NELCSU-Consulting Resource Management System

NHC currently employs around 120 consultant staff, although this number will increase. At the start of the contract we intend to buy sufficient licences for 150 users. We are considering extending the system to a related department when the contract begins which would increase the initial number of users to around 270. There is a strong possibility that the number of system users will increase over the period of the contract. In the price section we have asked for bidders to indicate the price for increasing the number of users up to 380 users.

In a year the NHC has up to 400 projects of which around 70 are live or in the pipeline at any given time. The primary need is for a system that:

• Maintains a record of the projects that are currently live or in pipeline
• Maintains a record of the staff, their skills and availability
• Shows the resource requirements of each project and how staff have been allocated
• Shows the income that each project is likely to earn
• Highlights projects that running behind or ahead of their planned resource consumption
• At the end of the project the system indicates the amount that should be charged to the client.

Most projects are sold on a time and materials basis, so the value of the project quoted and the final amount charged are dependent upon the time that consultants record against each project. However some projects (and occasionally part of a contract) can be sold on a fixed price and the system will need to be flexible enough to cope with this.

It is common for projects to be extended with the extension recorded as a new project but "linked" to the parent in such a way that it easy to consolidate information to see the whole project. Another common occurrence is for some projects to be created as sub-projects of a larger "call-off" contract.

The system should be able to produce a range of management reports showing:

• The availability of consultants currently and into the future
• The resource requirements of projects both met and un-met
• The performance of individual projects comparing planned resources with actual
• Timesheet information about each individual

The CSU operates a financial year from April to March. The system should be able to report on activity within the financial year and by calendar month.

The CSU operates a number of reporting systems for the whole organisation which NHC must contribute data to such as an income database (that feeds the ledger) and a workforce system. This system will need to be able to mirror many of the fields in these systems to ease the transfer information across.

This system will replace one currently commissioned from CMAP, where the three-year contract is coming to an end. As the contract ends mid-way through a financial year it is vital that there is no disruption to normal business. We would expect the bidder to indicate how legacy data from CMAP can be migrated into the new system.

For the purposes of this tender, NEL will be referred to as the Authority (on behalf of NHS England who is the formal legal entity for NEL as a hosted body).

This ITT Guidance document relates to the Authority's procurement of Consulting Resource Management System via the NHS Terms and Conditions for the Provision of Services ("the Procurement") and should be read in tandem with the accompanying schedules forming the ITT as a whole - see section 3.4 below.

NEL CSU is a branch of NHS England. Legislation currently planned to go through Parliament this year will reorganise much of the NHS in April 2022. CSUs are not directly affected by the (draft) legislation, however there remains a possibility that CSUs will be restructured as a consequence of changes elsewhere in the system.

Because of this uncertainty the contract length will be for a maximum of three years: one year with the option to renew for year two and year three (at the discretion of the Authority). It is envisaged that all services within the scope of the new contract will have commenced operation by 31 October 2021.

The Contract is expected to commence on 31 October 2021, with the deadline for delivery the service 30 October 2024.

Bidders are requested to review the contents of the ITT guidance document carefully, register their organisation, and express their interest in the ITT via the e-tendering portal (ProContract). ITT documentation can be accessed following initial registration and expression of interest via the e-tendering portal:

procontract.due-north.com/register ↗

Any reference to "the e-tendering portal" should be considered reflective of the above web address.

The ITT has been issued through the e-tendering portal. All Bidders wishing to participate must complete and submit Bids that comply with the requirements set out in the ITT document. Bidders are required to complete the Bid Response Document (ITT Document 9) and upload it and any attachments as indicated, onto the e-tendering portal before the deadline for submission of bids specified in the ITT document.

The advertisement on Procontract Portal can be accessed by (procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗)

The deadline for the submission of the ITT is Tuesday 06 August 2021 at 12:00