Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Public Health England
Manor Farm Road, Porton Down
Salisbury
SP2 0QT
Telephone
+44 2083277847
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UK - UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Health
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
PHE - Corporate - ICT - PHE - Corporate - ICT- Hopin All-in-one Virtual Event Platform
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 48510000 - Communication software package
two.1.3) Type of contract
Supplies
two.1.4) Short description
Public Health England, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social and Care (DH) (hereafter referred to as "Public Health England" or "PHE" also referred to as the "Contracting Authority" or the "Authority" or the "Employer") is wishes to award Hopin a one year licence agreement for a All-in-one virtual events platform. This software has been identified as a tool to help the transition team engage with a variety of stakeholders (internal and external) at scale in order to support the large scale change that is taking place.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: £50,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - UNITED KINGDOM
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
To enable large numbers of colleagues to be actively involved in the development of the new public health system. There is a need to enable people to come together. This has to be done virtually and is not simply a large meeting that could be accommodated on Teams. To support the next stage of the programme a large scale conference platform is required. Hopin is a virtual online events platform that allows for the hosting large scale online conferencing events with up to 100,000 attendees. The platform mimics a large-scale event, providing on stage and backstage spaces including multiple meeting rooms which can all be run in parallel, allowing for people to migrate between spaces. The platform is customisable and allows for analysis of post event data to improve future sessions. This has been identified as a tool to help the transition team engage with a variety of stakeholders (internal and external) at scale in order to support the large scale change that is taking place.
Hopin is able to replicate a face to face event virtually, giving participants a different experience to any other platforms on the market:
- Virtual platform for large scale events involving over 1,000 participants.
- Ability for participants to interact with speakers and content via polls, voting, annotation, chat box, Q&A function and breakout rooms with audio and video link.
-Participants from more than one organisation
-Multiple parallel meetings/conversations (e.g. breakout rooms)
-Meeting rooms which have varying access requirements (e.g. presenter only rooms, role specific rooms, open rooms)
-Meeting rooms which have varying functional requirements (e.g. different speaking privileges, live documents, chat types)
-Over 90 minutes in length
-Multiple sequences / rounds of meetings
-Ability to both control participant movement and also let participants move freely
-Generated content (documents/annotations/recordings) to move between rooms
Large amounts of data generation (10,000+ chat words)
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Negotiated without a prior call for competition
- The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development
- The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
- absence of competition for technical reasons
Explanation:
We have previously reviewed the market and at this stage we are unable to source an equivalent software product to run large scale virtual events. We have drawn on work undertaken by NHS Horizons colleagues with NHSX to understand the market for online conferencing products, evaluate products available and the extent to which they are able to meet our functional requirements and offer a good quality delegate experience, and this Hopin product has been identified as the best / most suitable. Without this platform, we limit the impact of engagement efforts impacting on the overall success of the reform and transition programme in the following ways: Interactive Virtual events will be restricted by numbers, and the level of audience engagement will be low, this will reduce the effectiveness of large meetings in their ability to bring systems and communities together to deliver programmes of change. Therefore, a direct award to Hopin is appropriate and justified based on PCR 2015 regulations, clause 32.2b (ii), which state that; the negotiated procedure without prior publication may be used for public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts in any of the following cases:— (ii) competition is absent for technical reasons.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
Section five. Award of contract/concession
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
18 March 2021
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Hopin
London EC2A 4BX
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - UNITED KINGDOM
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £50,000
five.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Not applicable
Not applicable
Country
United Kingdom