Software programming and consultancy services

Tender description

The contracting authority requires a strategic partner to support the development of a web based platform for Comoodle. The contracting authority was designated as one of the winners of the European Mayor's Challenge. The competition prize was an award of 1 000 000 EUR over 3 years. The contracting authority's winning idea was the development of a new sharing economy, which would maximise untapped local resources and enable communities to do more with less. Unique to the contracting authority's idea is the willingness of the contracting authority to pool its own idling assets with the non-profit sector; from vehicles to venues, and staff skills and expertise; making these assets available to Community Organisations through a Online Platform. If successful the Platform will also enable Community Organisations to borrow and share assets with other Community Organisations for the benefit of local Projects and residents. Development of a Comoodle Platform. The Council envisages that this Project is expected to have three (3) key Stages, with associated outputs, outcomes and Milestones: a) Stage 1 — Understanding and developing User requirements; b) Stage 2 — Platform development and go-live; c) Stage 3 — On-going evaluation, support and platform development until 31.12.2017. Each stage is briefly summarised in the remainder of this Section II.2.4 below. For further details, please refer to procurement documentation which is available to download at https://www.yortender.co.uk/procontract/supplier.nsf, or is available at the address set out in Sections I.1 and I.3 of this Notice. Stage 1 Outcomes (to be delivered by the contracting authority and economic operator): — a) The parties understand the factors that will encourage Community Organisations to share their assets and borrow assets from the contracting authority and other Community Organisations. — b) The parties understand the barriers to participation for Community Organisations and have incorporated appropriate incentives into the design of the Platform and associated processes. — c) The parties have been able to incorporate learning from this research into the design and functionality of the Platform. — d) The parties have documented the end to end User journey through the Comoodle Platform and the business processes that will be needed to support effective ‘sharing’ via the Platform. — e) The parties have a clear set of Business and User Requirements for the development of the Platform. Stage 2 Outcomes (to be delivered by contracting authority and economic operator). — a) The Platform has been completed to the agreed scope for the initial release. — b) The Platform has been publically launched, and a Creative Communications and Engagement Strategy is in place. — c) The Platform design and functionality incorporates all agreed requirements from Stage 1 and this has been confirmed through the Business Requirements Traceability Matrix. — d) User testing has been satisfactorily completed and the Platform delivers against agreed User requirements from Stage 1. — e) The parties have an agreed Data Management Strategy. — f) The parties have robust and effective tools in place to monitor the effectiveness of the Platform against agreed indicators. — g) The parties understand and have documented the risks and issues associated with site launch and have appropriate and robust mitigations in place. Stage 3 Outcomes. — a) Quantitative data analytics can be easily and routinely taken from the Platform by the contracting authority or partner and insight is used to inform plans for on-going site development. — b) Technically, the platform operates well. The software is well maintained and modifications are made regularly (by the Economic operator) to resolve any bugs and other technical faults. — c) Releases take place in accordance with the agreed Release Strategy, and this is updated in accordance with learning and in response to demand. — d) The contracting authority understands the available options for continued development of the Platform using an open source approach. It understands the benefits, risks and licensing options and the level of resource required to establish and support a community of developers, should it decide to follow an open source approach. — e) Participants and non-participants are actively engaged to provide on-going feedback on the Platform and this is used to inform ongoing iterations and releases. — f) A sustainable, not-for-profit business model is in place for the Platform after the cessation of funding from Bloomberg philanthropies.