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 and cannot be used to procure Catalogue Solution (including Additional Services) that encompass one or more Foundation Capabilities.  You must terminate (and have re-procured replacement services if necessary) before you hit the limit of £250,000 (excl VAT).

 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 and the level of uncertainty will impact your selected Catalogue Solution, you must use the Further Competition Off Catalogue procedure.

The procurement preparation activity required for this procedure is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

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 will need to calculate the total contract as described later, 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.

Determine your volumes

The method of determining your volumes is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

Step 3: Evaluate

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

Calculate costs

The method of determining your total costs is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

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

This activity is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

Complete Call Off Order Form

This activity is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

Signature

This activity is the same as for the Direct Award procedure.

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 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.

Where the Catalogue Solution is to be paid for using your GMS funding allocation NHS Digital will arrange payment to the Supplier.