Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme: Newborn Outcomes

Tender description

Summary of the work An opportunity to develop a new system to support screening activity in the Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia (SCT) Screening Programme. The solution will collect newborn outcome data for children identified by the SCT programme through Alpha, Beta and Live phases in accordance with the Government Service Design Manual. Expected Contract Length 9 months Latest start date Tuesday 1 August 2017 Why the Work is Being Done Looking to move away from a manual intensive system of data collection to a solution that continues to support the evaluation of the SCT screening programme and the performance of other organisations involved in screening, diagnosis and treatment of cases of sickle cell disease and thalassemia discovered during screening. The new solution should decrease the manual effort, reduce data duplication and lead to improved monitoring. This opportunity is supportive and in alignment with a future move towards a modular architecture for screening IT systems which will afford the reuse of technology into other screening programmes as other systems are developed. Problem to Be Solved The screening programme uses information provided from labs and treatment centres to evaluate the screening programme and measure how effective the subsequent care is. The manual system does not allow submitters to: • view status of patients along the pathway • identify patients they have responsibility for • regularly access predefined reports Current programme is centrally managed, labour intensive, using complex spreadsheets to notify key milestones in the pathway. Duplication of data entry is open to human error. No automatic confirmation of submission, nor missing alerts currently exist. Improving oversight, system access, automation, feedback and reducing data entry are pivotal. Who Are the Users The users are newborn screening laboratory scientists, administrative staff, nurses, paediatricians and haematologists. Laboratory scientists notify new cases via data collection templates downloaded from Gov.UK https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sickle-cell-and-thalassaemia-screening-outcome-data. Completed data templates are sent from an NHS.net email address to PHE. Using the same templates and processes clinical data is returned to the NCARDRS at PHE, who maintain the database. NCARDRS have approval to collect patient identifiable information on all suspected and confirmed congenital anomalies and rare diseases in England. Any future supplier will need to demonstrate that they are able to manage both the administration and support of the future solution. Early Market Engagement Discussions have previously been held with suppliers currently providing solutions similar in nature to the current requirements. Work Already Done A discovery phase has been completed which involved user engagement across all end user groups and interested stakeholders. The following deliverables were produced: - Process maps describing the current and to-be processes, user experiences, including positive highlights and negative pain-points, key findings and recommendations. Existing Team The supplier will be working with a core project management team. Access to Subject Matter Experts from across the agency will be offered at relevant periods of the programme. The programme is overseen by 1 Senior Responsible Owner. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Experienced in delivering systems that collect, and manage identifiable patient data • Must have experience in either: • rare diseases registers • screening programmes • National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Diseases (NCARDRS) register • National Haemoglobinopathy Register • Experienced in delivering systems that automatically generate notifications based on pre-determined rules • Experienced in delivering systems that provide configurable reporting • Must have completed the design and deployment of similar sized public sector systems • Experience of working in layered/modular approaches to architecture • Experience of building a system that has adhered to government/DH/NHS standards • Experience of writing clear end user intuitive systems that require a minimum of training to use and delivering training to end users • Experience of implementing test driven development and continuous integration • Experience of developing and integrating with open source frameworks • Suppliers shall provide evidence that they comply with the UK Cabinet Office Security Policy Framework or equivalent for data confidentiality, integrity and availability. This is based on ISO 27001. • Suppliers will be required to provide a minimum of 2 relevant case studies to demonstrate that they are experienced and capacity of providing similar-sized or equivalent services • Suppliers will be required to demonstrate compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 in respect of financial and personal standing • Experience of working with customer subject matter experts • NHS IG toolkit compliant at least level 2 and access to N3 network Nice to Haves • Experience of deploying an IT system, with users based in all geographic areas • Leadership in agile adoptions and embedding agile into organisations • Experience of working on a national screening programme • Experience of handing over intellectual property • Experience of remote working • Experience of working with customer side Project Managers • Experience in haematology/haemoglobinopathies Work Location The newborn outcomes data collection service team is based in London. The screening laboratories and treatment centres are dispersed throughout the country however the supplier can work remotely Working Arrangments Ideally PHE staff will work remotely from the suppliers, with face to face meetings where necessary. It is expected that the right tools will be used to allow close collaboration. To help support agile working practices, a requirements management tool, should be used during development. Security Clearance Not required, DBS checks may be required. Additional T&Cs Intellectual Property (IP) - PHE envisages negotiating the IP status of supplier software to align with GDS solution design principles and a desire for IP to vest in PHE. Termination - PHE intends to make a conditional contract award for all remaining implementation phases subject to approvals and agreement on call off terms and conditions. PHE will contract for Alpha and contracting for the remaining sprints within BETA and Live shall mirror the iterative project delivery cycle and conditional upon satisfactory completion of all open and executed Statement(s) of Works. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 10 Proposal Criteria • The proposed technical solution • The proposed approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets our business and operational requirements • How the approach or solution meets business requirement • Estimated timeframes for the work • How proposer has identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Capacity and development team • Innovation and flexibility (of the solution) Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Take responsibility for their work • Challenge the status quo Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. How does this work align with PHE IT strategy for screening? Screening programmes have a referral to treatment obligation. There's no explicit description of this capability. The newborn blood spot programme has a failsafe programme, outcomes assessment is not handled routinely by this IT system. Bloodspot outcomes lend themselves to the provision of a dedicated outcomes web interface because users are duplicating data entry and consolidation offers operational benefits.The screening programmes engage with NHS England acute estate and expect to capture information entered into clinical systems. This is not the case for blood spot programme. In 2020 newborn programme systems will be re-procured based on the new screening platform technology. 2. What is the contract value? Discovery is in the region £20-30K for alpha design, full build costs will be discussed with appointed supplier 3. How will service change be managed? Key stakeholders from NHS E specialised commissioning, patient organisations, medical, and nursing and newborn screening laboratory contributed to ‘discovery’, are fully engaged and hold positions on the project board.Three software releases are envisaged to deliver the system’s functionality. 1 – labs able to notify of new records, view list of submitted records, refer patient to treatment centre 2 – treatment centres able to ‘claim’ a new patient, provide subsequent updates on treatment and diagnosis3 – automated reporting, integration with NHR and NCARDRS, additional workflow e.g. able to redirect referral where lab has not selected the right centre 4. Could we see any of the Discovery phase documents? Discovery documentation will be shared with short-listed suppliers 5. Do the case studies have to be in any particular format? PDF submissions are preferred