Home Office Biometrics (HOB) – Application Development

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The Home Office has existing biometrics systems whose contracts come to an end in 2019. The HOB programme aims to evolve these systems to provide continuity beyond 2019 and enhance their capability through a number of phases. This procurement will support the HOB Programme evolution of its systems and services, including the introduction of new services through the provision of an application development capability. It will provide the development capability for the programme to deliver robust and resilient solutions to meet the law enforcement and immigration user requirement. Problem to Be Solved The HOB programme requires application development teams to deliver and support a number of biometric services across a series of integrated and co-dependent projects delivered using an Agile methodology. Work packages will focus on: DNA solution, the Biometric Services (API) Gateway, access portal, and mobile solutions. The outcomes will be developed using a combination of core Java, JBoss Fuse, WebServices, relational databases (Oracle and Postgres), and workflow skills and experience. Who Are the Users Users include but are not limited to law enforcement, immigration, border force and HMPO staff who need to use biometrics in a number of situations and locations including custody suites, mobile locations, borders, passport offices and visa application centres. Early Market Engagement HOB have run two supplier days, with over 90 organisations in attendance. The approach to application development and potential use of the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework was briefed to potential suppliers at the HOB supplier day in April 2016. Work Already Done This procurement currently envisages the development of five services and sub-systems, one in its Alpha phase, two in discovery and two pre-discovery and a project currently in beta phase. Existing Team • The system (BSG) in Beta has a full project and development team currently in place; the MVP has been completed. • The projects in discovery have project management, business analysis and architectural teams. • The projects in pre-discovery have project management and are drawing on the programme Business Analysis and Architectural resource. Current Phase Not applicable Work Location • West Midlands (9-15 personnel) – Home Office Site, Birmingham • London (21-30 personnel) – Home Office Site, Croydon Working Arrangments Each service and system has a HOB project management, Business Analysis and Architectural team, who will work with the development team to deliver the IT solutions. All development will be conducted through the HOB Development Environment connecting both the Croydon and Birmingham sites. An Agile methodology will be used. The Home Office will provide the test resource for any development, the supplier will provide the development cohort; scrum master, lead developer, Dev Ops and developers. Developers and teams are expected to work across the HOB development projects, meeting different delivery schedules, tempo and requirements. Security Clearance All staff must hold or be prepared to undergo SC Security Clearance to operate on this project. In addition, some staff in Croydon and all development personnel based in Birmingham must be Non Police Personnel Vetting Level 3 (NPPV3) clearable. Additional T&Cs •Rate card and Travel & Subsistence. •Conflict of Interest/Ethical Walls safeguards (applies to all sub-programme and ‘spin off’ activities whether procured via DOS or other contracting route). Skills & Experience The supplier has experience and can provide evidence of delivering development capability support at this level; across 5 projects and more than 40 developers Team experience of development using an Agile methodology, operating in sprints and aligning their development activities with other parallel work streams across split sites, ensuring coding standards are maintained. Credible and referenced proof of team and individual experience in object oriented programming. Experience of secure development practices for high integrity systems, working with mature and controlled software development processes and legacy systems. Experience in Java, up to 30 developers Experience in JBoss Fuse and Forum Sentry, up to 8 developers Experience of development pipeline tooling, specifically Git source code repository, defect tracking systems (PVCS, Rational ClearQuest, JIRA and Confluence), continuous integration tools (Jenkins) and automated testing frameworks Nice to Haves Credible and referenced proof of experience and excellent technical competence in object oriented programming with Oracle database, Web Application, Web Services and Workflow technologies Demonstrate experience of ETL, data warehouse and reporting technologies. Some familiarity with legacy technologies; Oracle Forms and Reports, Windows Services and C programming. Teams should be self motivated, having an ability to work on their own initiative and without constant direction, but also be able to collaboratively with HOB staff. Experience in designing and building cross platform mobile apps (eg. Android, Windows) Experience in other programming and scripting languages ( eg. C++, C#, .NET Framework, Python) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Mobilisation, implementation plan, and handover Deliverables – including releases Technical skills (CVs) Team structure and make up First SOWs in detail (DNA, BSG) Subsequent SOWs in pipeline Key Staff Testing Third level support Exit management Cultural Fit Criteria Management of team(s) Collaboration Recruitment and retention, training, and on-boarding through the course of the contract Working practices Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers Budget range the budget is expected to be greater than £8m. the team is expected to flex in size to meet requirements. capacity will vary but is expected to be in the region of 20 developers rising to a peak of 40 developers before dropping back to 20 over the life of the contract.