportunities that support our mission to fund discovery research and find solutions to three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate.
We spend millions each year across a range of goods and services, including professional services, media commissions, landscape reports, research reports, equipment, software and outsourced service providers.
Here, you can find all our requests for proposals (RFPs) – including an overview of each project, who can apply and how.
Expand below to view the details of each project.
Climate and Health RFPs
In preparation for COP27, the Wellcome Trust would like to bring in a supplier to work with the research team that we are funding to turn their published scientific literature into an engaging and publicly accessible policy brief to make the case for changing our diets to help reduce methane emissions. Changing diets could be a ‘quick win’ for reducing methane emissions in the short to medium term but in order to achieve this, rapid policy and behaviour change is necessary. We expect the supplier to also do some of their own desk-based literature reviews to bring in published work from other research groups that is relevant to this brief.
We expect this brief to:
- Explain the problem, science that has been done, evidence that has been generated and the gaps that still remain, in consultation with the research team and based on an additional desk-based literature review.
- Use visual aids and infographics to make the brief engaging and accessible to a policymaker and informed, but non-expert audience.
- Provide clear, actionable and evidence-based short-, medium- and long-term policy recommendations, developed in consultation with the research team and any relevant climate and health policy or practice professionals and based on the additional literature review, including an analysis of the costs and benefits and what behaviour change will be needed by when.
Eligibility: Open to all
Response deadline: 4th August 2022, any questions from suppliers must be submitted by 22nd July 2022
Discovery Research RFPs
There are currently no RFPs for Discovery Research.
Infectious Disease RFPs
Wellcome is seeking a supplier to determine how human infection study data can be best utilised within the vaccine regulatory licensure pathway – building on previously commissioned research – to accelerate development of vaccines for people in areas that are disproportionately affected and most vulnerable to future threats from infectious diseases that are already on the rise and those with the potential to become future outbreaks.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial response deadline: 8 July 2022
Mental Health RFPs
We're looking to commission a supplier to conduct some scoping research to identify resources that currently exist to support young people and young adults to work with funders and researchers in mental health. The supplier will also work with key stakeholders in these groups to determine what resources are required for effective collaboration in the future.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial response deadline: 1 July 2022
We're looking to commission a programme of living (for example, regularly updated) mental health evidence synthesis from a Supplier. This will inform both our own work and the wider field of mental health science. It will focus on the strategic areas of priority we have identified: the discovery of personalised and effective new pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for individuals experiencing early-stage anxiety, depression, or psychosis.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial response deadline: 15 July 2022
Download the full RFP [PDF 430KB]
Watch a recording of our webinar to find out more
A transcript of the webinar is available here [PDF 122KB]
Other RFPs
Wellcome are looking for a supplier to help landscape the vast field of machine learning for drug development. Suppliers are expected to research how machine learning has been utilised, is currently being used, and how it could be used, to accelerate the drug development pipeline.
We are looking for suppliers with expertise in machine learning and/or drug development to help Wellcome find opportunities for future funding aligning with our mental health and infectious disease strategies.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Response deadline: 1 July 2022
Full Proposal deadline: 19 August 2022
We are looking for a supplier to deliver a regional analysis of the political and research funding landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean and suggest opportunities for Wellcome to engage in the region to inform our internal strategy.
Eligibility: Open to all. We encourage applications from the Latin American and the Caribbean region.
Initial response deadline: 21 July 2022
Wellcome’s Cultural Partnerships team is looking to commission an audit of the current cultural landscape, including the identification of activity and cultural agents which are relevant to Wellcome’s strategic interests in the global cultural space (for example, creative and transdisciplinary research, arts, heritage, design, music, film, literature). This project will deliver a regional analysis of the cultural landscape in specific geographies (including a potted history, key funders and key sensitivities that Wellcome should be aware of) and suggest opportunities and partners for Wellcome in the different regions.
Eligibility: Open to all
Initial response deadline: 15 August 2022
We aim to make our contract opportunities open to all organisations, however there will be instances where we provide eligibility criteria based on the specific nature of what we are looking to procure. Please see each opportunity for specific eligibility criteria.
Diversity and inclusion are central to our strategy. We want to make sure everything we do – and everyone who works with us – upholds these principles. Our intention is to work with kindness and consideration and to value the wellbeing of everyone involved in the collaboration. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please let us know.
Please send in your proposals electronically and refer to the individual RFP documents above for specific timelines and response requirements.
Grants: When funding someone to do something where Wellcome expects to receive nothing in return (except acknowledgement and progress reports), this will normally be through a grant.
Contracts: When funding someone to do something where Wellcome expects to receive something in return (such as goods, services, rights or other benefits), this will normally be through a contract.
| Grant | Contract | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rights | When we award a grant, we have no right to receive anything back – except acknowledgment of our funding and reports as detailed in the grant conditions. We can require that the grant is spent on the agreed activities, but we can’t direct how those activities are carried out. We can demand repayment if grant money is spent on something else, but not if we simply don’t like the outputs. We can terminate a grant, cancelling any future payments, at any time and for any reason in line with the grant conditions. |
When we award a contract, we have the right to receive what we are paying for as specified in the legally binding agreement. Depending on the exact terms, we will be able to require a certain level of quality and punctuality. If the supplier falls short, we may be able to make them do the work again or refund the money; we might also be able to sue for compensation. A contract can be terminated only in accordance with its provisions, which may require us to give a specific notice period or make payments even after termination. |
| Tax |
We generally won’t need to pay VAT on a grant. |
VAT is added to all UK invoices. Overseas taxes are charged as applicable. |
| Process |
Grants are usually awarded as a result of an application process, with appropriate types of review and approval. Most of our grants are awarded under our funding schemes. |
Contracts are usually awarded as a result of a procurement exercise. |
We don’t want your proposal to be limited in scope and ambition. However, there may be cases where a set budget is necessary and if so, we do expect you to submit a proposal that is within that.
This is a contract and not a grant. It should be costed as part of the supplier's budget in order to complete the activity on time and in full.
We can pay in various currencies please ensure this is clear on your proposal.
The main VAT requirement is to account for reverse charge VAT at 20% on any B2B (business to business) services received from overseas. This is to provide a level playing field for all businesses, that is UK VAT is payable on services regardless of where the supplier is based. In the case of a UK supplier, the supplier will charge UK VAT at 20% on its services. Where the supplier is based abroad, no VAT is charged by the supplier but the responsibility to account for VAT is shifted to the recipient, who then accounts for the VAT as if the supply was made in the UK.
We always endeavour to provide feedback to suppliers who make it through to the interview stage. Some panels may also provide feedback at earlier stages, but this is at their discretion.
Unless specified on the RFP all contract opportunities are open to all organisations including individuals.
If the lead organisation is working with a sub-processor (collaborator), that sub-processor does not have to complete the Third-Party Risk Assessment form.
The lead organisation must however tell Wellcome who is their sub-processor and send us their independent security certificate and/or security audit report for review as required in the Third-Party Risk Assessment form.
We cannot contract to any countries on the HSBC sanctions list.
If you would like to stay up to date with contract opportunities, then please register your details here.
By completing this form you consent to be added to our contact database and be contacted via email when new requests for proposals are uploaded to Wellcome's website. There may also be occasions when we contact you about contract opportunities that are not listed on the website.
The Procurement team supports Wellcome on all matters relating to procurement. We operate as business partners who provide guidance and run procurement exercises with our stakeholders.
Please do not use this address to submit expressions of interest or proposals. Please refer to the email address provided in the relevant contract opportunity document as to where these should be sent.
Here, you can find some of our previous RFPs that have now expired, including an overview of each project, to enable suppliers to understand the format and structure.
The Strategic Partnerships team is seeking an individual consultant to provide dedicated expertise on Climate and Health partnerships work as well as support Wellcome’s wider Strategic Partnerships function.
Eligibility: Individual consultant with partnerships expertise and strong understanding of the climate and health research ecosystem
Initial response deadline: 7 July 2022
Wellcome would like to partner with BIOVAC to commission a report, based on a literature review/landscape analysis, on how to build an enabling environment for the African continent to increase its end-to-end manufacture of vaccines. We are interested in understanding what the barriers to vaccine development and manufacturing on the African continent are and what strategies and actions can be taken to increase the manufacture of vaccines.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial Response Deadline: 27 June 2022
Wellcome’s Discovery Research team aims to design new funding activities to reduce barriers that are slowing down and/or blocking progress in the field of Bioimaging. Wellcome has a history of supporting innovation in bioimaging and our current portfolio of investments has supported work that ranges from new tools and technologies to infrastructure and data repositories. We want to progress our work even further and identify new key areas where Wellcome investments in bioimaging methodologies, equipment, tools and technology development (across the scales of life, from atoms to humans) will afford field-opening, filed-shaping and field-advancing opportunities.
The purpose of the RFP is to commission a delivery partner to provide critical insights on the following fundamental questions:
- What are the nascent technologies/methodologies in the field of bioimaging that will enable researchers to formulate new hypotheses and address new fundamental questions for life, health, and wellbeing?
- What are specific barriers (in terms of technology, methodology, hardware, software, and access) that are limiting progress in the field of bioimaging in both High-Income Countries (HICs) and Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)?
- Who are the key leaders on an international level that are driving development in the field of bioimaging?
Wellcome is intending for this piece of work to equally cover both, the UK/HIC and LMIC landscape, addressing the different needs in both settings.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Response deadlines:
Expressions of Interest – 20 May 2022
Full proposals – 6 June 2022
We’re looking to appoint a bold and creative agency/consultant to determine how we can best use photography to advance our brand and strategy. As well as reviewing the effectiveness of Wellcome Photography Prize as a vehicle for our brand, we need to better understand how our audiences respond to photography and how to ensure the imagery we use reflects our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial response deadline: Closed
We’re looking to commission a team to identify and evaluate the properties, strengths, and weaknesses of selected measures for depression, anxiety and psychosis and to produce a toolkit for their use by researchers, funders and journals. The team will also produce an implementation plan to encourage the uptake of common metrics by key stakeholder groups.
Eligibility: Open to all countries
Initial response deadline: 5 May 2022
Download the full RFP [PDF 573KB]
Watch a recording of our webinar from 11 April 2022 to find out more.