Invitation to Tender for the Provision of Registrant and Student Panels and Associated Services

The GDC's core function is to protect the public. This project represents a key task in our strategic commitment to embed user voice, empathy and compassion across all aspects of our work. The panels will play a vital role in enabling the GDC to better hear, understand, and respond to the needs, experiences, perceptions, and expectations of our registrants and students. The voices of registrants and students and the insights they provide will be vital in our work to enhance our effectiveness as a regulator and ensure our approach remains transparent, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of those we regulate.

The GDC's registrant and student panels will ensure we sustain a robust, responsive and independently facilitated approach to involving user voice to inform a wide range of GDC activity. This includes using the panels to develop our understanding of the impacts of factors that are external to the GDC on the dental sector, dental education, the dental workforce, and the public's access to and experience of dental services.

The General Dental Council (GDC) invites responses to our invitation to tender, 'Registrant and student panels and associated services'. This invitation breaks our requirements into two LOTs, each with a fixed price element for setting up and management of each of the panels, and a call-off element to allow for undertaking activities with the panels. Bidders are invited to bid for one or both Panels (LOTs).

LOT I: Registrant Panel with estimated value of £480,000(ex. VAT) for 4 years i.e. (2+2)

LOT 2: Dental Student Panel with estimated value of £480,000(ex. VAT) for 4 years i.e. (2+2)

Element 1: Recruiting and Maintaining a Panel

A2.16 The successful bidder/s must be able to recruit, develop and maintain a GDC Registrant or student panel that can be called upon to participate in a range of activities. We expect this to be a fixed price element of bidder/s' responses.

A2.17 The panel must enable the GDC to capture and hear a diverse range of voices. This includes ensuring representation from underrepresented and less well served communities, as well as reflecting the diversity of roles within dental education, reflecting the roles on our register. We expect that panel members would 'opt in' to being approached by the GDC to take part in activities. We expect the successful bidder/s to:

• Work with the GDC to understand the nature and requirements of the panel activities.
• Be able to provide advice to the GDC on design or approach to activities to ensure the robustness of results.
• Consider and define whether a longitudinal cohort as part of the panel is possible, and if this is the case, explain how this would be achieved, the advantages of having such a cohort and how this could be used.
• Be able to manage and coordinate the end-to-end process of panel and activity recruitment.

Element 2: Undertaking Panel Activities

A2.20 When the GDC wishes to use the either of the panels for activities, the GDC will request a fixed price quotation based on a detailed activity specification - request for quotation (RFQ). The RFQ will include all the typical relevant information to be able to price the activity to meet the specific requirements identified by the GDC.

A2.21 As well as providing participants for each activity, if delivering the activity, the successful bidder/s will need to manage the end-to-end activity, which needs to include but not limited to:

• Selection of the participants for the panel activity.
• Data protection impact assessment, including consideration of consent, disclosure, data handling, analyses, reporting and retention.
• Provide a robust and detailed work plan for each panel activity.
• Invitations and management of the cohort for the panel activity to ensure that the activity is undertaken to the agreed timelines.
• Design and gain approval for the approach to delivering panel activities.
• Undertake the activity.
• Provide the outputs from the panel activity as specified and agreed.

The successful bidder/s will need to provide the subject matter expertise needed for call down activities which will vary, from social research, to market research, to system, process and product development. Bidders can provide this through partnering to obtain the subject matter expertise.