Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Nursing and Midwifery Council
23 Portland Place
London
W1B 1PZ
Contact
Gabriel Otubambo
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKI - London
Internet address(es)
Main address
one.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Other activity
Healthcare Regulator
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Research Consultation Tender
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 73110000 - Research services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
We are looking to appoint two suppliers to host, design and run our consultations , and collect, undertake analysis of and report on responses that present results clearly to our key stakeholders. Different consultations will have different levels of responsibility – for example in some cases the NMC may have more capacity to support on aspects such as setup, whereas in others it will be expected that the supplier will take full responsibility for this – such points would be discussed and agreed ahead of the start of each consultation. Depending on resourcing and anticipated size of the consultation, we undertake some in-house or use the services of an external research agency . Our consultations range in size from relatively small (less than two hundred respondents) to much larger (more than 4,500 respondents). The appointed suppliers would then be on reserve/stand-by for any need for consultation work as part of this contract.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £300,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 73110000 - Research services
- 73210000 - Research consultancy services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKI - London
Main site or place of performance
London
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Suppliers will be required to fulfil certain responsibilities with every consultation on which they support the NMC. This includes:Providing advice and expertise to the NMC on the most appropriate and effective approaches to take to achieve our desired outcomes for each consultation.• Offering support in translating our consultation requirements into accessible and methodologically robust approaches and techniquesProviding advice and expertise on effective recruitment approaches for reaching our target audiences and engaging meaningfully with themCommunicating outputs clearly, ensuring these are accessible to non-specialist audiences and can be used across various platformsWe would expect the successful supplier to fulfil the following requirements for the duration of the contract:Provide advice on the approaches we should take to consultations. This includes:o best approaches for recruitment to reach our intended audiencesbest approaches for engaging with these audiences, providing rationales of why a certain approach is better suited for the given consultation/audienceProvide advice on the questions we need to ask in our consultations (where this is requested by the NMC), including:advice on how best to frame questions, based on the objectives of the consultationA track record of experience in meaningfully engaging with stakeholder audiencesAn ability and willingness to communicate research results and outputs clearly to non-specialist audiencesincluding both producing high quality written reports and presenting these clearly to these audiencesSuppliers also must have access to / ownership of high quality research software (e.g. survey software), as well as the skills needed to use these tools effectively. Any platforms used must be secure, GDPR-compliant and fully accessible. On occasion, the NMC may host a survey independently using Snap survey software but still require an analysis of free-text responses from the supplier. As such, it would be preferable is suppliers have Snap-accommodating systems they can use for analysis.Audiences we look to engage as part of our consultations can include:Professionals we regulate (nurses and midwives across the UK and nursing associates in England)Students on our approved coursesEducators at our approved educational institutionsMembers of the public and people who use health and social care services across the UK and including those who are seldom heardPeople and organisations that employ the professions we regulate and run/operate health and social care servicesOther regulators in health and social careStakeholders including professional associations and trade unionsSenior stakeholders including politicians, parliamentarians and decision-makers at local, regional and national levelsWhen engaging these audiences, the supplier must ensure their approaches are fully accessible and inclusive, including ensuring we are hearing from those within these audiences with protected characteristics, and who are seldom-heard.Methodologies and approachesThe NMC’s policy and research staff will usually develop an initial series of consultation questions and response options (either a six-point Likert agreement scale, or in some cases a three-point equivalent). Questions take the form such as ‘Do you agree with our proposal to implement x…’. After each of these quantifiable questions, they are often followed by an open-ended (qualitative) question asking respondents to expand on/explain their viewpoint. Consultation questions will be supplemented by a relatively standard set of demographic and organisation questions covering individuals and organisational respondents respectively. For instance, demographic questions ask for the age and gender of individuals. Organisational respondents are asked about what type of organisation they work for and so forth. Response options provided allow for quantification of responses.
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
10 December 2021
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Fieldwork respondents/recruitmentIt is important that our suppliers are able to provide robust samples of participants to take part in our consultations. Ideally,these should be sourced from our suppliers’ own networks and contacts amongst our key audiences, including (but not limited to):Students on our approved coursesEmployers of the professions we regulate across different sectors and settingsPeople who use health and social care services including those from seldom-heard groupsNurses, midwives and nursing associates that we regulateOther stakeholders and partners across health and social careWhile the NMC has its own channels for engaging these groups, suppliers should be in a position to recruit participants primarily using their own networks, and not be reliant on the NMC to recruit. Suppliers need to ensure that our consultations reach diverse and representative samples of these audiences.The NMC is committed to being an inclusive organisation, and so it is imperative that our suppliers have a good understanding of how to ensure the research and fieldwork methods they use are accessible for participants with a range of needs, and coming from diverse backgrounds. This extends to the inclusion of those with protected characteristics including age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation, in our research. Participants from all backgrounds should feel comfortable in taking part in our consultations, and confident that their views are being listened to and respected. We would like bidders to demonstrate how they would ensure accessibility and inclusivity in their approaches to running research for NMC consultations.AnalysisWe want the assigned supplier to provide regular updates on the number who have responded and response patterns during the live consultation. This is likely to be on a weekly basis. This would at a minimum include the number of individuals and organisations who have responded (including organisational names). We also need to get a feel for the strength of views from the response patterns, so also expect to receive outputs from your chosen survey software (rather than any detailed cuts of the data). This would present the frequency and percentage for each response option for each consultation question. There may be occasions where we want to track respondent numbers in relation to social media campaigns. Please specify how these updates can be provided to the NMC. Please also specify how you would deal with the content of emailed/mailed letters in terms of its integration with the responses received from the online survey, for subsequent analysis. ReportingWe require expertise in producing thematic analysis from our suppliers, and reporting outputs should present insights in plain English and in a way that is accessible to non-specialist audiences. Deliverables should also help to bring the ‘so what?’ of any research to light, with analysis going beyond simply reportage of data and instead including what the broader implications for the NMC may be of a particular insight, and recommendations for how the NMC might act as a result of this.DeliverablesDepending on the project requirements, the exact deliverables will be agreed for each project separately, however as a minimum they include:a) Draft research materials for the NMC to review – e.g. survey questions; interview discussion guides – in advance of fieldwork commencingb) A final report (including an executive summary of no more than two pages) to review, that addresses the specific objectives of the consultationo The report should include differences by audience group; geographical differences; differences by diversity characteristics (such as age or ethnic group) and other factors agree with the supplier on a consultation-by-consultation basiso It should also include sample information, including any gaps by audience group, four-country coverage, diversity characteristics,