Awarded to Olive Jar Digital

Start date: Monday 30 March 2020
Value: £55,000
Company size: SME

Health Education England

Learning Disability and Autism Workforce Digital Service

14 Incomplete applications

12 SME, 2 large

8 Completed applications

7 SME, 1 large

• Published: Wednesday 4 March 2020
• Deadline for asking questions: Wednesday 11 March 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Wednesday 18 March 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: HEE requires a supplier with experience of developing digital education resources, who will be working with HEEs Learning Disability and Autism Programme Team, Digital Communications Team and Communications Team to develop a digital workforce development service.
• Latest start date: Thursday 26 March 2020
• Expected contract length: 4 months
• Location: No specific location, for example they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: Health Education England
• Budget range: £30K to £55K

About the work

• Why the work is being done: A review of the learning disability and autism workforce identified several issues including:; •People recruited are often mature with previous experience, this service will seek to increase recruitment of a broad range of people.; •High level of attrition with a lack of opportunities for professional development. The service will aim to increase retention through raising visibility of progression pathways.; •A lack of opportunities to develop key skills for both the specialist and wider workforce. The proposed service aims to facilitate skills development.; ; To address these issues, a mutli-professional learning disability and autism workforce career framework was recommended to be developed. ; ; The service will raise the profile of careers within learning disability and autism, attracting a broad range of people and retaining existing staff. It will communicate opportunities; entry points, career options, progression and development; education requirements, costs and funding opportunities.; ; The HEE Learning Disability and Autism Programme Team have split the development of the service into two parts. Part 1 has been commissioned and now in the final stages of delivery. This comprised of a body of work to map and produce content for a multi-professional career framework for learning disability and autism, showing the career, education and funding pathways.
• Problem to be solved: Build on outputs from Part 1 to deliver a learning disability and autism workforce digital service to meet end users and stakeholders’ requirements. The service could deliver single or multiple digital packages suitable for end users and stakeholders. ; ; It will possess functionality for end users and stakeholders to access information on careers, education and funding pathways. It will be easy to navigate, logical, intuitive and engaging. It could include a range of digital content determined by feedback from users. This may include case studies/videos.; ; Conduct user needs research with a sample of potential end users and stakeholders to:; -Identify user needs and expectations in finding and using information to start, progress or switch to a career within learning disability and autism.; -Inform the potential integration of the HEE Learning Solution, following the GDS process. This may include individual/phone interviews, online testing, surveys and focus groups, using wireframes and prototypes.; ; Iterate through an alpha phase of development to arrive at a prototyped solution. Provide a report detailing the results of the research and recommendations.; ; Define and outline the specifications of the Minimum Viable Product to go into Beta development.; ; Build a Beta product of the solution ready for public Beta.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: The users are the current and future workforce including people with lived experience, families, those working in other sectors/fields, job seekers, students, people already employed in the sector, employers, careers service, schools, colleges, universities and people looking to change careers.; ; The users need to find and use information that will enable them to enter, switch or progress a career within learning disability and autism. This includes education requirements, costs and funding opportunities.
• Any work that’s already been done: Part 1 mapped and produced content showing the career, education and funding pathways for roles and careers within learning disability and autism across health and social care. ; ; Some user testing and recommendations on how information should be presented and information flows.
• Existing team: The successful supplier will be working with members of the HEEs Learning Disability and Autism Programme Team, Digital Communications Team and Communications Team.
• Current phase: Not started

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: HEEs Learning Disability and Autism Programme Team, Digital Communications Team and Communications Team are distributed teams, therefore open to working with suppliers from any location.
• Working arrangements: We will want the specialist/team to be outcomes focused rather than to work for set times in set locations. So, we will want the specialist/team to work on dedicated, pre-planned activities with planned outcomes.

Additional information

Skills and experience

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

• Essential skills and experience:
  • Possess demonstrable experience of conducting user research activities and outputs
  • Provide evidence of capabilities to engage with users via quantitative and qualitative user research and testing throughout the development process, including running user research workshops
  • Possess demonstrable experience of digital online learning services
  • Demonstrate experience of building and user testing prototypes during the Alpha & Beta phase. Demonstrate expertise in managing the complete Alpha process
  • Demonstrate experience of progression through Private Beta to the Public Beta phase
  • Possess demonstrable experience of analysing and developing actionable recommendations from user research
  • Possess demonstratable experience of taking proof of concept to delivery of a resource
  • Provide evidence of a strong capability to deliver user experience design, ideally aligned to GDS principles
  • Provide evidence of expertise in accessibility, specifically WCAG compliance
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrate experience of working with public and Government health departments and arm’s length bodies
  • Show evidence of successfully completing GDS assessments
  • Experience of working in the area of Learning Disability and Autism

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 3
• Proposal criteria:
  • Evidence of delivering user research activities and outputs in line with the Government Digital Service’s Design Principles and Digital Service Standard
  • Evidence of developing a proof of concept for a digital development project
  • Evidence of building a prototype for a digital development project
  • Evidence of delivering a resource for a digital development project
  • Evidence of analysing and developing actionable recommendations from user research
  • Approach and methodology. These must be compatible with HEE’s commitment to Agile, user-centered and data-driven design as expressed in the GDS Digital Service Standard
  • Meeting user needs. The proposal must show a realistic approach to developing solutions using an existing backlog, capturing, prioritising new requirements and stories as work progresses
  • Estimated timeframes for the work. The proposal will be evaluated to determine if the work and the approach can realistically deliver the Alpha within the time available
  • Team structure must support the full range of activities needed to fulfil the project’s objectives and be able to undertake training and engagement activities with relevant HEE staff and stakeholders
  • Value for money. The proposal must represent good value for money when compared with similar ones both within and outside HEE and across different sectors
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Work in a very transparent and collaborative manner with our organisation
  • Be open to including members of the in-house team to be part of the user research activities
  • Take responsibility for their work
  • Provide examples of how they would devise tests and information on how they would implement checks and reviews of their output
  • Work with clients with low technical expertise. Supplier should explain how they bridge gaps between technical expertise of their team and the knowledge of the HEE team and stakeholders
• Payment approach: Fixed price
• Additional assessment methods:
  • Work history
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  70%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Exactly what internal people/skills will be available to be part of the team working on this service?: The Learning Disability Team, Digital Communications Team and Communications Team will be available for consultation on the planned Programme of work, queries, challenges or risk/issues but will not work directly on the project or form part of the project team
• 2. Can you please confirm the exact scope expectation for the specified budget? Does this budget need to include Alpha and Beta phases or Alpha only? Are you expecting to have a service in Public Beta at the end of the 4 months period, for the specified budget?: The work includes Alpha and Beta phase. At the end of the 4 months HEE wishes to have a service ready to launch in Public Beta.
• 3. Does Part 1 constitute a Discovery and is there a discovery report which can be shared?: Part 1 does not count as discovery for Part 2. The product/services delivered in Part 1 will inform delivery of services for Part 2, this includes content and career pathways for a learning disability and autism. Some user feedback has been gathered. Outputs from Part 1 and user feedback will be shared with shortlisted suppliers
• 4. Who is the incumbent supplier that has undertaken Part 1 and will they be tendering for Part 2?: The supplier who is completing part 1 is Improving Prospects LTD. The tendering for part 2 is open to all suppliers registered on the digital marketplace.
• 5. For 'Possess demonstrable experience of digital online learning services' do you mean development of digital online services or just knowledge of them?: To fully meet or exceed the requirement the supplier would need to have developed a digital online learning service.
• 6. Which level of accessibility should the solution be compliant with?: The solution should be WCAG 2.1 AA compliant
• 7. In Alpha phase, do you expect to prepare the final prototype in HTML/CSS or can it be static wireframes? What is the expected final outcome?: We would expect a coded, clickable prototype
• 8. Will HEE support the supplier in gathering sample end users for workshops? E.g. do you expect the supplier to reach all types of the mentioned end-users? Does the supplier need to find and recruit end users to involve them in research or will you provide access to users?: HEE will be available for consultation but not form part of the project team. Where possible HEE will assist the supplier or provide opportunities to identifying end users. HEE wishes for the supplier to reach as many of the end-users as specified
• 9. Are mobile and tablet devices included in the project scope?: The digital service requirements are to be established in the Alpha phase, this may include mobile and tablet devices.
• 10. Will people with autism be using the application/service: HEE wishes to promote roles and career opportunities within learning disability and autism to everyone. The NHS supports inclusive recruitment and promotes Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
• 11. GDS guidelines require that the prototype is tested with end users. Do you require that the prototype is tested with people with disabilities and impairments?: Yes, the prototype will need to be tested with people with disabilities.
• 12. Are you planning for the service to be formally assessed against the Beta Service Standard?: The service will not need to be formally assessed against the Beta Service Standard
• 13. Please could you provide an example of a digital learning service ? Also does developing systems in Higher Education provide suitable evidence for 'Possess demonstrable experience of digital online learning services': Examples of a digital learning service include www.e-lfh.org.uk and www.genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk