Current Tenders

Tender: Care Finder Service

About this Opportunity:

WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) is leading the commissioning and implementation of the care finder program in Perth North PHN, Perth South PHN and Country WA PHN regions. WAPHA is seeking submissions from organisations to provide specialist and intensive assistance to help people within the care finder target population to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community under a contract from 01 January 2023 to 30 June 2025.

Background Information:

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety heard throughout its inquiry that aged care needs to have a much greater face-to-face presence. It recommended a workforce of care finders be funded to provide mainly face-to-face support to help people navigate and access aged care. The care finder service was announced in the 2021-22 Budget as part of the Connecting Senior Australians to Aged Care Services measure to  be delivered through Primary Health Networks (PHNs).

Care finders will:

  • provide specialist and intensive assistance to help people to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community
  • specifically target people who have one or more reasons for requiring intensive support to interact with My Aged Care (either through the website, contact centre or face-to-face in Services Australia service centres), access aged care services and/or access other relevant supports in the community

Policy Guidance:

A policy guidance for the care finder program was published on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website and is available here.

Needs Assessment:

The needs assessment identifies priority locations for the provision of generalist and specialist care finder services in each PHN region. Preference will be given to applications focusing on these key locations and priority areas/ key target groups. Please find the needs assessment for each PHN region listed under the Request Documents section.

Request Briefing

A non-mandatory meeting was held online on Wednesday 21 September 2022. Please follow this link for the recording of the session:  WA Primary Health Alliance Request Briefing – Care Finders

Queries and Responses

Please raise all queries via email to lee.luttig@wapha.org.au and WAPHA will publish responses here.

Submissions

Please submit the completed submission form/s, budget, non-conformance schedule (if applicable) and other attachments you wish to submit as part of your application to lee.luttig@wapha.org.au. Tender Closing date is Thursday 6 October 2022 2.00PM (AWST).  Submission is to be no larger than 20MB.

Note: A submission for each PHN region is required

Tender:

RFT2022-1

Request Title:

Care Finder Service for Senior Australians who require specialist and intensive assistance to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community

Request Documents:

Needs Assessment:

Summary care finder evaluation plan and MDS reporting:

      Q&A

      Please check the webpage regularly for any updates in the Q&A section. Click the question to expand for more.

      Question: Under D.1 Submission Form – Perth North, Perth South and Country WA, Section 4.0 Budget do I have to submit a budget template for 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25?

      Answer: For this tender process, Respondents are to only complete and submit a budget for their first full financial year in operation being 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The other financial years do not need a budget submitted as part of their response. Part D.2 – Budget Template has been prepopulated with this financial year.

      Question: The item at cell A8 on the Part D.2-Budget Template shows Allocated Fees (Fee streams). Can you explain what that means please?

      Answer: Allocated Fees: The Fees you have allocated for in your Part D.1-Submission Form for the 2023/24 financial year for this Aged Care (AC) specific fee stream.

      Question: In Part D.1 – Submission Form under 3.1.2 Qualitative Experience (have existing trusted relationships with potential individuals), does “individuals” refer to potential Care Finder clients?

      Answer: Yes, the terms “individuals” and “clients” are being used interchangeably in this context.

      Question: In Part D.1 – Submission Form under 3.1.2 Qualitative Experience (how potential conflicts of interest is managed, especially aged care service providers), does this conflict refer to aged care service providers who are also care finder tender applicants?

      Answer: Please refer to Part C.2. Draft Activity Schedule under B.4 Conflicts of Interest. Please also refer to Section 10 of the Care Finder Policy Guidance – particular consideration in the care finder context is that conflicts of interest (actual, potential or perceived) do not influence, impact or restrict optimal consumer choice. These requirements would apply to an aged care service provider who also sought to be a care finder organisation.

      Question: In Part D.1 – Submission Form under 3.2.5 Service Methodology (details of other service partners who will be included in achieving integrated, holistic service and referral pathways), does it refer to formal partnerships or to health professionals and organizations we have strong relationships with for referrals, for example?

      Answer: Please refer to Section 5.6 of the Care Finder Policy Guidance – reference to service partners as intermediaries (such as health professionals, aged care and disability sector professionals and people from within community and voluntary organisations).  Respondents should consider how formal partnerships or operational referral relationships could assist in addressing this criteria.

      Question: In Part D.1 – Submission Form under 3.3 Location and Priority Areas/Key Target Groups, does Key Locations refer to the proposed physical location of the Care Finder service or the suburbs which will be serviced by the Care Finder Service?

      Answer: Key locations refers to the both the location of premises and locations of service footprint

      Question: In Part D.1 – Submission Form under 3.3 Location and Priority Areas/Key Target Groups, there is no mention of care leavers although they are listed as a priority group. Would they be expected to be serviced by a Generalist Care Finder service?

      Answer: If the specific group is not listed in the drop down menu, please select “Other” and specify proposed target group(s) in free text

      Question: Can WAPHA please confirm which of the below size limits is correct?
      - Part A Background and Information Section 1.2.2 (page 3) states ‘Respondents are to ensure that Submissions are no larger than 20MB’
      -Part B Conditions of Request -
      Section 5.1 (page 3) states ‘The maximum size for submissions via email is 24MB’
      Section 5.2 (page 3) ‘the Submission cannot be more than 2GB in total.

      Answer: The limit is 20MB

      Question: Can all documents for a submission be provided in a zipped folder?

      Answer: A zipped folder will be accepted only if it is larger than 20MB

      Question: Is WAPHA expecting that the fees the provider charge have GST applied to it?

      Answer: Fees to be ex GST

      Question: Would WAPHA consider working with some of the smaller providers that service "at risk" populations to establish a joint tender amongst those agencies? The role here for WAPHA would be to provide that linkage.

      Answer: WAPHA is open to a consideration of alliances or collaborations amongst providers aimed at improving access to care finder services for “at risk” populations.  Such as proposals would need to be provider led with a lead agency nominated.  PHNs have a role in supporting continuous improvement and systems integration for the care finder program rather leading linkages between specific service providers.

      Question: Are the tenders for each geographical region considered separately or can they be considered as a whole (acknowledging the three separate tenders need to be submitted) At risk populations would benefit from a coordinated response across the three tender areas.

      Answer: A submission for each PHN must be made separately addressing the local need of each proposed service catchment area noting any other proposed cross PHN arrangements as relevant.

      Question: Reporting - will WAPHA be providing a MDS reporting tool + template for the data submission or is each organisation loading information in to their own data collection system? Is training offered?

      Answer: An independent evaluator (Australian Healthcare Associates) have been engaged by the Department of Health and Aged Care to manage a national and ongoing evaluation of the care finder program.  The summary of the national evaluation hosted on WAPHA’s Care Finder Tender website includes details of this will operate.  In particular, Section 5.2 of the evaluation describes that care finder organisations will be emailed a data submission link on the 1st of each month, or next business day.  This will enable care finder organisations to enter their data for the month’s reporting period.  It is WAPHA’s understanding that technical support to assist care finder organisations will be provided through this platform.

      Question: Promotional material – will WAPHA be providing brand guidelines for collateral or is each organisation developing their own?

      Answer: Each care finder organisation will be responsible for developing their own operational guidelines as relevant.  There is no national branding of the care finder program unlike for example, national branding of the Australian Government funded headspace mental health program.

      Question: Is there a JDF for recruitment of care finders or is this up to each organisation?

      Answer: Further resources to support care finder organisations commissioned by the PHN network will be available in the near future.  Organisations will not be required to use these resources but it is expected that information to support recruitment consistent with identified care finder competencies will be included.

      Question: Are Respondents required to submit copies of policies (Governance, Risk, WHS etc ) as part of the submission?

      Answer: Requirements regarding submissions of policies is described in Part D: Submission Form.

      Question: Are there targets allocated to each care finder/region? Are there penalties for failure to meet targets – and if so, what are they?

      Answer: There are no targets allocated to each care finder organisation or region.  Respondents are asked to estimate direct hours of service delivery for each budget in each PHN only as part of  WAPHA’s consideration of the value for money proposition for a submission.

      Question: Is there a limit of funding capped for each tender?

      Answer: No, there is no cap for each tender. Respondents my allocate fees to reflect their proposed service.

      Question: WAPHA’s needs assessment shows a different figure for the over 65 population in some priority locations compared to the LGA’s 2020/2021 annual reports. This has a significant impact on the resourcing required to provide care finder services. How would we address this in the submission form when it comes to costing the service, should our proposal be based on WAPHA’s needs assessment rather than the LGA’s response?

      Answer: Care finder needs assessment data uses 2016 census data and not current population data held by any local government.  To avoid any confusion respondents should state on which data set they are basing their financial and other resource estimates.

      Question: How are the questions 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4 in the submission form meant to be answered? Via attachment or within the document itself?

      Answer: Please provide an explanation below each question in the submission form.

      Question: Will more than one organisation be assigned per location? If multiple organisations are chosen for the same location, will they be split based on key target groups?

      Answer: WAPHA will consider how each submission addresses the care finder needs of various target groups in any location.  Consideration will also be given to how the limited amount of funding available is most efficiently allocated to address the care finder needs of each care finder target populations.

      Question: Will an organisation be allowed to provide services in multiple regions (Country/North/South) or will only one be chosen if applications have been submitted for more than one?

      Answer: Organisations are permitted to make submissions for more than one PHN region.  WAPHA will consider the most appropriate number of provider organisations in each PHN region dependent on the needs of the care finder target populations being addressed in the submission and on the maximum funding available in each PHN region.

      Question: Could WAPHA provide advice on costing service provision to different-aged, mixed race and co-domiciled multigenerational families in some target population?

      Answer: The Respondent is to provide a budget rationale/justification for whichever type of service they intend to offer as part of their submission.

      Question: will potential recipients aged 45-65 need proof of Aboriginality before they qualify for services?

      Answer: There is no requirement identified in Care Finder Policy Guidance regarding showing proof of Aboriginality.  This requirement may be applied by other service  providers however, when a care finder client is navigated to seek to access to a service directly.

      Question: It would be useful to know the expectation of the size of the case load a full time (38 hours a week) care finder could manage in a year. Is there an indicative number?

      Answer: There is no indicative number for a full time case load.  Respondents should determine their full time case load based on their understanding and experience of providing person centred services to the relevant care finder target population.

      Question: In Part D.1 Submission form under section 3.1 Experience, item #1 that refers to ‘Specific instances of services and programs and what outcomes were achieved and how these were evaluated or demonstrated’. Can you please clarify how much evidence / data you would like to see on each programs and services? As an example, for organisations that have run services over many years (20+ years), would you like to see results for last financial year, or over several years? (if several, please advise how far back you would like us to demonstrate)

      Answer: Respondent is to choose an example of a service, what outcomes were achieved and how the project/service was evaluated for reporting purposes. A long response is not necessary, a summary would suffice.

      Question: in Part D.1 Submission Form under section 3.2 Service Methodology that refers to “other service partners who will be included in achieving integrated, holistic service and referral pathways;”. Can you advise please WAPHA’s position on partnerships? Specifically partnerships that could developed to co-deliver care finders? Can existing informal partnerships be included (ie. organic referrals) or can we only list formal partnerships (ie. MOU or contract in place).

      Answer: Respondents are to list partnerships and to indicate whether relationships are formal or informal. The response should include how these partnerships could relate to care finders. We would like to hear how you worked/propose to work in a stepped care model.

      Disclaimer

      While the Australian Government Department of Health has contributed to the funding of this website, the information on this website does not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government and is not advice that is provided, or information that is endorsed, by the Australian Government. The Australian Government is not responsible in negligence or otherwise for any injury, loss or damage however arising from the use of or reliance on the information provided on this website.