A virtual conference level digital platform to host complex & large scale events for health & care.

Tender description

Summary of the work NHS Horizons require a large scale collaboration platform that is able to bring people together virtually for large scale complex events and conferences. Expected Contract Length 12 months, with an optional extension of up to 12 months. Latest start date Thursday 1 December 2022 Budget Range £100,000 to £150,000 per annum for unlimited access to conference platform (i.e. number of events that can be run) and associated participants accessing. Why the Work is Being Done The platfrorm will provide a virtual conference space giving participants the opportunity to take part in complex and large scale events in healthcare. This allows people from across the health and care sectors to get involved in transformation and improvement events with enhanced capability, functions and features than that of applications MS Teams. As the NHS recovers from the effects of the pandemic, we need an enhanced digital platform that can produce multiple sessions, breakout rooms, broadcasts, networking and interactive functions that give people the conference experience whilst being online. Problem to Be Solved MS Teams has been proven to not met the necessary requirements of complex and large scale digital events. Participants for the Horizons activity need to have a single space where over 15,000 people can engage simultaneously and access over 100 of sessions with breakout room capbability, networking functions within the platform, broadcast capabilities, hybrid functionality, specific design functions that enabie bespoke design, platform analysis, accessible engagement and interaction. Who Are the Users As a user / client in order to execute complex and large scale events with hundreds of participants we need platform that will enable us to reach a wide audience, run multiple sessions at once with breakout room functinality, networking and with enhance communication functions so we can create a positive, interactive and technically enhanced event that is fully accessible. As and organisation we need to provide the plaform and technical support in order for transformational change events to take place. Early Market Engagement A Pre-Market Engagement Exercise was completed in July 2022 Work Already Done An initial discovery exercise was completed in 2020. A conference platform was procured accordingly for 12 months. This contract will finish in September 2022. Existing Team The supplier will be working with the Horizons team consisting of a production lead, production manager, tech team which will all work across various commissions and events Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • At least 3 years expertise in iteratively, prototyping, designing and building services which meet both user needs and the GOV.UK guidelines for content design, service design and accessibility • Demonstrates experience of running at least 500 large scale and complex events with minimum of 2000 attendees • Experience and expertise of running successful Hybrid events. • Previous experience of working with clients in the public sector. • Ability to provide bespoke production training and support, as well as in-depth analytics of events. Nice to Haves • Experience in working with health and care clients • Bespoke broadcasting features if required Work Location NHS Horizons, Cheylesmore House, Second floor, Quinton Road, Coventry, CV1 2WT Working Arrangments The supplier will work virtually with the Horizons team. Including and not limited to weekly calls and monthly progress calls. Security Clearance We are not aware of any security clearances needed as part of this procurement. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Technical Solution • Approach or solution embraces collaboration and meets shared learning • Value for Money • Team Structure and Mobilisation time • Social Value Cultural Fit Criteria • Agile and flexible to changing/uncertain requirements • Share knowledge, experience and skills with other team members Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please can you provide more details around what you would like to achieve within the breakout sessions, particularly for large events? For example, what features and functionality are you looking for, and would these be 1-many or many-many type set up? Breakout sessions would be a mix of working groups (Many2Many) and guest speakers (1 to many). Mx, number and design depends on context of overall session design and session goals. If session emphasis is on collaboration, sessions require emphasis for collaborative tools e.g. polling,sub-groups, direct conversations. If session emphasis is on information sharing/learning then greater emphasis is on broadcast tools such as pre-recorded videos,document sharing.Production wise - we need ability to interact within all the breakouts, for topic experts to move easily between rooms and to manage the transitions for the participants where necessary i.e. returning to main space.