Metadata Onboarding and Process Improvement

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done This work forms part of the Digital Innovation Hub programme (https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/digital-innovation-hubs/), a national initiative which aims to increase the fair and ethical use of health data for research and innovation. Currently, discovery of and access to health data that is available for research is challenging. Many data controllers across the UK make their data available, but there is no common route for discovering these datasets. HDR UK are developing the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway (https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/digital-innovation-hubs/gateway/), a national portal which will act as a common route for discovering and accessing data. Problem to Be Solved HDR UK have recently identified a supplier of a metadata catalogue to support the functionality of the Gateway. This catalogue needs populating with metadata from the datasets held by the data controllers. There are hundreds of datasets which could potentially be discovered across the collaborating data controllers, members of the UK Health Data Research Alliance. A team is required to co-ordinate and manage the process and work with the Alliance members and metadata catalogue team to extract the metadata and load it into the catalogue. The team will develop a standard process for doing this in a rapid, scalable manner. Who Are the Users There are two users of the metadata catalogue and associated innovation gateway: 1. As a researcher or innovator, from the NHS, academia or industry, I need to discover, understand, access and potentially link the health data that is relevant to my specific research question or innovation (such as understanding causes of disease, earlier diagnosis, developing new treatments, evaluating the impact of specific interventions or deciding on the most effective approaches for managing the NHS). 2. As a Data custodian, I want a streamlined process for making the metadata available and maintaining its currency. Early Market Engagement HDR UK has undertaken a six-month Design and Dialogue process as part of the Digital Innovation Hub programme. Through this process, we have engaged with over 2,700 people and over 350 organisations. This has allowed a detailed insight into the needs of users. For example, over 70% of users from industry identified the inability to quickly access data as being a major barrier to the use of data for research and innovation. HDR UK have convened the UK Health Data Research Alliance (https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/digital-innovation-hubs/uk-health-data-research-alliance/), a group of data controllers committed to increasing the responsible and secure use of health data for research and innovation. There are currently 17 members of the Alliance spanning national data custodians, NHS trusts and custodians of population and disease cohort data. All Alliance members have signed a letter of intent, committing to the aims of the programme and the principles for participation. Work Already Done HDR UK have appointed a supplier of the metadata catalogue, which will specify the means and format for the metadata to be loaded into the tool. This builds on development work undertaken as part of NIHR’s Health Data Finder http://www.hdf.nihr.ac.uk/ We have a provisional list of within scope datasets and are in the process of confirming Data Officers for all Alliance members who are expected to be the first point of contact for this work From September to January a development team is designing the Portal Gateway -MVP) front end, but this is unlikely to impact the dataset onboarding work. Existing Team Suppliers will be required to work alongside the HDR UK Infrastructure team: - David Seymour, Partnership Director - Gerry Reilly, Chief Technology Officer - Ben Gordon, Digital Innovation Hub Programme Director In addition, the successful suppliers will be required to work with or alongside the team providing the metadata catalogue element of the Gateway Current Phase Alpha Work Location Remotely, but will need to work closely with: 1. Health Data Research UK team at: Health Data Research UK Gibbs Building 215 Euston Road London NW1 2BE 2. Metadata catalogue team 3. Data custodians (various UK locations) Working Arrangments Working remotely and on location with Metadata catalogue team and Alliance members as required. Key members of the team will be required to attend project steering and co-ordination meetings. Security Clearance No expected specific security clearance is required, but ISO27001 certification is highly desirable. Additional T&Cs Suppliers should subscribe to the Health Data Research UK Principles for Participation, which includes a commitment to open source, open standards and open data, and FAIR data principles. Skills & Experience Recent experience working with public sector clients on data related projects. Demonstrable understanding of the relevant organisations in UK healthcare landscape Experience influencing a range of stakeholders including with data controllers Demonstrable deep current understanding of the challenges of data engineering and curation, including working with different data modalities and metadata Experience in solving complex problems in a creative ways Experience working in a fast-moving, changing environment with proven ability to support a flexible way of working Ability to adapt to short notice changes to plans Rigorous focus on delivery, over and above client requirements Delivery of repeatable high-quality outputs Understanding of research and innovation use cases of healthcare data Relevant Information Governance knowledge, skills and experience Nice to Haves No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria Approach and methodology Team structure Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Can work with clients with a range of technical expertise Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Work history Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range no commitment to minimum spend over the term of the contract. the maximum spend is £250,000 inclusive of vat.