Development of the One Epidemiology Bureau Public Data Portal and Data Drop Access for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Dengue, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Measles

WHO
Development of the One Epidemiology Bureau Public Data Portal and Data Drop Access for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Dengue, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Measles Request for proposal

Reference: CD-003-2023
Beneficiary countries or territories: Philippines
Registration level: Basic
Published on: 12-Jul-2023
Deadline on: 25-Jul-2023 23:59 (GMT 8.00)

Description

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to enter into a contractual agreement with a successful bidder and select a suitable contractor to carry out the following work: Technical Assistance in Development of the One Epidemiology Bureau Public Data Portal and Data Drop Access for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Dengue, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Measles.

BACKGROUND

In light of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, an accurate and timely epidemiologic surveillance system, which refers to the continuous systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and timely dissemination of health data for planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs, serve the delivery of population-based health services components including those that impact on the social determinants of health. For this endeavor, a reliable information and communications technology (ICT) structure to complement the surveillance system has a key role in the efficient delivery of information. There is a need for a central platform that can capture the critical sources of data to give a holistic picture of the situation - taking into account not just health but also socioeconomic considerations - for evidence-based decision-making at the national and local government levels. Hence, this proposal.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved the need for an integrated and streamlined process of surveillance and response within the national healthcare system.  Technology companies and research institutes have rapidly responded to the crisis with a wave of digital solutions, including monitoring  and reporting apps, with some already demonstrating their potential to positively contribute to arresting the crisis. The issue, however, is the fact that critical sources of data are still fragmented across tech solutions, databases, and public and private  organizations. With the initiative to develop a Command Control Platform (CCP) in May 2020, the endeavor led to a reliable, accurate, and timely processing and reporting of COVID-19 information daily. The DOH COVID-19 Tracker has been used and viewed by 8 million people. Through DOH Data Drop, the data are released daily in a machine-readable format, on the line list level, to allow analysts nationwide to conduct the analysis they need.

As the Department of Health (DOH) - Epidemiology Bureau (EB) is set to transition from emergency mode to managing COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases, part of its mandate to provide stakeholders with surveillance and epidemiologic information to prevent and control outbreaks and to improve health policies, programs, and systems, lessons learnt from COVID-19 surveillance are envisioned to serve as pillars for the strengthened epidemiologic surveillance system. In harmonization towards UHC, the DOH-EB shall collaborate with the different offices such as the DOH - Knowledge Management and Information Technology Services (KMITS) and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB) to collectively agree on the feasibility of the desired project and ensure alignment of targets and commitments related disease program and overall health information systems directions, respectively.

The primary output that will be expected from this project is the development of an integrated health portal for all diseases currently being monitored by the DOH-EB, wherein data consumers, both within (policy decision-makers, program directors) and outside (development partners, public) of the DOH, can access all public-facing dashboards (which includes weekly topline numbers such as cumulative case count, new cases, active/recovery/death breakdown, and epidemiologic curve) as well as the Data Drop files containing the latest available linelists (anonymized individual-level data) and aggregate data. The project is also aligned with the DOH-PhilHealth Joint Administrative Order 2021-0001: "Guidelines on the Implementation and Maintenance of an Integrated Health Information System" - which aims to simplify the collection of health and health-related data. Overall, this project aims to provide an accessible and updated weekly health data portal to the public. In addition, for sustainability, this project also aims to build capacity within the DOH-EB in developing and designing visualizations.

This will be the first part of a two-phase project. In particular, phase one will focus on the development and deployment of trackers and data drop for top-priority diseases such as Dengue, HIV, and Measles, by the end of the project. Diseases such as HIV (fastest increasing HIV epidemic in Asia Pacific, DOH 2017), Dengue, Malaria (Epidemic-Prone diseases), and COVID19 (integrate COVID-19 surveillance and response activities into routine health programmes) will be prioritized.Phase two will further enhance the integrated health portal to include the other disease. The scope of this project will only cover phase one

REQUIREMENTS/WORK TO BE PERFORMED

To develop One Epidemiology Bureau Public Data Portal and Data Drop Access for COVID-19, Dengue, HIV, and Measles. This would minimize the necessity for engaging a new consultant to build a new dashboard or any other similar projects, make the objective more inclusive, flexible, and adaptive to accommodate additional emerging/priority diseases in the future.

The Technical Assistance (TA) provider shall perform the following activities:

  • Coordinate with the DOH-EB regarding the planning and preparation for the development and enhancement of the system (e.g. assessment of the needs and requirements of the project)
  • Develop, design, and implement the following:
    • Dashboard
      • Measles
      • Dengue
      • HIV
    • Data Drop system (Except HIV)
  • Enhance COVID-19 Tracker and NVOC Dashboard
  • Embed existing dashboards to the overall health tracker portal
  • Develop and conduct capacity building activities
  • Document processes for transition to DOH-EB
  • Provide consultancy related to data management, as necessary.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTRACTOR

Mandatory:

  • Proven experience in the field of public health information systems, data science, data analytics, and worked with national and local government agencies for at least three years.
  • Previous engagements and experience in multi-stakeholder collaboration (National Government Agencies, Local Government Units, International and local NGOs) particularly WHO, DOH, DICT, and other relevant stakeholders.
  • Track record in deploying open data initiatives (visualizations and data outlets) for the general public on the national level.
  • Track record in capacity building and enablement in data engineering, data visualization, data governance, data security, and data quality, for national and local government agencies.
  • Previous/Existing Data Sharing Agreements with DOH and/or experience in navigating legal agreements with the public sector pertaining to Data Privacy and Infrastructure Quality Audits
  • Track record and certifications regarding data management, governance, and security of sensitive health and patient data. Expertise in frameworks and technology for interoperability of Healthcare Data (e.g. FHIR, Healthcare APIs).
  • Expert knowledge of information systems development and maintenance, data analytics, and data science.
  • Previous work with WHO, other international organizations and/or major institutions in the field of  public health information systems, data science, data analytics.
  • With excellent communication skills, ability to work and deliver quality work under pressure and within an agreed timeline;
  • Able to communicate well with DOH, DICT, WHO, partners, and other relevant stakeholders;
  • Familiarity with key concepts surrounding public health interventions and the clinical management of COVID-19 is desired.
  • Able to adapt to relevant and reasonable project demands;

Desirable:

  • Expert knowledge of information systems development and maintenance, data analytics, and data science, preferably with proven experience using the following technologies:
    • SQL, Python, and R programming languages for analytics and PowerBI for dashboard
    • Google Cloud Platform services such as BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and Compute Engines
    • ETL tools such as Dragster, Google Data Fusion, and Google Dataflow
    • Visualization tools such as Tableau, PowerBI, and Google Data Studio.

SUBMISSIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 25 July 2023

  • • Company Profile {for institutional applications}
  • • Technical proposal indicating methodology and timelines, in addition to the below annexes
    • Annex 1: Acknowledgement Form
    • Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
    • Annex 3: Proposal Completeness Form
    • Annex 6: Self-Declaration Form
  • • Financial proposal

Please use Tender Notice No. CD-003-2023 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.

Last day of receiving queries for this tender is on 18 July 2023