Prior Information Notice (PIN) for the Foundation Programme (FP) Assessment - Health Education England - NHS/SoEPS/17.389 PIN

NHS South of England Procurement Services, acting on behalf of Health Education England (the Commissioner) will be commencing a tender for the delivery of Foundation Programme (FP) Assessment.

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to advise prospective providers of the Commissioners intention.

HEE are seeking to procure a provider organisation(s) [Provider or Providers], to provide a robust and relevant assessment method for applicants to the UK Foundation Programme (UKFP).

This is with the aim of incorporating technological advancements and competitive selection methodology to provide a valid and reliable tool, which will allow for the ranking of applicants for the purposes of allocation.

The method must also provide a means of withdrawing applicants who do not meet the national person specification.

The tool must be flexible to allow applicants to access the tool in the United Kingdom and if possible outside of the UK.

This will be a content and delivery service(s) commissioned by Health Education England on behalf of the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO).

Multiple providers will be considered be procured to achieve the outcomes for both content and delivery of the assessment.

The purpose of this ITT will be to solicit professional, properly defined and costed propositions and solutions.

The information provided in the specification, when published, will help Bidders to evaluate their suitability and assess if the Bidder meets HEE specific requirements.

The content and delivery must be ready for the testing phase in December 2019 and upon successful completion will cover the application process for UKFP 2021 (December 2020 / January 2021), UKFP 2022 (December 2021 / January 2022) and UKFP 2023 (December 2022 / January 2023).

Service commencement of FP recruitment will therefore begin in March 2020 for a 3-year period.

The contract will initially be four years with the option to extend by up to a further 24-month period at the discretion of the contracting authority.

The maximum envelope for this programme is £850,000 per annum (inclusive of VAT) with the intention to reduce costs wherever possible.

The commissioner reserves the right not to proceed with the Procurement, or any part thereof, or change the requirements as necessary at any time.

The ITT is expected to be published week commencing 07 January 2019.

A separate advert will be released in January 2019 once the ITT has been published and is open for submissions.