Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
NHS England
7-8 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4AP
Contact
Aarron Chapman
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Health
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
NHS England- Provision of Tiger Teams to Support EPR Delivery
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 75122000 - Administrative healthcare services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Frontline Digitisation (FD) programme is working with provider organisations to support them in reaching a minimum level of digital capability (as defined by the Digital Capabilities Framework) and to have an electronic patient record (EPR) in place by the end of March 2026. For the purposes of this service, provider organisations are defined as NHS secondary care Trusts providing acute, specialist, community, mental health, and ambulance services.
To fulfil this ambition, the FD Programme are seeking a partner to create an experienced, multi-skilled, rapid response intervention service also known as a Tiger Teams service, capable of supporting EPR Delivery across England.
This service will be an expansion to an existing comprehensive support offer available to providers, designed to support the national demand for resource, expertise, and information necessary to successfully rollout EPRs.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £13,333,333.33
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 75122000 - Administrative healthcare services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKI31 - Camden and City of London
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The current expectation is that the service will be a single operator framework (i.e. a framework agreement awarded to a single supplier or a single consortium), which will be statement of work-based, with set deliverables defined for each work package which will be individual to the discovery / intervention required for each Trust. Any call off contracts awarded under the framework will only be initiated by NHS England (not directly by NHS providers). Please note that the Contract Authority may elect to use a different sourcing route to the single-supplier framework approach described above.
The budget available to spend on this framework will be approximately £16,000,000 (inclusive of VAT) for the delivery of work packages (Statements of Work) to providers. Please note that this is a call off contract only and the full value of the contract may not actually be realised if the demand is not required.
The procurement will be conducted via an open tender and advertised through Find a Tender Service.
The service will need to provide the following to achieve its aim of increasing the quality of EPR delivery and reduce the risk of poor EPR deployment, which, in turn, will reduce the potential loss of benefit of EPR deployments in England:
• Sourcing of NHS experienced, highly skilled resources, who can be deployed to support a work package at a provider organisation at any point of its EPR Programme Lifecycle.
• Sourcing and deployment of resources to support any provider on site across England in a timely manner.
• Flexibility to increase and decrease resources quickly to meet the demands of the service.
• Organisational working knowledge of best practice of EPR design, delivery, optimisation and usability and it's management.
• Knowledge transfer and retention within the NHS, including working with and alongside staff using a buddying-style approach, thus building skills and expertise which creates a more sustainable resourcing model going forward.
• Ability to build up a cohort of operators with specialist knowledge (cells) that can be deployed across the system on similar tasks, thereby enabling and accelerating the setting up of a virtual centre of expertise.
EPRs are notoriously complex to implement, and the maturity of the digital, data and technology (DDaT) workforce across England is varied, with providers having varying degrees of experience, and skills to implement successfully.
Often during EPR delivery, there is a requirement for either a planned, or unplanned, specific, time-bound skill set, capable of providing a set of deliverables, problem rectification or other specialist intervention for an element of the EPR Programme. Trusts are finding it increasingly challenging to obtain good quality, skilled short-term resources, both from the recruitment and contingent labour market.
To support Trusts to alleviate this issue, this service will provide Tiger Teams, defined as a group of highly skilled, experienced resources, commissioned to deliver a time-boxed service on behalf of the Trust where other attempts to fulfil the requirement have been unsuccessful.
The level of support provided to a Trust is set out in the FD Programme’s operating model. Universally, FD provides various assurance reviews for all Trusts throughout their EPR programme lifecycles to support them with their programmes. The assurance process highlights areas of good practice and strength, in addition to areas of concern, which require addressing to improve the quality of the programme.
The second tier of support the FD programme provides is via an FD Support Offer function, supported by a delivery partner, to provide knowledge, advice, guidance and training to Trusts. The Support Offer consists of the following:
• Collaboration - Connecting with Each Other
o Communities of Practice Forum
o Supplier-based Peer Networks
o Procurement Peer Networks
o Peer-to-peer Partnerships
• Knowledge - Sharing Best Practice
o Webinars, Events and Drop-in Sessions
o Guidance and Documents
o Lessons Learnt
o Blueprints
• Expertise - Upskilling and Actionable Learning
o Subject Matter Expert Support
o Self-learning Toolkits
o Targeted Intervention Support
o Learning Labs
There was also access to partially funded resource through the DDaT graduate recruitment programme, with ongoing recruitment to the end of March 2024.
Despite the wealth of support available, there is a requirement to further support Trusts with hands-on, ‘boots-on-ground' interventions to ensure that certain critical activities to resolve challenges, including the associated upskilling and knowledge transfer, are undertaken in a timely and robust manner, increasing the likelihood of a timely and successful implementation. It will also avoid the costs, risks and reputational damage associated with a delayed and / or sub-optimal go-live in addition to the impact required for the Trust to course-correct.
The FD programme is not resourced to provide hands-on targeted support into Trusts at the scale required, therefore an additional service is required to ensure the success of the overall programme and individual Trust EPR deployments.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £13,333,333.33
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Start date
1 April 2025
End date
31 March 2026
This contract is subject to renewal
Yes
Description of renewals
NHS England proposes to enter into Contract(s) until 31st March 2026 with the successful Tenderer(s).
The initial contract term shall expire on 31st March 2026 with the potential for twelve (12) months in extension periods.
The anticipated service commencement date is 1st April 2025.
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
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
Open procedure
four.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement
Framework agreement with a single operator
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number: 2024/S 000-001929
four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
20 November 2024
Local time
12:00pm
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until: 19 May 2025
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
20 November 2024
Local time
12:00pm
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: No
six.3) Additional information
The framework agreement shall include the following organisations in the United
Kingdom and their respective statutory successors and organisations created as a
result of structural re-organisations or organisational changes:
• Central government departments and their executive agencies
• Non-departmental public bodies
• National Health Service (NHS) bodies, including Clinical Commissioning Groups,
NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts, their subsidiaries, NHS GP’s, a special health
authority and a local health board in England and Wales and other constituent
bodies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• All Local Authorities
• All Combined Authorities
• Police forces and other emergency services, fire and rescue services, the
maritime and Coast guard agency
• Educational establishments
• Registered social landlords
• Registered charities
• Devolved and other administrations within the British Isles
• Healthcare providers in the Channel Islands
• NI Public Bodies
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The High Court
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
Country
United Kingdom
Internet address
https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/
six.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures
NHS England
Skipton House, 80 London Road
London
SE1 6LH
Country
United Kingdom