Software package and information systems

Tender description

The Open University (OU) would like to hear from suppliers about their software solutions for a student peer mentoring system. The purpose of this Request for information (‘RFI’) is to gain a fuller understanding of the cost, benefits, timeframes and feasibility of providing a secure, one-to-one student peer mentoring system and/or supporting service and gaining feedback about your: — systems solution to allow matching of mentor and mentee, — systems solution which also facilitates secure messaging between mentor and mentee, — approach to providing online support and mentoring specifically for distance learners. Suppliers that would like to respond to this pre-market engagement exercise must do so on In-Tend (https://in-tendhost.co.uk/openuniversity), details in communication above. A RFI pack is available to download on In-Tend. This prior information notice (PIN) is not a call for competition, for the purposes of Regulation 26(9) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Open University (OU) is considering the procurement of a student peer mentoring solution. The project deliverables are: (a) to provide a platform which allows (initially up to 5 000) students to communicate on a one to one basis at a distance — experienced students will act as mentors for newer students (mentees); (b) to provide a process which facilitates the automated recruitment of mentors and the ‘matching’ of mentors to mentees, whilst also allowing for some manual matching as appropriate (Note: Mentors would be assigned more than one Mentee); (c) to enable safeguarding and security at the highest level — including: (i) the ability for students to flag any concerns; (ii) for the OU team (and provider) to monitor communications; (iii) the ability for mentors and mentees to ‘opt out’ of the scheme; (d) to work in partnership with the faculty of arts and social sciences and the OU IT and Data teams in order to deliver a product/service of the highest standard to our students, and for GDPR compliance and Information Security to be at the forefront of any systems/data solutions; (e) to provide expertise in the areas of student mentoring and work with the faculty to enhance support documents and safeguarding information for mentors and mentees; (f) to provide a product or service which enables monitoring and evaluation of the schemes and measures success in terms of student completion, pass and return rates; (g) to provide a system which, if successful, could be ‘rolled out’ to the wider OU at much larger scale. This prior information notice (PIN) is not a call for competition, for the purposes of Regulation 26(9) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.