Alpha to replace www.enterprise-europe.co.uk

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Enterprise Europe network (EEN) is a European Commission (EC) programme to help grow start-up businesses with innovative potential. EEN is a bespoke face-to-face service and Innovate UK lead 150 advisers who help clients find partners, source funding, seek patent help and lots in-between. EEN's current digital service doesn't fully meet user needs and wouldn't pass a service standard assessment. Its most complex bit is the partnering opportunities (www.enterprise-europe.co.uk/content/search/ - profiles of businesses looking for partners to manufacturer, distribute, co-develop or supply what they're doing) which API's from EC and integrates with search, CRM email alerts etc. Problem to Be Solved * Alignment to user needs - IA & UX we can crack to improve conversion, content from advisers CMSing themselves is a challenge (content strategy being implemented) * SEO visibility a problem with the current service because of ongoing on page issues * Better CRM - parallel project to implement Salesforce across EEN which'll integrate with the digital service. Our marketing should up the ante considerably as a result * Assisted digital - no provision in place thus far * Robust, modular and open source tech stack with abstraction layers in-between components * Product roadmap - plan for the future Who Are the Users Discovery found we have two user needs; Overarching FUND user need... "As a business or academic user I want to apply for a funding award so that I can get the financial resource I need to grow my business or develop my concept" Overarching CONNECT user need... "As a business or academic user I want to connect with someone to discuss an idea / project so that I can reach other people or organisations to develop my concept further" Early Market Engagement Work Already Done * Established user needs framework that fall within two themes: connect or fund * Proposed a technical architecture which meets those needs and service standard requirements * Usability tested a light prototype which showed a marked improvement to an equivalent exercise conducted on the current service * Audited existing content which informed our content strategy We also delved deeper in to Elastic Search as the brains behind the service, as well as Companies House API, postcode lookup and GovDelivery as the potential email/sms alert engine. We also explored the scenario of users not needing a password to use the service. Existing Team Existing team is x1 Service Manager at Innovate UK. Rest of the alpha team roles (anticipated to be user researcher, technical architect, web ops, developer, visual designer, content designer) will be filled by the supplier(s). Current Phase Alpha Work Location The team must be located within 2 hours travelling from Bath. Working Arrangments The service manager will likely travel to the team 3 days per week and be accessible online for the other 2 days. Some members of the team may be required to travel/stay overnight in the UK for research / meetings - though that's not foreseen at present. Security Clearance We won't be handling sensitive data, so each team member having 'Baseline Personnel Security Standard' is sufficient. Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Experience with elastic search or SOLR (6.5% weighting) UX and user testing credentials (6.5% weighting) On page SEO credentials (6.5% weighting) User research feeding into sprint cycles credentials (6.5% weighting) Experience implementing Salesforce and 3rd party APIs (6.5% weighting) Familiarity with GOV.UK's design patterns and style guide - which we should follow, but not necessarily stick to because of our exemption from GOV.UK and own branding guidelines. (3.25% weighting) Nice to Haves Experience participating in a service assessment (3.25%weighting) Experience identifying and mitigating risk to digital service (3.25%weighting) Experience of service design (3.25%weighting) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria The proposed approach and methodology (6.5% weighting) How the approach or solution meets user needs(3.25% weighting) The proposed technical solution (6.5% weighting) Value for money of the proposal (3.25% weighting) Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers (10% weighting) Familiar with using Slack and Trello to work, rather than heavy documentation (5% weighting) Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 15% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range c£100k for people + £7k for tech