davidbaileyfcca finance development consultancy Winning NHS Tenders What Is A Tender? Winning NHS Tenders

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1 Objectives At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: Identify tenders they should submit Identify potential conflicts of interest Complete Selection Questionnaire (SQ) documentation Complete Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation Participate in competitive dialogue Identify the skills needed in their team 2 Programme Sources of information Conflicts of interest Types of tender NHS Collaborative procurement hubs Expressions of Interest, Selection Questionnaires and Invitations to Tender Invitation to Participate in Dialogue Organisation capabilities and creating a multidisciplinary team What Is A Tender? Who does the tendering? In simple terms, a tender is an offer to do work issued by one party to one or more others It is a job application for a service. Origin: to offer formally, from Middle French tendre to offer, hold forth from Latin tendere to stretch, extend 3 Where are Invitations to Tender Published? Tenders Electronic Daily - the online version of the 'Supplement to the Official Journal' of the EU Contracts Finder - search for information about contracts worth over 10,000 with the government and its agencies When Are Tenders Legally Required to be in OJEU? Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (rates from 1 January 2016) Central Government Other public sector contracting authorities SUPPLIES SERVICES WORKS 106, ,148 4,104, , ,148 4,104,394 Small lots 62,842 n/a 785,

2 What Should Worry Us About the Process? Repetitive pre-tender quality vetting Endless discussions that progress nowhere An over-bureaucratic process Lengthy private discussions resulting in a competitive tender open to others A fix with only one bidder considered Risk of losing intellectual capital when discussions put into the public domain and shared with others Process disproportionate to the value of the contract Competitors using loss leaders Are We Up To It? Initial Questions What are the gaps in our skills and knowledge of planning, tendering and service redesign? What extra help will we need during the tender process? What analytical and planning techniques are required? Who will have to be involved? Do we have the organisational capability? What Criteria Should We Apply? Responding will take time and money. What criteria should we apply in deciding whether to respond? What Are Conflicts of Interest? In order to ensure a fair and competitive procurement process, NHS X requires that all actual or potential conflicts of interest that a potential Bidder may have are identified and resolved to the satisfaction of NHS X. 9 What are conflicts of interest? What conflicts of interest might you have as an organisation or as an individual? How would you manage them? 10 When do Conflicts of Interest Arise? Examples of circumstances in which potential conflicts could arise include (but are not limited to) where: A Relevant Organisation or any person employed or engaged by or otherwise connected with a Relevant Organisation has carried or is carrying out any work for the CCG in the last six months; A Relevant Organisation is providing services for more than one potential Bidder in respect of this project or procurement process. How do We Declare a Conflict of Interest? Liverpool Community Services NHS Trust currently provides a range of Community Health Services which are commissioned by the CCG. This potential conflict of interest will be dealt with by maintaining a clear separation of duties between the Trust and Commissioner employees. In addition all communication between Trust and Commissioner will use the formal procurement route

3 Jargon EoI Expression of Interest SQ Selection Questionnaire ITT Invitation to Tender ISOP Invitation to Submit an Outline Proposal ISFP Invitation to Submit a Final Proposal Contracting Authority OJEU Official Journal of the European Union Who Can CCGs Contract for Services With? Commercial organisations Voluntary / Charitable organisations Mutual providers / Social Enterprises Public Bodies GMS & PMS GP practices through a separate contract 13 What Types Of Tenders Are There? Types of Procurement Procedure There are four options: 1. Open Procedure 2. Restricted Procedure 3. Competitive dialogue / with negotiation 4. Innovation partnership 1. Open Procedure Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents must be issued to all suppliers requesting one Negotiation on fundamental aspects of contracts, (especially price), which are likely to distort competition, is prohibited Restricted Procedure (1 of 2) It is a 2 stage process: 1. Selection of suppliers with the capacity, capability and experience to perform the contract (PQQ) 2. Invitation to tender (ITT) for those suppliers selected to submit proposals. 2. Restricted Procedure (2 of 2) Supplier selection is on the basis of looking at the supplier's capacity and capability, not how the organisation will deliver the requirement. Commissioners cannot consider matters specific to performance of the contract at this stage There must be a minimum of five companies invited to tender, (where there are at least five suitably qualified, experienced companies)

4 3. Competitive Dialogue Procedure (1 of 2) Used in exceptional circumstances for particularly complex procurement where a contracting authority is not objectively able to define the technical means capable of satisfying its needs or objectives A contracting authority conducts a dialogue to develop one or more suitable alternative solutions 3. Competitive Dialogue Procedure (2 of 2) There must be a minimum of 3 suppliers invited to the dialogue stage of the procedure, (where there are at least 3 suitably qualified, experienced suppliers) Innovation Partnership Procedure Used when there is research and development and subsequent purchase of a product. What Comes Before Form Filling? Engaging in the Process Completing tender documentation is not about filling in the boxes with words the CCG / LA wants to read It is about proving you have undertaken all the essential preparatory work to ensure successful implementation The documentation is the final evidence of that process. 21 Restricted Procedure: Typical Tender Timetable: EOI SQ - ITT Advertisement placed - EOI w/c 16 June 2016 Assessment Questionnaire (AQ) deadline 15 July 2016 AQ evaluation and shortlist 16 July 2016 Issuing of Invitation to Tender (ITT) 23 July 2016 Deadline for receipt of completed Tenders 1 September 2016 Evaluation of Tenders 3-14 Sept 2016 Contract Award 17 Sept 2016 Confirm offer with Preferred Bidder 1 October 2016 Contract Signature 15 October 2016 Start new service 1 April 2017 Competitive Dialogue: Typical Tender Timetable: EOI SQ ISOP- ISFP Selection Questionnaire (SQ) issued 22 August 2015 SQ Forum for interested parties 5 September 2015 Deadline for responses to SQ 16 September 2015 Invitation to Submit Outline Proposal (ISOP) 24 October 2015 Bidder session for short-listed parties. 31 October 2015 Bidder deadline to respond to ISOP 19 Dec 2015 Evaluation and short-listing Jan to Feb 2016 Competitive Dialogue with interested parties March to May 2016 Invitation to Submit a Final Proposal (ISOP) 28 May 2016 Bidder deadline response to final specification 2 July 2016 Evaluation and selection of preferred bidder Aug 2016 CCG award of contract Sept 2016 Implementation of new service. April

5 What s in a Selection Questionnaire? 1. Potential supplier information 2. Bidding Model 3. Grounds for mandatory exclusion 4. Grounds for discretionary exclusion 5. Economic and Financial Standing 6. Technical and Professional Ability 7. Modern Slavery Act Insurance / Skills and Apprentices / Suppliers Past Performance Selection Questionnaire Please describe your organisation s previous experience of providing goods and/or services similar to those required by the CCG. (maximum 400 words) Tender Process Service Model Costing the service Designing the organisation chart Researching public health information Reading the Service Specification Answering the tender questions Researching National and local best practice Completing an Implementation Plan Designing the Service Model Researching the geography Designing the activity model Recosting the service Designing the staffing structure Designing the governance structure What others? Put them in a logical order. The Service Model: Names the parts of the Service Describes their functions Shows how they relate to one another Marking Schemes Ideally, marks should be available as follows: % Suffering 35 Desperation 25 Pleading 20 Panic attacks 15 Clinical Knowledge 5 Don t Start Writing! Read the question carefully and repeatedly Analyse the question Check you understand the meaning of each term Underline the instruction words Decide what is required Start writing Answer only the question set Refer back to the question frequently Ask yourself if you're really answering the question set 29 30

6 Answering the Question An Oak Leaf to an Alien Describe an Oak Leaf to an alien. (100 words) It s living Part of a tree with thousands of others The same colour as you Makes the oxygen you breathe Looks like this "I Keep Six Honest Serving Men..." I KEEP six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest. Rudyard Kipling Writing Tenders One Technique Write down whatever you can think of about the topic, in the order you remember things. Do not structure your answers. Include irrelevant material and if you can t think of anything better, abandon all intellectual rigour. Just cut and paste anything you can find on the general topic until you get to the word count What Are the Five Rules for Tender Writing? 1. Remove jargon and use simple words 2. Reduce sentence length 3. Use active voice 4. Convert nouns to verbs 5. Write positive sentences 1. Remove Jargon Words or expressions developed for use within a particular group, hard for outsiders to understand and sounding ugly Origin:An Old French word for the twittering and chattering of birds What jargon must you remove from tender documentation to make them clear? With what would you replace it? 35 36

7 1. Simple Words Use simple words used in everyday speech rather than formal language. 2. Reduce Sentence Length An average sentence should be 15 to 20 words. Restrict yourself to one idea per sentence. On first reading: 95% of readers understand a sentence of 8 words 75% of readers understand a sentence of 17 words 4% of readers understand a sentence of 27 words Punctuation Rewrite this:., : ; - The integrated venture will serve to redress the contrast that exists with many other health economies where there is a more integrated approach to the provision of care along the continuum of acute hospital and community based services. In doing so it will deliver an integrated solution that will be more efficient, is seamless from the patient s perspective and that provides a greater degree of transparency and certainty about patient flow Use Active Voice 3. Active Voice The most common source of confusion in English is the use of the passive voice: You write tenders The boy kicked the ball The verb (to kick) is active The ball was kicked by the boy The verb is passive Subject Whoor what performs the action of the verb is the subject Verb The verbis the word that expresses whatthe action is Object Whoeveror whatever receives that action is the object

8 3. Scared by the Active Voice Why does the active voice scare us so much that we use the passive voice instead? The need to sound official. "Your request has been processed." We're afraid that patients will see us as people if we use the active voice. Passive voice creates a barrier and lets us hide from the reader. "Your request will be answered." Who will answer? No one knows! You're safe! 3. Passive and Impersonal In official English it is common to find too many passive verbs. There is also a tendency to make the language impersonal. Passive and impersonal means the subject of the sentence is absent completely The Passive Voice Identifier 4. Nouns to Verbs You can make English more vigorous by changing some nouns into active verbs. Compare the two sentences: Following our conversation a resolution to your problem has been reached. Since we spoke I have resolved your problem. The second sentence is shorter, simpler and sounds more positive. The nouns (conversation and resolution) are replaced by verbs (spoke and resolved). 45 Which nouns should you replace with verbs in Service Specifications? Nouns to Verbs You can make English more vigorous by changing some nouns into active verbs. You can change nouns and adjectives into verbs by adding the suffixes -ate, -ise, -en and -ify. Compare these two sentences: Referral criteria will be made clear. We will clarify the referral criteria. Turn these Nouns into Verbs: A report will be produced. An annual audit will be undertaken. An investigation will be launched. Compliance will be the subject of an evaluation

9 5. Positive Sentences It is not a good idea to avoid writing positive sentences It is a good idea to write positive sentences Avoid double-negatives. CATEGORY Evaluation Example Weighting WEIGHT Clinical Quality Requirement and Information & Management PASS / FAIL Price 50% Delivering Outcomes for service users and Innovation 40% Premises and Readiness 5% Interview / Presentation 5% TOTAL 100% Evaluation Example Weighting CATEGORY WEIGHT Desired outcomes of the service 1 Core components of the service 19 Partnership working 14 Activity 9 Measurement of performance 4 Workforce 14 Quality 5 Governance 5 Communications 5 Implementation 14 TOTAL 90 Objectives At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: Identify tenders they should submit Identify potential conflicts of interest Complete Selection Questionnaire (SQ) documentation Complete Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation Participate in competitive dialogue Identify the skills needed in their team 51 52