Prior Information Notice (PIN) and Market Engagement for the HEE Evaluation Framework Procurement

Health Education England hold a national responsibility for supporting the transformation of the NHS workforce. This is delivered through policies such as the NHS People Plan 2020/21 and the award of Workforce Development Funding to NHS Providers and Integrated Care Systems across England.

There is a national requirement that any investment over £100k from the annual Workforce Development Fund is subject to evaluation for service benefit, workforce impact and return on investment (including economic as well as financial impact). This will ensure accountability of public funds, aid the adoption and spread of innovation, reduce duplication, create new collaborations and demonstrate the potential of Health Education England to drive workforce transformation in response to identified system need.

To provide support to regional and national HEE programme teams in meeting this expectation HEE will define and procure a framework of evaluation services externally. These will be a series of lots based on the contract value of an evaluation and services required. Providers on the framework will deliver a variety of services relating to evaluation. They will be individuals as well as small, medium and large organisations from the independent, social and education sectors. All providers will have met a minimum standard required to be on the framework. The procurement does not look to limit the number of providers on the framework.

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to advise prospective providers of the Commissioners intention.

It is our intention to hold a market engagement event on the afternoon of 22nd March 2021 from 13:00 - 16:00pm to discuss our plans and consult with parties interested in potentially bidding to be listed on the HEE Evaluation Framework 2021-25. The event will take the form of an on-line presentation and discussion organised through MS Teams outlining our current thinking, the procurement process we anticipate following, general discussion, and requests for information. The process will also provide an opportunity to network with others providing evaluation services in this field. HEE will use the opportunity to gather intelligence from evaluation services providers which may influence and inform the development of the final tender.

Please RSVP by 15th March 2021 with the name, title and contact details for attendees (a maximum of two attendees per organisation) to:

Commissioning@hee.nhs.uk

c/o Rarj Jhalli, Commissioning Officer, Commissioning Service Team

An invite to the MS Teams session will be sent prior to the date.

Additional information:

This is an exciting opportunity to be listed on an evaluation delivery framework for four years. Mini competitions from the framework will be run to award project-based delivery. The service will provide the opportunity to support regional and programme investment with robust independent external evaluation.

The contracting authority reserves the right not to proceed with the Procurement, or any part thereof, or change the requirements as necessary at any time.

It is the intention of the commissioner that the procurement will be conducted as a Service Contract using an Open Procedure under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The ITT is expected to be published late-April 2021. A separate advert will be released advising of this.