Website for the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC)

Description

Summary of the work The new Patient Safety Commissioner for England requires a website to ensure visibility of the Commissioner's work as an advocate for patients in relation to the safety of medicines and medical devices. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date Wednesday 1 February 2023 Budget Range 80000 Why the Work is Being Done The first ever Patient Safety Commissioner for England (Dr Henrietta Hughes) took up the post in September 2022 and requires a website to ensure the work of the Commissioner is visible to patients and the public. In leading a drive to improve the safety of medicines and medical devices the Commissioner will want to publish information about the work of the Office, including explaining the role and governance arrangements, publish reports, updates on work and good practice etc. The website needs to provide people with a means of contacting the office, e.g. through an online contact form. Problem to Be Solved A website for the PSC so that patients and members of the public can access information about the Commissioner's work and be able to navigate its structure and content in a user friendly and accessible way. A simple brand design and logo for the PSC to be incorporated into the website. Secure the website in accordance with the technology code of practice and ensure the website is compliant with Government security standards. Ability for the PSC team to update the content of the website with content. Meet accessibility standard WCAG 2.1 and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-technology-code-of-practice and technical code of practice and use the gov.uk design system (code standards). Compliance with Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (PSBAR) by ensuring that the website meets WCAG 2.1 AA and has an accurate and up to date accessibility statement in the format defined under PSBAR. PSC should be able to create, edit and delete website content through a browser and not need any software or browser add-ons to be installed on their device. In line with the Department's and Government guidelines, create a simple, brand design for the PSC. Only PSC team members should have access. Who Are the Users As a patient/member of the public/healthcare professional/other interested party I want to find out more about the Commissioner's work and be able to contact the Commissioner's Office. As a patient I want to be sure it's ok to share sensitive personal information about what's happened to me on the 'contact us' form on the Commissioner's website. As the Commissioner's Office staff, we want to be able to add/edit/remove/refresh content from the website easily and seamlessly within our own team and not be reliant on a third party. Early Market Engagement We attempted to conduct an engagement but received no response. Work Already Done None Existing Team Mainly two staff from within the Commissioner's Office - the Head of Communications and Engagement, and a Senior Executive Officer (SEO) Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Design a website that provides information and will include a contact us form where individuals can make enquiries • Has a front-page with the logo of the PSC (once created) and a picture of the Patient Safety Commissioner. • Tabs that are to be included are: About Us, Our Work, News and Blogs and Our Reports • The About Us section must contain a page on: Background to the Commissioner role being established, a letter from PSC to the public • Include a Search function (very important) • Include hyperlinks on tiles with photos, images of reports • Include a banner at the bottom part of the screen with Sign up for newsletter button, Follow us, contact us, press, privacy policy, cookies, accessibility. • Compare favourably with the Children's Commissioner website: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/ • Have previous experience of delivering successful projects of a similar nature. Please give examples. • Have previous experience of applying and meeting compliance with Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (PSBAR) to ensure websites meet WCAG 2.1 AA. • Have previous experience of meeting Government security standards • Have experience of undertaking user research experience • Have previous experience of brand creation that can successfully be applied to a website Work Location The work will be conducted remotely, but the supplier can ask to meet staff from the Commissioner's Office in person in Central London if they require and at their own expense. Working Arrangments The supplier should keep in regular contact with the Office staff to update them on progress - and in turn the Office staff will be responsive to requests from the supplier for information/clarification. Weekly Teams calls as a minimum in addition to email contact as required. Security Clearance All must have BPSS as a minimum. Additional T&Cs Standard contract No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology you will use to meet our needs (20%) • Set out a project plan with proposed steps and timelines for delivering a website within 6 weeks (35%) • Relevant skills and experience to deliver the project (35%) • Training/knowledge transfer to enable Office staff post go-live to create, edit and delete website content without software (5%) • Set out how a proposal for the maintenance element that may be required (for up to 3 years) (5%) • Ability to engage with stakeholders in a respectful and compassionate manner • Experience of proactively engaging with a client to progress a project and communicating in an appropriate manner for the audience • Experience in working collaboratively with teams to facilitate knowledge transfer Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate experience of proactively engaging with stakeholders to progress a project and communicating in an appropriate manner for the audience • Demonstrate transparency and honesty when sharing findings, especially when sharing findings from stakeholder engagement exercises. • Demonstrate experience in working collaboratively with teams to facilitate knowledge transfer Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Work history Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. You mention timelines for delivering a website within 6 weeks. Do you have an immovable deadline for setting the site live? The Office of the Patient Safety Commissioner has statutory obligations to conduct a public consultation, this will need to be hosted on our website. We will look favourably on suppliers who can meet our deadline. 2. Have you any preference for which content management system would be used? We do not have a preference on the content management system used. 3. Does the £80k budget exclude or include VAT? The budget includes VAT. 4. Can the Authority, please elaborate further on the requirements for the below question: Have previous experience of meeting Government security standards. While the Office of the Patient Safety Commissioner is independent of the Department for Health and Social Care we will use the same IT facilities and are therefore keen to ensure robust and rigorous security requirements to align to those used for a Government website. Moreover, we intend to run data gathering exercises on the website and want to ensure these are done with a high level of rigour. Finally, it is possible that via the site patients will submit information of a sensitive nature, this needs to be handled appropriately. 5. For some of the questions, EG:-Tabs that are to be included are: About Us, Our Work, News and Blogs and Our Reports-Include a Search function (very important)Do we need to just confirm we can or is the authority looking for examples also We will look more favourably on suppliers who can direct us to examples of previous work. 6. Due to the coming Christmas break and that this opportunity is due on the first day of the new 2023 working year, will the authority look to extend the deadline by a few more days We have no plans to extend the deadline at this stage. 7. For a simple website, why is the contract length” 2 years”? We would be looking for ongoing maintenance and expansion of the site as time progresses, with regular updates. We also plan to launch consultations via it and this may also include the collection of data. 8. Can you describe your expectations for the search functionality? We expect to use the website to publish reports, host best practice and provide transparency and accountability. In addition, we’ll be working with multiple different groups and want each to be able to easily find information which is right and relevant to them. 9. You note “Have previous experience of brand creation that can successfully be applied to a website”Are you expecting a new brand to be created for the Patient Safety Commissioner as part of this project? Yes. Branding and logo as part of this project. 10. Given the Office of the Patient Safety Commissioner has recently been set up it looks like your primary goal is to get a website up and running as soon as possible to help enable your work. If so, is a minimum viable product (MVP) approach acceptable? Basically, ensuring you have a useful, working website by your deadline that can then be extended in the future in response to user needs? Or are you expecting a fully featured website from launch? Yes, we expect expansion and evolution of the site over time. We are happy to explore what an MVP could look like in interim. 11. You note the contract has a length of 2 years and you want a website launched within 6 weeks. What services do you expect to form part of the project after the initial website launch? We would be looking for the provider to host the site and provide maintenance. We also plan to launch consultations via it and this may also include the collection of data which will require evolution of the site. 12. Do you require the supplier to host the website? Yes. 13. You note “Have experience of undertaking user research experience” and a timeline for “delivering a website within 6 weeks”Are you expecting user research to form part of this project, since with a short timeframe this may be challenging to do meaningfully. We expect user research to take place over a longer-term horizon as part of the website's evolution. 14. What form functionality do you expect on the website? Your brief notes a simple contact form, in answers to other questions you note ” we intend to run data gathering exercises on the website and want to ensure these are done with a high level of rigour.”Can you expand on this data gathering exercise and can you indicate if this will form part of this project? In the future we could look to run data gathering exercises through the website to hear from patients and use their stories in publications. I would want to make sure the website was set up with that in mind to ensure that if we choose to, we have the appropriate underlying security structures/capabilities for sensitive patient stories. I would expect that we would discuss with the supplier about longer term projects such as any data gathering exercise and how we manage that within the existing budget or additionally. 15. Re: Compare favourably with the Children’s Commissioner website: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/ please could you expand on what aspects you are looking for a favourable comparison. Is it the design, interaction, speed of loading, functionality and/or something else? The Commissioner is impressed with the use of visualisation on the Children’s Commissioner website. She also thinks its easy to navigate. 16. You have requested delivery within 6 weeks. If this includes a period of discovery and user design iteration, then we would recommend a minimum of 8 weeks. Is this acceptable? We would be happy to discuss the timeline with suppliers. Although given the need to fulfil statutory requirements we will look more favourably on those who are able to deliver within the six-week timescale. 17. Does the budget of £80,000 include hosting, support and maintenance. If so, over how many years would these ongoing elements need to be provided? Or is the £80,000 for discovery, build and launch with hosting, support and maintenance covered through a separate budget? We would expect to discuss ongoing costs related to hosting, maintenance and support with the successful bidder. 18. The first 8 criteria under “Essential skills and experience” appear to be website requirements, not criteria you are looking for in suppliers. I would recommend you remove these from essential skills and place then within the “About this work” section.Can you confirm if you want responses to these first 8 questions from suppliers since these do not follow the normal DOS essential skills question format? We note your recommendation and comment but confirm that we want responses to these first 8 questions 19. It seems the experience questions for this application are actually requirements and we’re not sure how they can be answered? We cannot coach you here. Please answer how you think fit. 20. What user research have you done to validate your user needs (wants)? As with the other similar question if it is asking what research we’ve done in the PSC Office then the answer is none yet, we’re still a small team which his just getting up and running. While we’ve spoken to patient groups it's been more general than specifically what they want from a website, hence the comparison with the Children’s Commissioners site which we think is good 21. As per DOS5 guidelines, are we correct that for all questions you are looking for a single example/case study except for question “Have previous experience of delivering successful projects of a similar nature. Please give examples.” where you are specifically asking for multiple examples? Single examples will be fine, but we will look more favourably where multiple examples are shown. 22. As per the GDS service standards, please can you tell us what discovery research and user research has been done? What are the user needs to inform the website build? None yet, we’re still a small team which his just getting up and running. Whilst we’ve spoken to patient groups it’s been more general than specifically what they want from a website, hence the comparison with the Children’s Commissioners site which we think is good. 23. Do you intend to make the website multilingual as part of this project or in the future? Or is this not a requirement? We may explore this in the future, but we don’t have plans to do so at this stage.