NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde - Achieving Good Equality Outcomes

NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde - Achieving Good Equality Outcomes

Gordon Beattie

Head of Procurement

Who Are We?

• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the largest health

authority in the UK

• We purchase a wide range of goods and services

from needles and syringes to Healthy Living Centres

and Community Engagement

• Our non-pay purchasing spend is ~£400m per annum

• Central procurement team based at Glasgow Royal

Infirmary

• We have a dedicated section of our team who

procure ‘social’ services

Who we are - NHSGG&C as a local investor

As a Local Investor NHSGGC spends approximately £400m per annum on bought in goods and services.

Working with local business and enterprises servicing GG&C’s needs :

•from local (GCC area) suppliers

•from SME’s

2008 2011

14% 30%

31% 50%

How it works - Commissioning and Procurement

The report Commissioning and Procurement in the Public and Third Sectors – A framework for action in the north east provides the following definition:

Commissioning – “the cycle of assessing the needs of people in an area, designing and then securing an appropriate service”

Procurement – “The specific aspects of the commissioning cycle that focus on the process of buying services, from initial advertising through to appropriate contract arrangements”

How it Works - GG&C Working With Social Enterprises

• Access to NHS GG&C Opportunities– GG&C procurement team advertise all tenders

over the value of £50k – http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk

• Best Value not lowest price– Seek best solutions against budgets– Contracts awarded against quality, service and

value criteria– Outcome based tenders to encourage innovation

and allow alternative solutions to be presented

How it Works - Why Tender?

• Legislative requirement to Tender– EU Directive– Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations– NHS GG&C Standing Financial Instructions

• Agent of change / Ability to innovate

• Fair, transparent and auditable process

• Contract Management and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

• Expectations, roles and responsibilities defined

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement Process

Strategic Context

Equality and Diversity requirements for the Health Board are set out in the NHSGG&C Equality Scheme (2010 - 2013) and in legislation via the new Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 which now confers the following specific duty on public bodies:

Duty to consider award criteria and conditions in relation to public procurement

Strategy Assessment StageProcurement Officers need to consider the nature of the goods or services being procured and consider the propensity to be at risk of breaching the Equality Act 2010. The following boston box should be used as initial guidance:

Value £

High

HighLow

E&D Risk of Breech

Implement Level 1Implement Level 1

Implement Level 3 Mitigation Implement Level 2

Mitigation

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement Process

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement ProcessMitigation Strategies:

Level 1: the risk of breech is low. Ensure terms of conditions include the requirements in law regarding the Equality Act 2010.

Level 2: the risk is high although the value is low. A formal Pre Qualification process should ensure suppliers have the capacity to meet the E&D requirementsOfficers should also consider including E&D requirements in the specification (e.g. no sexually exploitative advertising etc). This will apply to procurements subject to formal tender by the SFI’s. Lower value procurements at high risk will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Level 3: there is a high risk of breech and the value is high (typically over the EU Procurement thresholds).All Level 2 plusthe contract agreements must include specific performance clauses with regards to E&D E&D should form part of the award scoring criteria.

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement Process

• Create awareness of needs with suppliers (advertising, meet the buyer events etc).

• Consider whether E&D issues are relevant to the subject of the contract early in process of identifying needs

• Make requirements clear and easily understood in specifications

• Advertise requirement adequately (via OJEU / Public Sector Advertising Portal / NHSGGC internet Procurement Pages)

• Criteria for selecting bidders and PreQualification Questions (PQQs) must be relevant to the subject of the contract.

• Award criteria must be clear at the Invitation to Tender (ITT) stage. Again any social benefit criteria must be linked to the subject of the contract.

• Post Award conditions of contract should set a context for ensuring the E&D clause requirements are achieved.

Tender Specification Stage - For Level 3 rated procurements

the following areas of the specification should be clearly established :Compliance with the Equality Act 2010. Equality Management Systems to track and report on performance.Continuous improvement requirements post award including open book audits.Disclosure Scotland Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) disclosures.Proposals for ongoing delivery of Equality and Diversity Systems and Training to the extent relevant to the Contract.Proposals for Quality Assurance of the Service to be delivered under the Contract.

The above requirements should form part of the Award Criteria.

The following additional terms of the contract should be included as part of the ITT documentation:

Early termination clauses (no fault termination with 30days notice)Entitlement for the authority to terminate immediately if the contractor is convicted of specified offences at any time during the term of the contractSpecific performance KPI’s to be provided by contractorConsumer Surveys.

Procurements rated as Level 2 should be assessed on a case-by-case basis whether such additional requirements should be included.

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement Process

Equality and Diversity - The Procurement Process

Post Tender Stage - for Level 3 rated procurements

The following enhanced contract management should be considered for inclusion in the terms of the contract:

Specific performance KPI’s to be provided by contractor.

Enhanced Supplier Management (regular formal meetings)

Continuous Improvement Audits.

Consumer surveys to assess delivery performance.

Failure to provide such information and/or poor outcomes would be

considered under defect remedies including early termination.

NHS GG&C Procurement

How it Works – Tendering Key Learning's

• Procurement legislation– Prescriptive – Fair, Transparent, Non-Discriminatory

• Seek Help– Guidance is available from many organisations

• Be prepared– Read tender documentation– Plan to allow time to meet all of the dates

• Ask questions/research– The Public Contracts Scotland portal has functionality to ask

questions related to tender. All answers are posted to everyone who has registered.

– Each stage of the process states the scoring methodologyensuring information is given to allow scoring against each of the criteria.

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NHS GG&C Procurement

• Be relevant– Answer the question relating it to tender opportunity– Ensure the information provided is clearly related to tender

and question asked• Be accurate

– Ensure that your tender response is accurate– Ensure documents are edited correctly

• References– When providing referees ensure that they are able and

willing to provide a reference and that they will be available to do so.

• Meet deadlines• Seek feedback from the tender process

– You should receive constructive feedback to help improve your performance in future competitions

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How it Works – Tendering Key Learning's

NHS GG&C Procurement

Questions?Further information:

– http://www.nhsggc.org.uk/procurement• Contacts:

– Sarah Walker Commodity Officersarah.walker@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

– Rebecca Burns Commodity Manager rebecca.burns@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

– Colin Smith Commodity Team Manager colin.smith2@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

– Gordon Beattie Head of Procurement gordon.beattie@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

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