Engineering research contracts

• The five suppliers that won the most engineering research contracts took 19% of them (41 of 218).
• Contracts awarded per quarter held steady across the period.
• The median contract, £99k, is 23% above the median across consulting & accountancy contracts (£80k).

1. 1Highways England32 contracts£5.5m
2. 2Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs24 contracts£2.4m
3. 3Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)16 contracts£423m
4. 4Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)16 contracts£11.6m
5. 5Food Standards Agency16 contracts£5.1m
6. 6Environment Agency16 contracts£1.4m
7. 7Department for Transport14 contracts£10.1m
8. 8RSSB9 contracts£1.1m
9. 9Met Office7 contracts£504k
10. 10Health and Safety Executive5 contracts£955k

1. 1Arup14 contracts£8.5m
2. 2WSP10 contracts£1.5m
3. 3AECOM7 contracts£4.0m
4. 4Fera Science Limited7 contracts£2.2m
5. 5Jacobs5 contracts£599k
6. 6British Standards Institution (BSI)4 contracts£2.2m
7. 7AtkinsRéalis4 contracts£508k
8. 8Arcadis4 contracts£425k
9. 9UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)4 contracts£399k
10. 10Cambridge University Technical Services Limited4 contracts£311k

Latest

• R&D Vape Analysis (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £1k

  Home Office to University of Kent · Awarded 29 September 2026

• EN18324 Phase 2 - Support Services (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £750k

  Department for Transport to Systra · Awarded 28 September 2026

• TTDC3066 - UK SAF Clearing House: Delivery Partner (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £857k

  Department for Transport to University of Sheffield · Awarded 28 September 2026

• Development of New National PNT Resilience Standards (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £500k

  Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to RIN Enterprise Ltd · Awarded 25 September 2026

• Exposure and Effects of Veterinary Medicines and Pesticides to Aquatic Wildlife in Protected Sites (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £42k

  Natural England to University of Hertfordshire · Awarded 24 September 2026

• Molecular Analysis of Water Primrose (Ludwigia) (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £80k

  Environment Agency to CABI International · Awarded 23 September 2026

• Road and Rail Noise measuring tool (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £300k

  Department for Transport to AECOM · Awarded 22 September 2026

• EU harmonised surveillance of AMR E. coli and Salmonella found in beef and pork (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £71k

  Food Standards Agency to Hallmark Meat Hygiene Ltd · Awarded 22 September 2026

• Research Services - Benchmarking the Value of XBRL and structured data in an AI-Driven Reporting Environment (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £68k

  Financial Reporting Council to Lancaster University · Awarded 21 September 2026

• 1049366347 T1418 Opportunities for battery-powered trains to improve the safety and efficiency of the 3rd rail DC network (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £180k

  RSSB to ANDROMEDA ENGINEERING LTD · Awarded 17 September 2026

Largest

• DSIT NMS - NPL Energy and Environment (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £363m

  Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to National Physical Laboratory · Awarded 9 February 2026

• DSIT – NMS – LGC Chemical and Biological Metrology (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £32.9m

  Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to Local Government Chemist Group · Awarded 12 March 2026

• SIT NMS – NEL Flow Programme (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £15.0m

  Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to TÜV SÜD · Awarded 22 July 2026

• Centre for AI Measurement (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £10.5m

  Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to NPL Management Limited and National Physical Laboratory · Awarded 21 January 2026

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Monitoring, Modelling and Atmospheric Data Analysis Services (official notice, opens in a new tab)

  £9.8m

  NPL Management Limited to Met Office · Awarded 14 September 2026

Commissioned scientific and engineering research that informs technical standards and government policy.

• Research for highway and rail standards
• Hydrogen and energy technical research
• Rail engineering compatibility studies
• Road safety research on street layout and design
• Technology innovation needs assessments for net zero
• Food system mapping and food surveillance sampling design
• Technical delegate and representation roles on international technical programmes, such as IEA Technology Collaboration Programmes

• Social research (see Social research)
• Programme evaluation (see Impact evaluation)
• Sector market sizing studies (see Sector and market studies)
• Experimental product development: not catalogued in this industry

• Nuclear engineering
• Technical assurance

• Literature review
• Market analysis