Step by step Guide: Further Competition On-Catalogue

Step 1: Prepare

Confirm you have the right procedure

Further Competition On-Catalogue has a value limit that you cannot exceed.  You must terminate (and have re-procured if necessary) before you hit the limit of £250,000.

You must also be able to evaluate the Catalogue Solutions based on the information that was made available from the Buying Catalogue.  If you don’t have enough information to evaluate, or you can’t tell how much of any Associated Services you need to buy, you must use the Further Competition Off Catalogue procedure.

 Prepare your requirements

• Identify all the Service Recipients that will be receiving services under the competition.
• List the Capabilities that represent your needs. It will also help to review the Epics and identify which are the most important to you.
• Identify any services you might need: training, implementation, etc.
• Be sure to consider your local environment and any special requirements, for example, local integrations.

 Identify the volumes you need to buy and other costs that will impact total cost of ownership

Most Catalogue Solutions have a per patient price that will be based on the number of patients registered with the Service Recipient.  But some Solutions and Additional Services are based on users or other units or might be based on transactions.  You need to use the same volumes (e.g. users or patients) for each Catalogue Solution when calculating the cost of each Catalogue Solution, but the volumes may differ where different Additional Services and Associated Services will make up your order.  Be sure that you are treating all the Catalogue Solutions equally when you choose which services and how much of each service to include in your estimate and later evaluation.

You may also wish to consider your own costs that might vary depending on the Supplier: implementation, transition if applicable, training, etc.  You need to identify these costs before you begin the procurement so that they are applied fairly and appropriately to all Catalogue Solutions you are evaluating.

Confirm the evaluation criteria

The Further Competition On-Catalogue procedure has two options for award criteria: price only and Price and quality.  These are described in the Framework Agreement Schedule 2.1 in Appendix 1 and are summarised here.

The option of price only and price and quality has been provided in the framework to give you flexibility.  It is important that you follow your organisation’s Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs), particularly the choice and application of the two options.

• Price only (with no non-price Elements). Where you believe you can evaluate based on price only, with no quality constraints you might choose this option.  If you are evaluating multiple Solutions, you should calculate the total contract value as described in 5.2.4 above – and if you are taking into account any local costs – add these to get the whole life cost, and award to the Supplier of the Solution with the lowest total cost. 

Price and quality.  Where you wish and can differentiate the Catalogue Solutions that meet its requirements based on quality and price, the criteria below can be used within the ranges indicated:

You can choose one or more quality (Non-Price Elements) and apply a percentage weighting to each of them, if the overall percentage weighting totals in the range 10-70%.

The evaluation of the Non-Price elements must be based on information you can find on the Catalogue Solution Listing (including the links to specific content such as Supplier asserted integrations and the Roadmap).  Examples of Non-Price Elements that you may wish to consider from the Solution Page Listing include:

• Features
• Capabilities and Epics met
• Service level information
• Integrations
• Implementation Timescales
• Minimum technical specifications for the application and hosting
• Roadmap

You should define a scoring system for the Price criteria where the lowest price scores the highest score.  You should seek advice from your local procurement team about how to do this, as there are different methods.  You will also need to define a scoring system for your Non-Price Elements, in which the highest score represents the best price and the best quality.

Step 2: Review Catalogue Solutions

See what Catalogue Solutions are available to buy

Go to the Buying Catalogue [link] and see what Catalogue Solutions are available.  You can download further information about each Catalogue Solution.

All the Solutions listed on the Buying Catalogue are your longlist.

 Create a shortlist

Review all the Catalogue Solutions on the Buying Catalogue and create a shortlist of Catalogue Solutions that can meet your requirements by using the Capabilities and other information on the Catalogue Solution Listing.

Step 3: Evaluate

Evaluate your list of Catalogue Solutions.  If there is only one Solution on your shortlist that meets your requirement, you can appoint the Supplier of that Solution.  As part of your audit trail, you should record a justification that describes how that Solution is the only one on the Buying Catalogue that meets your requirement, based on the information about that Solution, and any Solutions disregarded, as listed on the Buying Catalogue.

Calculate costs

You must calculate the total Price for each Solution on your shortlist, considering any Additional Services and Associated Services you require, applying the volumes you defined and any other costs you identified during step 1 prepare. An explanation and examples for calculating contract cost can be found 5.2.4 above.

If you find there isn’t enough information in the Catalogue Solution Listing to identify how much of any service to buy, you will need to use the Further Competition Off Catalogue procedure so that a Supplier can respond to your requirements.

 Apply the criteria and score each Catalogue Solution

If you are using Price only (with no Non-Price Elements) select the Supplier of the Catalogue Solution with the lowest total cost. 

If you are using Price with Non-Price Elements score each Catalogue Solution using the criteria, weightings and scoring system.  The Supplier of the Catalogue Solution with the highest score is the preferred Supplier.

Step 4: Call Off Order Form and Award

Notify your preferred Supplier

Get in touch with the preferred Supplier as soon as possible.  You will need to ask the Supplier for the following information so that you can complete the Call Off Order Form:

• For Section A
  • Supplier details such as address, contract representative and a Supplier reference number
• For section C.2 if implementation is required
  • The milestone dates for implementation
  • An overview implementation plan if you want one
  • The implementation plans
• For section D.1
  • Whether the Supplier has Commercially Sensitive Information
  • Whether the Supplier has any Exclusive Assets
• Section D5.1
  • The Suppliers Data Protection Officer
• Section D5.2
  • Any variation to default Personal Data Processing information if you wish to allow them to make amends

Complete Call Off Order Form

You will need to set an initial term for the Call Off Agreement, we recommend that you set a Call Off Initial Period (see 4.1.6 above) of 12 months (or slightly longer if there is an implementation that is staged). If you don’t give notice to terminate before the end of the initial term, the contract will continue to roll monthly until you give 30 days’ notice

Signature

Once the Call Off Order Form has been completed, send it to the Supplier so that they can review and sign it.  If the Supplier agrees it is correct, they should sign it and send it back to you.

You will also need to set an initial term for each Service Instance, we recommend that you set a Service Instance Initial Period (see 4.1.6 above) of no more than 12 months. If you don’t give notice to terminate before the end of the initial term, the contract will continue to roll monthly until you give 30 days’ notice

If the Supplier thinks anything is incorrect, they will discuss this with you and you can decide whether to a) correct the Call Off Order Form and send it back to the for signature or b) withdraw the order if you disagree.

Award

Once you have both signed the Call Off Order Form, you have awarded the contract to the winning supplier.

Send a copy of your Call Off Order Form to NHS Digital at [xxxx].  For organisations in receipt of GMS funding, NHS Digital will arrange payment to the Supplier.  For all organisations, this lets NHS Digital know who has a Call Off Agreement, which enables them to notify you of any issues with your Supplier.

You should also provide feedback to the unsuccessful Suppliers; templates are available in Appendix 1: Sample feedback letter.