Strategic Purchasing Resource Center India Scoping Partner

Job Description

Expression of Interest

Invitation Notice

Strategic Purchasing Resource Center India Scoping Partner

Issue Date:

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

Closing Date:

Monday, 17 February 2020

Addresses for Submissions:

smckay@r4d.org

R4D Contacts:

Stephanie McKay

Project Context

To achieve universal health coverage (UHC) by 2025, the federal government of India launched a health system reform Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB–PMJAY) in 2018 combining comprehensive primary health care (PHC) (primarily through public facilities) with strategic purchasing for secondary and tertiary care. AB-PMJAY is designed as a continuum of care through the creation of 150,000 Health and Wellness Centres to provide PHC, covering both maternal and child health services and non-communicable diseases, including free essential drugs and diagnostic services. PMJAY aims to provide health protection for secondary and tertiary care to 40 percent of the country’s population - nearly 500 million people. The provision of comprehensive PHC will be provided almost exclusively through publicly run Health and Wellness Centers, while beneficiaries should be able to access covered services for secondary and tertiary care from any public or empaneled private hospital.

States are now responsible for the adaptation and implementation of the federal AB-PMJAY reform with state health authorities leading the implementation of PMJAY. States are free to continue to provide existing health insurance schemes alongside the national program or integrate them with the new scheme. States are also able to choose their own operating model. The design of the PMJAY reform and the complexity and diversity in existing state processes and structures and operational models among states poses challenges to ensuring successful implementation of PMJAY. Questions remain as to whether each of the states has the necessary institutional structure, functions, operating systems, and capacity to effectively implement AB–PMJAY and strategically purchase secondary and tertiary services from public and private providers to ensure available funds are used efficiently, promoting access to necessary care with services of good quality.

Globally, interest in sourcing local, contextualized knowledge and expertise for strategic purchasing is growing. In 2018, Results for Development (R4D) launched the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The SPARC is housed within Amref Health Africa. SPARC connects expertise (individuals and institutions) in the region with country demand to strengthen strategic purchasing and capture and share lessons learned on practical implementation approaches. The SPARC has been established as a go-to source of information, support and capacity building for strategic purchasing to get better value for heath spending to advance UHC. SPARC works through linkages and partnerships with government agencies, academic institutions, and NGOs implementing strategic approaches to expand a cadre of regional experts and elevate the visibility of dialogue around strategic purchasing. It also connects experts for peer learning, while offering coaching, mentoring and access to global resources.

Project Overview

Drawing on the experience of SPARC and with support from BMGF, R4D and an India-based partner organization will assess whether a strategic purchasing resource center could add value to the domestic and international technical support currently being provided at the national and state level in India, and/or build on existing country-owned models for strategic purchasing support, to ensure states prioritize strategic health purchasing in their PMJAY implementation agendas, build adequate institutional functions and capacity to carry out strategic purchasing, and capture and share practical lessons on effective implementation. This project will assess whether such a resource center is of value and if so, how it could be implemented effectively in India including identifying potential India-based institutions to host the center.

The project objectives include:

• Assessing the potential of a strategic purchasing resource center to add value to existing technical support efforts to strengthen PMJAY implementation;
• Developing a value proposition and set-up plan for a Strategic Purchasing Resource Center in India;
• Highlighting the value of this exercise by leaving behind at least one concrete knowledge/learning output, e.g., a synthesis of findings from a multi-state strategic purchasing functional mapping exercise.

Opportunity

R4D is seeking to partner with a local India-based organization to help lead R4D’s efforts to assess the potential of a strategic purchasing resource center to add value to other technical support efforts to strengthen PMJAY implementation.

Working in partnership with R4D, the partner will: coordinate project activities in India; support assessment of the value of a resource center; identify and assess potential institutions to host the eventual resource center; landscape existing capacity building efforts for strategic purchasing in India; coordinate a state-level strategic purchasing functional capacity mapping activity (using a tool developed by SPARC that will be implemented by state-level technical institutions to be identified through this project); and support synthesis of project findings. Specifically, these activities include:

• Coordinate and manage project activities and logistics including liaising with the US-based technical team; providing logistical support across states in India; facilitating a national-level workshop to adapt, validate and launch the work; facilitating 5 state-level workshops to launch the functional capacity mapping exercises; and facilitating a final national-level workshop to share and validate results; among other coordination activities.
• Lead key informant discussions with the National Health Authority, Ministry of Health, NITI, private sector groups and across the five selected states with state health authorities and ministries of health and family welfare.
• Conduct stakeholder consultations and landscape provider purchasing efforts in India, including identification and assessment of existing models for strategic purchasing support.
• Facilitate introductions and strengthen relationships with local partner institutions who may serve as an eventual host organization for a strategic purchasing resource center. Support assessment of these partnership opportunities. Note: if a resource center is suggested to move forward, the host institution must be India-based.
• Support adaptation and validation of a SPARC-developed strategic purchasing functional capacity mapping tool for India.
• Identify and engage local technical institutions across five states to conduct the state-level strategic purchasing functional capacity mapping exercise to identify strategic purchasing capacities. Provide as-needed technical support to the mapping exercise, and support synthesis of results. Additionally, manage and coordinate all state-level project activities to ensure that mapping is done in a timely manner.
• Support development of the resource center value proposition.
• Facilitate a final workshop to share and validate findings.

Profile of Organization

• A recognized institution operating in health systems in India with proven experience and technical expertise in health financing
• Excellent knowledge of the India health system and a network of contacts within the system
• Logistical capacity and experience in coordinating across state-level technical partners, facilitating workshops, conducting key informant discussions at the national-level and state-level as well as with other technical and donor partners
• Staff with university degrees in public health, health economics, business administration, social sciences, public affairs, with training and/or experience in health financing
• Excellent research and analytic skills
• Excellent writing and presentation skills
• Fluency in both written and oral English, Hindi or other Indian languages
• Evidence of capacity to have staff dedicated to the work and availability to begin work in February 2020
• Must be based in India – Delhi base preferable

Please note: the partner selected for this project will not be eligible for selection as the institutional host for the resource center should this scoping project recommend moving forward with such a center. However, it is expected that the selected partner would serve as a key technical resource for the resource center should it move forward. The resource center, should it be recommended, would be hosted by an India-based organization.

Budget and Expected Level of Effort

The total budget ceiling available for this sub-award is $100,000 USD. Level of effort for staff should be determined by the organization in order to meet the key objectives of the work. Project is projected for February – October 2020.

Instructions for EOI Submission

Interested organizations should provide a logical, well-structured expression of interest (EOI) to support the project work outlined above of no more than 3 pages, plus attachments. The EOI should include:

• Organization name and address
• Organization contact and contact email
• Overview and understanding of the request and proposed approach to undertake the project objectives and activities
• Proposed budget to conduct the work, including staff LOE, travel and other administrative costs
• Summary of organizational qualifications. Additional relevant experience may be attached as an annex
• Organization and team composition including CVs of all key staff who will be engaged on the work, their anticipated role in this project and expected level of engagement attached as an annex.
• Where appropriate, please also provide any relationship between staff and stakeholders in the Indian health sector, such as the National Health Authority, Ministry of Health, NITI, state health authorities and/or the private health sector.

For questions, please contact Stephanie McKay smckay@r4d.org and Cicely Thomas at cthomas@r4d.org. Organizations should submit EOIs to smckay@r4d.org by Monday, February 17, 2020. EOIs will be reviewed and organization(s) may be contacted for further materials prior to final selection. Selection and contract are subject to award.

About the Organization

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.