Scale up IRSP application to undertake new clinical trial services

Description

Summary of the work "The requirement is to improve the performance and usability of the IRSP by scaling up its capacity at the application level: • Increased capacity in terms of numbers of involved practices and patients per study • Increased number of studies to operate in parallel. • Increased study management flexibility " Expected Contract Length 1.5 years, wherer MHRA are looking for the work to completed withn that timeline. Latest start date Tuesday 4 January 2022 Budget Range We expect each development sprint to cost circa £31,000 over 12-18 months, within a capped budget of £1.3 Million (inc VAT) Why the Work is Being Done This IRSP Scalability project is aimed at the further development of the platform with a focus on increasing the capacity to run concurrent services at scale. There is a focus on developing the capability of CPRD’s new Speedy Recruitment into Trials (SPRINT) service. The launch of the CPRD SPRINT service is written into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) plans for the future of UK Clinical Research Delivery. Additionally this work is to support increased use of the platform to deliver Clinical Trial Management services, academic patient referral studies and GP Questionnaires over the next 5 years." Problem to Be Solved "The original concept for IRSP was as a platform to deliver point of care randomised electronic health record based clinical trials (CTIMPs) – so called pragmatic trials, based in primary care. The DECIDE trial was successfully run on IRSP and two further NIHR funded data enabled trials are now being delivered using the platform. However, further new services are not able to run on this existing platform due to the limitations and constraints both non-functional and functional areas of the system. Further scalability is required on the the recruitment component of the platform to create a new service SPRINT (SPeedy Recruitment INto Trials), a system to facilitate rapid recruitment into phase II to IV clinical trials in any setting. This represents a rapid, more efficient and cost effective approach to recruitment. It aligns with the DHSC public health objectives around the future of UK Clinical Research Delivery. " Who Are the Users As a System (IRSP), I want to scale up as the number of subjects, studies, GPs, practices/sites increases so that I can always contain the numbers without breaking or crashing. Early Market Engagement None Work Already Done As part of discovery CPRD's business analyst has conducted number of workshops with the users to establish the high-level requirements. No development work on this has commenced. Existing Team The supplier will be working with CPRD's technology team, aka Health Data Science (HDS) team, responsible for the landing, processing, and making available CPRD's data for use by observational and interventional researchers. HDS consists of data, development, infrastructure and project management expertise. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Demonstrate a proven track record of software development in a Real-World Evidence Research domain • Please demonstrate your knowledge and experience of working with real-world data to support clinical trials • Demonstrate experience in developing and enhancing third party software/applications, i.e. reorganising and working software systems based on source codes written/compiled by multiple third-party developers. • Demonstrable recent experience in writing web/application using Microsoft technology stack C#, .NET Core, SQL, Java and JavaScript in Real, and in Azure WebApps environment. • Demonstrate experience or knowledge around Identity as a Service (IDaaS) with Azure Active Directory (AAD) • Demonstrate experience having worked on Azure DevOps services for developing and deploying softwares • Please demonstrate experience integrating API’s with existing business applications • Please demonstrate that you will have the available capacity to support the Statement of Requirements from January 2022 for a duration of 18 months plus • Please demonstrate your experience of working on public sector information system projects delivering them against government digital service standards. • Please demonstrate how you would collaborate and handover knowledge/resources on developed components and its features to internal staff in specialised and technical roles for post-implementation maintenance and support. Nice to Haves None Work Location London, (10 SC - Canary wharf). Most likely the work will be done remotely, however, following return to the office post Covid-19, some face to face meetings will be required. Working Arrangments "The CPRD project team and other internal key stakeholders will be working with suppliers team remotely in an agile mindset, particularly using SCRUM methodology. Daily stand-ups, sprint planning and retro events are to be conducted appropriately either face-to-face or remotely/virtually. CPRD's application development staff will work closely with the suppliers team to establish knowlege for post implementaiton support." Security Clearance No additional security clearance required Additional T&Cs None No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology • Estimated timeframes for the work • Team structure • Value for money • How the approach/solution meets the technical requirements Cultural Fit Criteria • Ability to be transparent and work in collaboration with CPRD’s technical and non-technical teams. • Approach to knowledge transfer, upskilling and sharing best practices with CPRD’s internal team members." Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Work history • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 5% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. Could the Authority re-confirm that the delivery will not fall under IR-35? Ans: We do not expect this to fall under IR-35. 2. Could the Authority share the high-level procurement timelines? Including Shortlisting, ITT, Presentation, and results? High Level indicative Procurement TimelineSupplier Shortlisting - Week commencing 20th September 2021Deadline for Phase Two (Proposals) - 15th October 2021Evaluate ITT – Technical & Commercial - 22nd October 2021Supplier Presentations - 29th October 2021ITT Evaluation (Post Supplier Presentations) WC 1st November 2021Contract award - 5th November 2021Contract executed (Signed by both parties) - 19th November 2021Supplier begins work (commencement) - WC 3rd January 2022 3. Is near-shoring or off-shoring allowed? Yes, this is allowed as long as the organisation work during UK office hours. 4. 4. Which third-party suppliers were involved in the initial discovery? None, the initial discovery was assessed internally. We would expect any successful third-party supplier to perform Sprint 0 activities to cover any knowledge gaps 5. Can we partner with a trusted third party agency on the software development? The Agency is content for a Supplier to work with a trusted third party on the software development subject to the following conditions*The prime Supplier will be liable for delivery so will be expected to flow the terms of the contract down and be soley liable for sub-contractor failure.*The third party will need to be a key sub-contractor under the contract (schedule 6)