Research Consultation Tender

Tender description

We are looking to appoint two suppliers to host, design and run our consultations , and collect, undertake analysis of and report on responses that present results clearly to our key stakeholders. Different consultations will have different levels of responsibility – for example in some cases the NMC may have more capacity to support on aspects such as setup, whereas in others it will be expected that the supplier will take full responsibility for this – such points would be discussed and agreed ahead of the start of each consultation. Depending on resourcing and anticipated size of the consultation, we undertake some in-house or use the services of an external research agency . Our consultations range in size from relatively small (less than two hundred respondents) to much larger (more than 4,500 respondents). The appointed suppliers would then be on reserve/stand-by for any need for consultation work as part of this contract. Lot 1: Suppliers will be required to fulfil certain responsibilities with every consultation on which they support the NMC. This includes:Providing advice and expertise to the NMC on the most appropriate and effective approaches to take to achieve our desired outcomes for each consultation.• Offering support in translating our consultation requirements into accessible and methodologically robust approaches and techniquesProviding advice and expertise on effective recruitment approaches for reaching our target audiences and engaging meaningfully with themCommunicating outputs clearly, ensuring these are accessible to non-specialist audiences and can be used across various platformsWe would expect the successful supplier to fulfil the following requirements for the duration of the contract:Provide advice on the approaches we should take to consultations. This includes:o best approaches for recruitment to reach our intended audiencesbest approaches for engaging with these audiences, providing rationales of why a certain approach is better suited for the given consultation/audienceProvide advice on the questions we need to ask in our consultations (where this is requested by the NMC), including:advice on how best to frame questions, based on the objectives of the consultationA track record of experience in meaningfully engaging with stakeholder audiencesAn ability and willingness to communicate research results and outputs clearly to non-specialist audiencesincluding both producing high quality written reports and presenting these clearly to these audiencesSuppliers also must have access to / ownership of high quality research software (e.g. survey software), as well as the skills needed to use these tools effectively. Any platforms used must be secure, GDPR-compliant and fully accessible. On occasion, the NMC may host a survey independently using Snap survey software but still require an analysis of free-text responses from the supplier. As such, it would be preferable is suppliers have Snap-accommodating systems they can use for analysis.Audiences we look to engage as part of our consultations can include:Professionals we regulate (nurses and midwives across the UK and nursing associates in England)Students on our approved coursesEducators at our approved educational institutionsMembers of the public and people who use health and social care services across the UK and including those who are seldom heardPeople and organisations that employ the professions we regulate and run/operate health and social care servicesOther regulators in health and social careStakeholders including professional associations and trade unionsSenior stakeholders including politicians, parliamentarians and decision-makers at local, regional and national levelsWhen engaging these audiences, the supplier must ensure their approaches are fully accessible and inclusive, including ensuring we are hearing from those within these audiences with protected characteristics, and who are seldom-heard.Methodologies and approachesThe NMC’s policy and research staff will usually develop an initial series of consultation questions and response options (either a six-point Likert agreement scale, or in some cases a three-point equivalent). Questions take the form such as ‘Do you agree with our proposal to implement x…’. After each of these quantifiable questions, they are often followed by an open-ended (qualitative) question asking respondents to expand on/explain their viewpoint. Consultation questions will be supplemented by a relatively standard set of demographic and organisation questions covering individuals and organisational respondents respectively. For instance, demographic questions ask for the age and gender of individuals. Organisational respondents are asked about what type of organisation they work for and so forth. Response options provided allow for quantification of responses.