Stakeholder Relationship Audit

The overall objectives of the project are: - Gain an in-depth understanding of our existing relationships with key stakeholders - Defra, EA, DWI, Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, Water UK, CCW, water companies, water retailers, environmental NGOs, customer NGOs and parliamentarians - and how we can improve those relationships. - Have an insight into how our stakeholders perceive us as a regulator and the work that we do. - Build a big-picture understanding of the sentiment and tone of stakeholders towards the sector and towards Ofwat. - Understand the gaps and areas for improvement amongst our 14 stakeholder groups, which includes water companies, other regulators, UK and Welsh Government, among others. - Look for and discover gaps in our stakeholder relationships that we aren't currently aware of. Produce a report with an analysed set of data and recommendations that can be used to shift approach in stakeholder relationships across Ofwat. Approach: We expect the research to include: 1. An online survey of approx. 10 minutes which includes all of our stakeholders. 2. A telephone survey of approx. 15 minutes of a small sample of senior level stakeholders (around 50 stakeholders) in water companies and other key stakeholder groups across England and Wales. The scope of the project includes: The questionnaire for both the telephone and online survey is likely to include questions on: - Knowledge and engagement - Perceptions and trust - Awareness of the work we do and our future goals - How stakeholders feel about engagement with Ofwat - How can we improve our engagement and relationships What is needed: - Collaborating with the Ofwat stakeholder lead - Agree a delivery timetable once contract is agreed - Work to Ofwat templates and guidelines - Work to GDPR guidelines - A swift turnaround and for start of delivery and completed reports from contract award. Project start within two weeks, final report and recommendations before 31 March 2022 - Full project management and delivery of the project - A final product with data analysis, reporting and recommendations - Anything not identified above that will help the project achieve its objectives, with prior agreement. Out of scope: - The Ofwat communications function will provide all appropriate internal data and information held about stakeholders