Executive Search Services

This notice is intended to provide interested suppliers with the opportunity to gain an understanding of a potential Department of Health (DH) requirement for Executive Search services. The attached documents are therefore draft and for Information only, may change and may not fully reflect any eventual final versions.

The DH Appointments Team manages the recruitment and selection process for Public Appointments that are made by the Secretary of State for Health. Ministers decide on whether or not to use executive search for these appointments and decisions are made on a case by case basis, dependent on the profile of the appointment and challenges to recruitment of a particular post. Our appointments include high profile Chair and Non-Executive Director appointments to DH’s Arms-Length Bodies, including for example, NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission.

To ensure open competitions attract the very best candidates and a wide and diverse field of applicants and for some campaigns target specialist groups, there is sometimes a need to use executive search to support a campaign. The Department of Health is looking for an organisation to provide primarily, executive search support for key public appointments. Support may also be required for any other appointment for which Ministers have an interest and agree that search support from the DH contract may be used.

The Department’s default position is not to use executive search when recruiting to public appointment. This also reflect the Government’s general view, and the Minister for the Cabinet Office (whose permission to use Executive Search is required) will only agree to the limited use of search.

However, there are occasions when Ministers may, as part of the wider recruitment process, choose to use executive search support to strengthen the candidate field. This can be particularly important for key national roles, for certain specialist roles and for engaging with hard to reach groups, where even targeted advertising and use of social media can have limited effect. Search can be particularly effective in engaging with senior figures in the commercial/private sector and generally with those whose experience is out of the health and social care sector.

The Contract is expected to be for a period of up to 12 months, with an optional extension of a further year. The Invitation to Tender is currently expected to be issued during early May 2016, though this is subject to change. Please see attached draft Procurement documents for Information. Interested suppliers may provide comments and feedback on the information provided, via email to supplier.helpdesk@dh.gsi.gov.uk Please mark the email fao Paul Eagleton. Concise feedback should be provided by the 12th April to allow time to consider any salient points, and if applicable build amends into the Invitation to Tender documentation. DH reserves the right to not proceed to Tender / Contract for this requirement.

Additional information: Draft documents only