Early Engagement - CQC Experts by Experience Programme (Ref: CQC PSO 123)

This is a Prior Information Notice (PIN) seeking expressions of interest from organisations who wish to participate in market engagement activity hosted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the future procurement of the Experts by Experience Programme.

Experts by Experience (ExE) are people who have experience of using (or caring for someone who uses) health and/or social care services. They take part in CQC's inspections of health and social care services and our visits to monitor the application of the Mental Health Act in health and social care settings. ExE will also help us in other ways, including gathering intelligence from the public about services in local areas to inform our regulatory practise as well as taking part in CQC consultations and delivering CQC staff training.

To aid CQC in developing our ways of working, it is envisaged that the day-to-day activities of ExE will be managed by an external organisation(s) on CQC's behalf, which will involve the co-ordination and arrangements of activities including (but not limited to):

• Sourcing a diverse range of individuals that meet defined ExE profiles • Interviewing individuals to ensure they are suitable for the role of ExE • Undertaking all pre-appointment/background checks (e.g. DBS checks) on all ExE and any support workers they may have • Carry out training of ExE, both in conjunction with CQC and separately • Organise any reasonable adjustments to enable ExE to perform their work • Allocate appropriate ExE for inspections, Mental Health Act visits and other activities • Remuneration of ExE and their support workers for carrying out their work • Provide both ongoing support and performance management to ExE - including support around benefits, and emotional support where necessary • Address any performance issues of ExE in a timely and appropriate manner • Take part in meetings and discussions with the CQC Programme Management Team • Take part in programme development activities

CQC will be carrying out market engagement activities with interested organisations to inform future development and refinement of the ExE requirements. A series of market engagement events have been arranged in Leeds (27th October), London (15th November) and Birmingham (21st November). To express an interest in attending one of these events please contact [email protected] to express an interest and for further details.

Please note should a representative of your organisation be unable to attend any of the events, you will not be disadvantaged in any potential future tender exercise - this pre-market engagement is only an exploratory fact-finding exercise and is not an invitation to tender or pre-qualifying exercise. Any information presented at the market engagement events will be made available post-event.

For more information about the Experts by Experience programme, please visit http://www.cqc.org.uk/what-we-do/how-we-work-people/experts-experience-procurement

Additional information: To express an initial interest, please send an e-mail (quoting reference CQC PSO 123) to [email protected] . When responding, please confirm your organisation's name, registered office address and contact details. It is envisaged CQC will in future be utilising its E-Tendering Portal for further communications and activity for this potential requirement. Therefore, CQC kindly requests that organisations also register themselves on CQC's E-Tendering Portal via the following weblink - https://cqc-commercial.bravosolution.co.uk.

Should you encounter any difficulties when registering on CQC's E-Tendering Portal, a dedicated helpdesk hosted by Bravo Solutions is available and can be contacted on 0800 368 4850.