OPPORTUNITY NOTICE - Provision of the Development of Patient and Public Involvement in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland through an online Better Care Together Citizens' Panel

This is a call for competition. NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) on behalf of three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs): West Leicestershire CCG, East Leicestershire & Rutland CCG and Leicester City CCG, wish providers to participate in this 'Invitation to Quote'.

The Commissioners wish to receive responses to the Invitation to Quote (ITQ) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary capacity and capability (or a demonstrable ability to provide the necessary capacity and capability) to provide the range of services required.

The aims and objectives of the service are:

- Making involvement truly representative of LLR communities  The Commissioners are interested in the development of the online Citizens' Panel and how it evolves and contributes to more active online engagement and involvement.

- BCT Citizens' Panel - Overview  A BCT Citizens' Panel - which would be an online group in the main, will provide the BCT Partnership with an additional systematic approach to gathering insight and feedback on a range of health and care issues from a representative sample of our circa 1.1 million population.  the Citizens' Panel will be an addition to other existing involvement and engagement activities and provide another avenue to reach local people, predominantly in an online community  The Panel will be called upon for online questionnaires, temperature checks and from time-to-time face-to-face focus groups.

- Commissioners will expect the successful Bidder to establish the three main elements of the Panel:  The participants to ensure that are as representative of the demographic profile of the region as is possible and comprise of people who don't naturally engage  The software used for administering surveys  The database on which participant details are safely and effectively held and managed, in accordance with data protection legislation

Please see service specification for further detail. In securing services from Providers, the Commissioners need assurances of competence, governance and safety standards, just as it would for services secured under a formal tender process.

The successful provider(s) will be expected to sign the NHS Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Goods and the Provision of Services accepting all its terms and conditions.

The contract duration will be for a period of 12 months. The ITT will be live on the 20th June 2019 on M&L CSU Bravo portal (see below) and it will have a deadline for submissions of 12:00 on the 22nd July 2019. Clarifications may be asked during the procurement process with the deadline for submitting clarification questions on the exercise is 17:00 18th July 2019.

Interested providers are guided to the MLCSU eProcurement portal Bravo at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk to register their interest and gain access to this procurement's documents and more specific information.

Additional information: NOTES

"Light Touch Regime" services This procurement is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ("Regulations"). Accordingly, the contracting authorities are only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authorities are not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations. The procedure which the contracting authorities are following is set out in the MOI and ITT. As the CCG is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement.

Right to Cancel The contracting authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts, and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary. The contracting authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed. All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the contracting authority reserves the right to change these.

Transparency The contracting authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR. In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the contracting authority. Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Further information on transparency can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-and-contracting-transparency-requirements-guidance

To register on the Bravo portal If your organisation has registered previously, you do not need to re-register. 1) Register on the portal webpage at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk (registration and use of the website is free of charge).