This opportunity is closed for applications

The deadline was Friday 10 March 2023

Department of Health and Social Care

Social care data access project, user needs discovery - BC16292

21 Incomplete applications

15 SME, 6 large

42 Completed applications

34 SME, 8 large

• Published: Friday 24 February 2023
• Deadline for asking questions: Friday 3 March 2023 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 10 March 2023 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Off-payroll (IR35) determination: Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply
• Summary of the work: DHSC is seeking DDAT professionals to undertake a discovery to inform the development of a new digital product to support data-driven decision making and access to data across the social care sector.
• Latest start date: Sunday 30 April 2023
• Expected contract length: Expected to be 10 weeks, 8 weeks for engagement and 2 weeks comprised of finalising deliverables
• Location: No specific location, for example they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: Department of Health and Social Care
• Budget range: Up to £100,000 ex VAT. A detailed breakdown of costs is required within the proposal.

About the work

• Why the work is being done: In People at the Heart of Care, and Data Saves Lives, the department committed to improving access to data across the adult social care sector. Working with local authorities and care providers, DHSC is putting social care data on a longer-term footing, improving the quality and timeliness. Alongside improvements in data quality, access to and use of these new data is critical to delivering our ambition on data and social care reform. Building on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 dashboard that shared adult social care data with national government and local authorities, DHSC will develop a new digital product to enable the sector to have access to relevant data and analysis and enables them to make better decisions, launching in 2024. This discovery will inform alpha and beta design and is required to be completed in Q1 23/24.
• Problem to be solved: "The overall problem statement is: How do we enable appropriate and effective sharing of data across the adult social care sector? ; ; There are multiple organisations that collect and publish data from across the sector e.g. NHSE, CQC, Skills for Care, local authorities etc. which can make it difficult to pool and draw relevant insights at national, regional and local levels for national government, local authorities, care providers and others. ; ; This discovery is the first step of the wider project to deliver a digital product to answer this and is essential to ensure we understand the needs of end users."
• Who the users are and what they need to do: "The primary end users of this product will be officials in LAs, social care providers and DHSC (incl. ministers). Secondary users could include other government departments, health and care bodies, and researchers. ; ; For example, a local authority will want to use data and insights to support commissioning of services. Care providers, will want to use data and insights to support care provision. National government, will want to use data and insights to support policy and operational decision-making. ; ; Note that the data maturity of the different users within each organisation will vary, e.g. some will be analytically focussed, others will have limited data backgrounds. "
• Any work that’s already been done: "The team have already engaged with many contacts in the sector to make them aware that this discovery work is coming and have gained some initial commentary or references to existing projects which we can share with the successful supplier.; ; DHSC has already done separate engagement with the ASC sector in order to understand different actors' needs in terms of provider level data, understand how data is currently shared/collected and to get an idea of provider's preferences. We will share summaries of feedback from prior engagement activity with the successful supplier."
• Existing team: The existing team consists of policy professionals analysts from DHSC and from the NHS Transformation Directorate (NHS TD), including the Strategy & Data team and Analysis, Data Science and CLD team. Particular contacts will be Strategy & Data Lead, Strategy & Data Programme Leads and Analysts.
• Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: "The work will be conducted remotely, but the supplier can ask to meet the DHSC team in person if they require, at their own expense, either at Leeds or London:; ; Leeds: DHSC office, Quarry House, Leeds, LS2 7PD; London: DHSC office, 39 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EU"
• Working arrangements: The supplier will be expected to run fortnightly meetings, remotely, with DHSC to update on their progress. The supplier will be asked to attend a final meeting, again remotely, to present the final findings.
• Security clearance: All must have BPSS as a minimum.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: All expenses must be pre-agreed between the parties and must comply with the Cabinet Office (CO) Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy. All vendors are obliged to provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures so that the processing meets the requirements of GDPR and ensures the protection of the rights of data subjects. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/

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:
  • A proven track record of delivering successful discovery projects for new service design
  • A good understanding of the use of digital products in the public sector both at national, regional and local levels
  • Experience in delivering products or leading discovery phases with a public organisation.
  • Significant user research experience, including experience of carrying out user research in line with service manual recommended practices; and experience in and capacity to perform in-depth engagement with stakeholders.
  • Have experience designing services for users with varied levels of digital and data literacy, particularly including those with low levels of digital and data literacy.
  • A working knowledge of the ASC sector, including a good understanding of the different actors in the sector and their data use.
  • Experience working with health and care data.
  • Ability to communicate and share findings and produce conclusions for stakeholders with a range of technical expertise, including those with no technical experience.
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Have a detailed understanding of digital & cyber security standards
  • Experience delivering discovery and digital products with a wide variety of stakeholders with complex and opposing view who require careful stakeholder management

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 4
• Proposal criteria:
  • Describe how you propose to meet the requirement and problem statement, setting out your approach and methodology (30%).
  • Describe how the team you are proposing to undertake this work is structured has the relevant skills and experience to deliver the project (50%).
  • Set out a project plan with proposed timelines for delivery, including identification of risks and proposed mitigation (20%).
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Experience of proactively engaging with stakeholders to progress a project and communicating in an appropriate manner for the audience.
  • Transparency and honesty when sharing findings, especially when sharing findings from stakeholder engagement exercise.
  • Experience in working collaboratively with teams to facilitate knowledge transfer.
  • Can work with clients and stakeholders with low technical expertise and strong views.
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Additional assessment methods: Work history
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  70%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Could you confirm when you define ‘the social care sector’ whether this includes organisations which support individuals who are self-funders?: This covers the entirety of the Social Care Sector including self-funders. Initial focus will primarily be on data available from care providers and local authorities, but we want to understand wider options for future expansion.
• 2. Could we request some information on the tech stack we will need to take into consideration for this project?: We are currently too early in this process to discuss a tech stack. A key outcome of this discovery process will be to give us insights into what we would need to incorporate in scope- and specification-setting for the final product.
• 3. Can you confirm the contacts you engaged within the sector? Were there any external suppliers for example?: We discussed this project at a top-level primarily with end users, e.g. local authorities, provider and local authority-representative organisations, NHS England and CQC.
• 4. Will there be a presentation/interview as part of the tender/evaluation process?: No, Evaluation will be determined from a proposal that should be written to demonstrate meeting the technical competence, cultural fit and availability outlined in the specification.