A digital community management approach to support our research, data and evidence offer

Tender description

Summary of the work We require a partner to design and deliver the digital elements of our research, data and evidence offer. They will take a community management approach to enable social care data and evidence mobilisation in Wales. Expected Contract Length 26 Weeks Latest start date Wednesday 15 September 2021 Budget Range £75,000 - £100,000 Why the Work is Being Done THIS ADVERT IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN WELSH IF REQUIRED Social Care Wales’ remit is to develop the social care workforce, improving care and support and increasing public confidence in care. We lead the implementation of the Social care research and development strategy and have a priority to support people working in social care in Wales to make use of research, data and evidence in practice, service design and policy making. This sits alongside a commitment to make better use of digital solutions. Currently those working in social care services (including policy makers and researchers) gather evidence from a variety of sources and share in ad hoc ways. We believe a more strategic approach to gathering, sharing and applying evidence, underpinned by knowledge mobilisation principles, will ultimately improve outcomes for people who work in and use social care services. We require support to develop the digital elements of our knowledge mobilisation activities: dissemination, exchange, networking, co-creation and capacity building. There is currently a Research and Data section on the main Social Care Wales website but we now need greater flexibility to support knowledge mobilisation activities, benefitting people who work across social care. Problem to Be Solved We commissioned Social Care Institute for Excellence to undertake research (https://bit.ly/2UJsLaq) to help build our approach to supporting the social care workforce make use of research, data and evidence. Regarding digital support, people told us they need: • access to summarised, current research &data, seamless access to our social care data portal for Wales (https://socialcare.wales/research-and-data) &a ‘for Wales’ repository of social research documents (https://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/) • access to online resources that build confidence&skills in understanding how to use research in practice and policy-making • an interactive map of social care practice research projects across Wales • a way of networking and collaborating with like-minded practitioners &leaders involved in generating and using research &data • ways of networking with academics &researchers • news, blogs and podcasts stimulating discussion &providing updates about research • links to pathways for research capacity development opportunities • a calendar of evidence related events We need a partner, taking a community management approach, to develop the digital technical &content elements of our evidence offer, as outlined above, ensuring we are leveraging off-the-shelf, existing solutions to enable our evidence community. Our partner should integrate research activities with our existing MS Dynamics CMR developing &utilising existing functionality standards and platforms. Who Are the Users As someone working in social care, I need to be able to find, share and use evidence to inform and improve my practice. I need to find evidence networks and opportunities to collaborate and share evidence enriched practice. As someone managing in social care who leads the development and design of services, I need to find, share and use evidence to inform the planning and organising of support to communities. I need to find evidence networks and opportunities to collaborate and share evidence enriched policies and approaches. As someone researching social care, I need to be able to support the sharing of my research outputs to improve social care practice and inform further research activity. As someone using social care services in Wales, I need visibility of how evidence is used to inform practice so I can have confidence I will receive the best support. I need my voice to be heard and used to inform and develop services. As someone working in Social Care Wales, I need to support multiple stakeholder groups to find, use, share and network about social care evidence, data, research and knowledge. We would like to define these, our audience personas and user profiles. Early Market Engagement People working or studying in social care need to be able to find, share and use research and evidence to inform and improve their practice, service planning and policy making. This is a critical part of their continuing professional development, a requirement of registration and mandated in their code of professional practice, national occupational standards and in legislation. Our discovery research with SCIE (https://bit.ly/2UJsLaq) told us that at present social care workers, managers and strategic leaders have limited access to social care research and synthesised evidence. They have limited ways to collaborate and network with each other and with the research community. They cannot easily find examples of evidence-enriched best practice or policy making or find development opportunities for increasing their research skills and capabilities. The current situation in Wales means that access to research, data and evidence is either non-existent or scattered on many different websites and platforms. People working and leading in social care do not have the time to search widely online for support. In response we developed our evidence offer (https://bit.ly/3egQLIW) which will support local authorities and others to implement the Performance and Improvement Framework(https://gov.wales/measuring-social-services-performance-code-practice-0), as outlined in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Work Already Done We recently published a Statement of Strategic Intent (https://socialcare.wales/cms_assets/file-uploads/Statement-of-Strategic-Intent-vFinal-EL3.pdf) outlining the proposed journey for social care data. We host the social care data portal for Wales(https://socialcare.wales/research-and-data) and a partner is currently reviewing and re-developing this portal. As preferred supplier you would work alongside them to ensure that the data, research &evidence offer is aligned &appears as one holistic offer to the end user. We Are Snook &Virtual College recently undertook digital discovery research &found users: • have different levels of digital access and understanding • want information presented clearly, chunked, role relevant • find balancing work and development needs difficult Existing Team The successful partner will work with a project board, whose members include: - Research & Evidence Manager (SCW) - Data and Intelligence Manager (SCW) - Assistant Director for Research, Data and Intelligence (SCW) - Digital Team Graphic Designer: Communications Team (SCW) - Evidence & Engagement Coordinators (SCW) - Stakeholders from Welsh Government - Stakeholders from local authorities - Stakeholders from academia To ensure project integration with our wider digital strategy the project board will work with the: - SRO Transformation Programme (Efficient and Effective Organisation SCW) - Assistant Director Corporate Services (Digital Lead SCW) Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Experience of building and sustaining digital communities (3%) • Experience of working with users to understand their work, operating context and constraints and implement improvements (2.5%) • Experience of finding and implementing innovative and creative approaches to longstanding barriers (2.5%) • Evidence of increasing the interoperable capability of existing services (2.5%) • Experience of blending new and off-the-shelf products to create a sustainable digital solution (2.5%) • Evidence of designing and developing services through iteration, research, prototyping and testing (2.5%) • Experience of transferring knowledge to internal staff to facilitate the long-term sustainability of the approach (2.5%) • Understanding of operating a bilingual service (2.5%) • Demonstrable knowledge of the Welsh social care legislative, policy and practice context (2.5%) • Demonstrable skills and experience in digestible and accessible content curation and creation (3%) • Understanding of the processes detailed in the Government Digital Service services manual and designing solutions that have passed an accessibility audit and meet WCAG 2.1 (2%) • Evidence of agile programme management techniques to be applied to this project (2%) Work Location Social Care Wales has offices in Cardiff and St Asaph, but we are currently working remotely. This work will engage with people across the whole of Wales. Working Arrangments Social Care Wales has an all-Wales remit. We need a partner to work with us remotely for the foreseeable future, making extensive use of online technologies. As restrictions ease there may be the need for occasional meetings in our Cardiff office. Security Clearance N/A No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrate your understanding of the brief (3.5%) • Describe the proposed technical solution (3.5%) • Provide a timeline for the work and explain how you will deliver on time (3.5%) • Describe how the approach meets the research and evidence related goals in our Evidence Offer (4.5%) • Describe how the approach meets user needs and shows an understanding of our users: their work, operating context and constraints (3.5%) • Describe the identified risks/dependencies and your approaches to manage/mitigate them (3.5%) • Describe your proposed team, including structure, role, experience and responsibilities (3.5%) • Evidence your ability to make informed decisions based on user needs, available technology and provide value for money (4.5%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Explain why you think you are a good cultural fit to work with us on our Evidence Offer (2.5%) • Share knowledge and experience with other team members with varying levels of technical expertise (2.5%) • Demonstrate how you will work transparently, collaboratively and share your approach with the project team (2.5%) • Describe how you will work as a team with Social Care Wales and with other suppliers (2.5%) • Demonstrate transparency regarding work outsourced to any other suppliers (2.5%) • Be transparent and collaborative in decision-making (2.5%) • Shared understanding of the importance of building accessible services for all (2.5%) • Awareness of Welsh language legislation and its impact on delivering bilingual services in Wales (2.5%) Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet.