People for us - Questions and answers
View questions and answers from the supplier briefings for the People for Us programme and Registration of Interest (ROI).
Questions and answers
What is the number of people in the first priority group?
There are approximately 7000 disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori living in residential services. The initial aim is to reach about 20 percent in the first phase (between 1200 - 1500 across geographical spread) of the service.
This figure is partly based on community engagement where feedback estimated that 20 percent of people living in residential services may have limited family, whānau or community connections and communicate in a variety of ways.
If the home environment is unsafe will the contractor have flexibility to take the person to a safe space?
The peer worker will build a trusting relationship so that people feel safe to communicate their experience. Part of the establishment phase will be outlining protocols and processes which will support the work, including safe spaces.
How will People for Us work with the quality programme of work that is already established?
We are looking for a relationship-based approach for peer workers. The voice and experience of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori will be fed back in non-identifiable and thematic ways to the community and Whaikaha.
Details will be discussed during contract negotiations. How this service works with other parts of system is important, we need to be clear on other roles, responsibilities, interconnections, and how different parts of the system work together. There will be a number of different response pathways that the peer worker will identity and support the disabled person to connect with if needed.
How do we safeguard against service creep?
Those providing this service will need to be clear about their role, responsibility, and scope of practice so that they focus on delivering the service, and not duplicate other services.
The service will need to develop relationships with other parts of the disability system and the family violence system to ensure seamless support for the disabled person, while keeping boundaries around the service they deliver so not going outside their scope.
With the scope of the role, what is the supplier’s entry to the role and what boundaries are there?
We need to be clear about this service and the peer worker roles and where the interfaces and boundaries are.
We also acknowledge the current mix of services and coverage varies geographically. The focus is on finding if the disabled person is safe and living their good life and, if not, supporting the person into pathways of response.
When discussing the design of training for peer workers, we need to be thoughtful of the variety of situations they will come across and the skills, knowledge and understanding they will require. Whaikaha recognises the need for development of peer workers as this is a new service.
Has there been any data collection and what are expectations of data collection from the peer support
Whaikaha does not have data lists yet as we want to collaborate with the successful provider(s) about the required data and data collection.
What is the evaluation plan for this system?
We have not developed an evaluation plan yet.
Will you share data about the locations etc, prior to a contract?
Further detail will be provided in the RFP process.
What age groups does this include?
Adults supported by Whaikaha. Children are out of scope. Oranga Tamariki has the responsibility for the safety of all children.
Will Whaikaha do all the training?
We see this as the role of successful suppliers, but this is open to discussion in contract discussions.
If there is abuse/concerns what is the providers ability to do something about it?
Abuse and concerns will be responded to through a range of mechanisms (such as police, family violence agencies, safeguarding organisations, NASC/EGL connectors, advocacy, and Whaikaha utilising our contract levers with disability providers).
We will map this out collectively during contract negotiation and implementation.
Regarding sustainability of employment, what is the estimated time/hours?
Providers and suppliers will need to work that out as it will vary and needs to be flexible.
What will the communication be between the contractor and Whaikaha?
The Quality and Performance Team will hold and manage these contracts. As this is a novel service we will co-develop the service with the successful provider, supporting ongoing development of the service as it is established.
How often are we expected to visit each identified resident annually?
Whaikaha expect the frequency of visits to vary based on the type of need so there is no set number at this stage.
Other questions
Clarification around preference of service delivery
Question: In the ROI Document it says "Suppliers who do not have a conflict of interest with this service development, eg, they do not provider residential, supported living, choice in community living or home and community supports. Weight 20%."
However, in the response document 1.4 it states to "Please confirm whether your organisation currently provides residential, supported living, choice in community living or home and community supports. If you do, please provide a summary of each service and the contract name and number. Weight 20%"
Can you please clarify if the preference is that we do not deliver these services or that we do deliver these services? For example, if we answer in the response document 1.4 that we do not deliver these services do we meet the 20% weighting?
Answer: The preference is that a supplier chosen for the People for Us service does not provide residential, supported living, choice in community living or home and community supports. If you do, then please provide a summary of each service and the contract name and number.
The ROI document seems to use proposal and ROI as synonyms, and this may be confusing for some. Does it use them so?
They are technically used as synonyms. As this is a two-stage tender, the Registration of Interest (ROI) will be followed by a Request for Proposal (RFP). ROI is the type of tender that it is, and the proposal is your response to the solution. Successful suppliers will be invited to submit a more detailed proposal for evaluation in an RFP.
Section 2.4 in the ROI document requires the proposal to not exceed 10 pages. The response form is 9 blank pages. So, is this limit only regarding 1.1 - 1.4, and the text boxes therein?
Yes the page limit is regarding to the written questions 1.1 - 1.4.
Question on what evaluation and research a supplier would be responsible for.
Question: In the ROI response template a question is asked around experience in monitoring, evaluation and research with a 20% weighting. What particular evaluation and research were you seeing the supplier being responsible for? In the briefing we were told evaluation would be done by an independent third party.
Answer: There are several ways evaluation is being referred to here – one is evaluation of the actual service, which will be by an independent third party, to measure the success of desired outcomes. Monitoring requirements for People for Us will be negotiated in contract discussion.
Another is the ability to establish People for Us with strong community leadership and focus, as well as being part of the monitoring and evaluative system funded (and partly delivered) by Whaikaha.
Also People for Us will need to develop expertise in evaluating and responding to the situations that the peer workers will come across. Having an ability to assess what is going on for a person based on often subtle and nuanced clues. Being able to support peer workers with prioritising and responding to diverse and sometimes complex situations.
Can we have the details behind the assumptions made to arrive at the value of the work?
Question continued: For example: break down the number people, where they are, ethnicity breakdown, average number of visits you expect might happen, assumptions around support people supporting the peer worker, etc.
Answer: Some demographic details including location will be included in the RFP process for People for Us. As a new and innovative service there will be significant learning in the first year about what it takes to develop and deliver this service.
Whaikaha intends to work collaboratively with the providers of this service to understanding what it takes, what outputs are possible and have a try/learn/adjust approach.
A clear timetable has been set out for the phases of developing the programme. How will expectations change around deliverables year one, if the contracting phase takes longer than planned?
If the contract process takes longer than indicated, we will negotiate adjusting the phases, deliverables and timelines to accommodate this.