Awarded to HUMA THERAPEUTICS LIMITED

Start date: Friday 1 February 2019
Value: £85,000
Company size: SME

Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

Self-monitoring Digital Solution for Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

19 Incomplete applications

17 SME, 2 large

22 Completed applications

21 SME, 1 large

• Published: Monday 1 October 2018
• Deadline for asking questions: Monday 8 October 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Monday 15 October 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Functionality to include (Phase 1)- Integration with (or pull in data from) a range of health technology products or wearables relevant to CF health monitoring e.g. spirometry, oxygen saturation.; ; Phase 2 - Interoperability with the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Electronic Patient Records either directly or via Care Information Exchange.
• Latest start date: Thursday 15 November 2018
• Expected contract length: We anticipate that this will be an ongoing partnership, reviewed annually.
• Location: London
• Organisation the work is for: Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
• Budget range: Supplier to propose payment approach.

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The Trust requires a partner to develop a technology solution for sharing health data between people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and the healthcare team (HCT), this will be available as a mobile application for patients (phone and tablet), and as an online portal for healthcare professionals. The goal is to empower individuals with CF to take control of monitoring their health, enabling them to share data with the HCT which in turn unlocks the potential for virtual clinical reviews and improved decision making.
• Problem to be solved: The current model of care for adults with CF does not include independent health monitoring with an option to share data with the HCT. Creating a shared platform controlled by the patient, will allow better conversations and partnership decision making.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: The users of this product will be both adults with CF and the HCT at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust.
• Early market engagement: Scouting and consultation with potential suppliers has been completed in collaboration with ICHP.
• Any work that’s already been done: The discovery phase, patient and user engagement, and co-design workshops have all been completed to establish functionality of the technology solution.
• Existing team: The supplier will be working with the Trust project leads.
• Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, Sydney Street, London SW3 6NP
• Working arrangements: We would like the supplier to work in the London area to enable regular interaction with the project team. The Trust would be open to partnerships between suppliers in order to deliver the solution.
• Security clearance: Data sharing agreement between supplier, the Trust and patients for anonymised data to be transferred.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: Risk and gain sharing agreement.

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:
  • Experience of successfully concluding projects in healthcare
  • Experience in the deployment of solutions in the area of chronic disease
  • Experience in creating an attractive and easy to navigate solution
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrate an understanding of NHS, healthcare and chronic disease
  • An understanding of the requirements provided in this document
  • Clarity over how you would typically undertake a project of this nature
  • Expected costs for a project of this nature and the basis upon which you make a commercial offer
  • Any innovation, including innovative ways this project can be achieved

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Technical expertise (20%)
  • Implementation plan including approach and estimated timeframes (15%)
  • Team structure and skills, including CVs (15%)
  • How they've identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them (10%)
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Aligned vision with project leads (10%)
  • Work as a team in a transparent and collaborative manner with the Trust, project leads and other suppliers (5%)
  • Be kind and considerate in liaising and working with the project leads and patients and be prepared to listen to and incorporate the views and experiences of the users (5%)
• Payment approach: Fixed price
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Work history
  • Reference
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  20%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Please tell us what option do you consider for the mobile application. Can it be native, hybrid or progressive web apps?: The trust will consider any option that will delivers the functionalities in Phase 1 and Phase 2.
• 2. Are there detailed requirements listed somewhere in order for us to provide a fixed price? Could we be provided with this list if it exists?: The Fixed Price engagement will help the trust to mitigate the risk of implementing a new technology against business requirements without any risk of unnecessary budget and time overruns. We feel that this is win -win for both parties. It also motivates the partners to deliver the best solution on time, within the contract price or budget. A functionality requirement will be provided to suppliers shortlisted to the assessment stage which will help suppliers to estimate efforts assuming the suppliers have extensive experience to deliver the requirement.
• 3. How will inform about the CVs of the team members? Through description?: Bidders will be required to provide briefs of their delivery team that will be delivering the project during the assessment stage.
• 4. In the additional terms and conditions what is meant by "Risk and Gain Sharing agreement"?: The trust is keen to build a contractual relationships with the preferred supplier(s) based on a high degree of trust between the parties that reward innovation and productivity. The risk and gain sharing agreement model will be discussed with the preferred bidder before the contract is finalised.
• 5. You mention 'The discovery phase, patient and user engagement, and co-design workshops have all been completed to establish functionality of the technology solution.' is it possible to see the outputs of this? Were you satisfied with the outputs from these exercises? was the earlier engagement with an incumbent or internal?: The trust is satisfied with the outputs from the discovery stage, but cannot share the output at the moment.
• 6. Would you consider an approach where third party companies with an existing solution, or similar solution, were engaged to see if there was a viable partnership opportunity? The aim would be to see if a more cost-effective route to market than building an entirely bespoke solution from scratch.: Yes.
• 7. The criteria within the 'Nice-to-have skills and experience' questions are worded around the specifics of this project. The marking criteria under the 'Evidence structure' section requires evidence-based responses ('what the situation was, the work the team did, what the results were'). Please could it be advised as to which criteria the responses for this section will be marked against?: The trust will use the Skills and experience (Skills and experience + Nice-to-have skills and experience) criteria to shortlist interested suppliers. Shortlisted suppliers will then be invited to the assessment stage. The evaluation criteria for the assessment stage is published and the high level criteria weightings are (a) Technical competence 60%, (b) Cultural fit 20%, and (c) Price 20%.
• 8. Do you require us to use a specific response template?: Not at this stage - please follow the guidance from the Digital Marketplace portal/website to express your interest and demonstrate how you meet the Skills and experience (Skills and experience + Nice-to-have skills and experience) criteria. This stage is to help the trust shortlist interested suppliers. Shortlisted suppliers will be issued with (a) written proposal template, (b) case study template, (c) reference template etc. to prepare their proposals.
• 9. 9. We assume that the 100 word limit mentioned in the tender relates to examples demonstrating how we meet the essential skills and experience, and that we can provide further text to describe our approach specific to this context, our team CVs, our partnership, costings, etc?: That’s correct; this stage is for bidders to demonstrate how they meet the essential skills and experience. Once shortlisted, bidders will have opportunity to demonstrate how they meet the published assessment methods and evaluation criteria. Shortlisted bidders will be provided with templates to fill in so that it’s easier for the trust to assess all bids.
• 10. How many people are expected to use this remote monitoring approach? Are they all currently using devices outside hospital to monitor their condition?: 300-600 patients.
• 11. Is the number of people using remote monitoring expected (or required) to increase, and do you have a plan to address this?: Yes, the number will likely increase over time as people see the value in self monitoring. We plan to approach commissioners regarding the payment of self monitoring.
• 12. Will remote monitoring be used by adult and child patients?: No just adults.
• 13. Will this approach be encouraged for all patients with cystic fibrosis?: Not sure yet. In time, yes.
• 14. Do you have resource in-house to roll out the new app?: Yes, we have some implementation resource but will be looking for implementation support from the supplier too.
• 15. Is it possible to give the expected budget range for the first year in order to allow us to then propose a payment approach as requested?: Bidders can provide indicative pricing at this shortlisting stage. Further detailed scope of works will be provided to shortlisted suppliers to allow them to determine their pricing model. We expect pricing to be formally provided after the shortlisting stage.