Commissioned studies

Research for public decisions.

Governments and public institutions commission Numan Policy to study a decision they have to make. A study sets out what the evidence supports, what each option costs, and what is still unresolved.

Commission a study Read the public briefs

What we do

Four kinds of study.

Evidence review

What is known about a question, how firmly it is known, and where the record runs out.

Option appraisal

What each course of action would cost, what it commits the institution to, and who carries the risk.

Rule and standard review

What a proposed rule, standard or contract term would require of the people and markets it binds.

Programme review

What a programme already running has produced, and what has to be decided next.

Three formats

Free, subscribed, or commissioned.

FreeThe public briefsShort studies, one question each, written from public sources. Anyone can download them.
SubscriptionThe research libraryEvery subject we have taken to full length, and the ones we add next. Institutions subscribe for access.
CommissionedYour own studyYour question, your jurisdiction, your figures. Confidential, and yours before it is anyone else's.

Library

The full studies.

Subscribing institutions read everything below, and everything added after.

A brief carries the finding. The study carries the working: every source, the comparison across jurisdictions, the costings, and the limits of what the evidence will bear.

The library grows with every completed study, so what it holds this year is not what it holds next.

Digital public infrastructurePublic responsibilities and decision rights in shared digital systems.Subscriber access

Data and the public recordAccess to public records, and their retention and reuse.Subscriber access

Procurement and vendor termsTerms and exit clauses in public technology contracts.Subscriber access

AI oversightControls for public institutions that use or oversee AI.Subscriber access

Public-sector adoptionTesting early AI uses, and deciding whether the evidence supports wider use.Subscriber access

Request library access Subscription terms and pricing are being set.

How we work

How a study runs.

Four stages, and a record at the end that someone else can check.

01Scope the decision
Set the question, the legal mandate, and who signs.
02Assemble the evidence
Gather the sources, and record where the evidence runs out.
03Cost and compare
Put a figure, a risk and an owner against each option.
04Hand it over
Deliver the findings, any draft instruments, and the decisions that remain.

Public briefs