Fast-Track Cities London Improvement Fund

The Fast Track Cities London Leadership Group brings together non-statutory organisations, London Councils, Public Health England, Greater London Authority, Healthy London Partnership and NHS England (London), along with representatives from HIV NGOs and HIV community representatives.

The group has worked in partnership with the HIV community to develop the London Fast-Track Cities roadmap designed to show how we work together as a city to get to zero new HIV infections, zero deaths and zero stigma before 2030. The overarching aim is to improve the health, wellbeing and lives of people living with HIV in London. Public Health data indicates that in London as many as 95% of people with HIV have been diagnosed, 98% of these are receiving treatment and 97% have undetectable viral loads.

However, London's ambition is to go much further. We want to become the first global city to meet the United Nation's AIDS target of 'Getting to Zero'.

The next step will be reaching the final 5% who are undiagnosed, ending all HIV transmissions, ending HIV stigma, ending preventable deaths from HIV-related causes, and improving the health, quality of life and well-being of people living with HIV in the capital.

£3m has been identified over the next three years (£1m per year) to fund improvement projects which focus on achieving some of the specific aims of the London Fast-Track Cities Roadmap.

The Leadership Group is therefore inviting improvement project bids from across the system which will help us achieve the aims of the roadmap.

The fund is open to all organisations, or combinations of organisations, which deliver HIV services in London. However, the lead bidder must be a voluntary sector organisation.

Bids are encouraged from multiple organisations, including statutory organisations, where there is evidence that partnership working will deliver high impact and high value outcomes which contribute to achieving the specific aims of the London Fast-Track Cities Roadmap.

Bids must also be for work which is not already funded or is the specific responsibility of statutory organisations.

Bids for funding will need to demonstrate that they contribute to the overall aims of Fast-Track Cities. This means that they must support efforts to reach those living with HIV, who are undiagnosed and to maintain high treatment and care standards.

In particular we are looking for bids which focus on:

Bids may be made for between one and three years, although we will review all projects on at least a yearly basis.

Additional information: NHS England will be the contracting Authority for these contracts.

To access the bid documentation and further instructions on how to apply, please see the following website: https://www.healthylondon.org/our-work/fast-track-cities-initiative/fast-track-cities-london-improvement-fund/

The bids will be commissioned under a bespoke process based, in part, on the Competitive Dialogue process.

The process will be administered by North East London CSU and Healthy London Partnership (HLP), working on behalf of NHS England.

The services in the scope of this procurement fall within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations(Regulations 74 to 77).

Critically, these bids are not grants, we will be awarding organisations allocations with a clear expectation that each project signs up to be part of a collection of projects constituting a Quality Improvement Community. This community will be working together to measure and alter the impact of projects for the benefit of the HIV community as a whole. We will be asking all bidders to commit to being part of the Quality Improvement (QI) Community, including attending QI sessions throughout the period.

All improvement projects will receive Quality Improvement training and support. There is no need for the bids to have any prior knowledge of QI approaches or methodologies, as full training will be provided.

QI is an approach which increases our knowledge of 'what works' through data and experimentation. It ensures that improvement projects engage with and listen to staff and patients.