Front end developers for digital apprenticeship service (SFADAS12)

Tender description

Summary of the work Provide a flexible team of front-end developers (3-6) to work in fast-paced agile delivery teams on the Digital Apprenticeships Service to sit on GOV.UK. Developers will produce high-quality, accessible, cross-browser user journeys that meet well-researched user needs. Expected Contract Length 2 years but may be shorter depending on progress towards delivering the strands of work. Latest start date 22/08/2016 Why the Work is Being Done BIS and the SFA are delivering a new digital apprenticeship service. The service vision is “Empowering employers to build skills through quality apprenticeships”. Currently apprenticeship funding is allocated and paid directly to training providers. Therefore employers will take control of government funding for apprenticeships. The policy intent is to drive up the quality and quantity of apprenticeships. We have completed a number of discovery and alpha stages for some components the service. The first strand will go live in August 2016. The services being procured are expected to deliver the remaining strands of work by April 2017. Problem to Be Solved Often employers don't know they have the option to choose from a range of providers, or that government will fund training for their apprentices. Employers need to be able to: 1) hire apprentices; 2) choose the right type of training for their apprentices; 3) find a suitable training provider; 4) understand what funding is available, including the apprenticeship levy, where that applies to them; and 5) manage their training costs. Who Are the Users 1) As a citizen I need to improve my employment prospects so that I can start a career and earn money. 2) As an employer I need to employ an apprentice so I can improve the skills of my workforce, and get support for my business. 3) As a training provider for apprenticeships I need to ensure employers choose my services so my business is viable. 4) As SFA I need to manage levy payment and funding to training providers and ensure growth in apprenticeships for the benefit of the economy. Work Already Done We have completed a series of discovery and alpha phases for the various strands of work within the service. Two strands of work are currently in the beta phase. Existing Team The supplier will be working with civil servants and multiple suppliers across various strands of work for delivery of the service. Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Provide a team with extensive experience developing HTML, CSS and Javascript for the web. • Robust understanding of interaction design principles for the web, and an ability to communicate these to other team members, technical and non-technical. • Solid experience of adhering to WCAG accessibility criteria at AA standard, and use of related accessibility markup such as ARIA. Ability to communicate accessibility requirements to other team members. • Strong understanding of server-side CSS pre-processing platforms such as LESS and SASS. • Excellent understanding of all desktop and mobile browsers and cross-browser compatibility issues. • Working knowledge of GIT and distributed version control. • Can work as part of a development team using a Microsoft stack (asp.net MVC and Razor view engine). • Demonstrable ability to produce intuitive user interfaces while working to a style guide or pattern library. • Commitment to participate in clan based activities such as standups, group collaborations, lightning talks and workshops. Nice to Haves • Experience developing digital services for GOV.UK • Experience with Heroku or similar platforms • Knowledge and experience of utilising automated test tools • Knowledge and experience with cross browser testing tools • Able to coach the delivery team, product owners and business stakeholders on agile practices Work Location Skills Funding Agency, Cheylesmore House, 5 Quinton Road, Coventry CV1 2WT, with occasional travel to other locations nationwide. Working Arrangments Onsite full-time 5 days a week co-located with the rest of the team at the SFA offices in Coventry. Occasional travel to other BIS or SFA (or partner organisation) offices may be required, subject to SFA travel and subsistence policy. This programme is being delivered using agile methodologies. Successful application of agile principles and techniques requires that the teams are co-located and able to work directly with colleagues representing digital delivery, operational and policy requirements. Security Clearance The successful supplier must be able to demonstrate that all proposed team members have been subject to Baseline Personnel Security Standards checks as set out in the SFA Baseline Security Policy 2014. Additional T&Cs Standard DOS framework and call-off terms and conditions. Day rates should be inclusive of any costs of travelling to and working from the base location. The cost of travel to other locations while performing SFA work will be covered as per the SFA travel and subsistence policy and will need to be invoiced by the supplier with supporting receipts. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrate the supplier’s ability to build intuitive, production-quality user interfaces from user research outputs • Demonstrate an understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG accessibility criteria at AA standard) and examples of previous accessible front end developments • Demonstrate an understanding of progressive enhancement • Demonstrate an understanding, and provide examples of, responsive design techniques • Demonstrate the suppliers ability to embed front-end development into an agile delivery, highlighting the suppliers ability to work with developers in an asp.net MVC development environment (or other MVC environment) • Demonstrate ability to work in a face paced agile environment • Explain how you would motivate your staff and contribute to their overall morale, in particular to ensure that working in a co-located environment in Coventry does not become an issue Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate commitment to excellence and improvement, for example through seeking actionable feedback, setting targets etc. • Show a commitment to ensuring a team understands the user need over simply delivering work • Transparent and collaborative when making decisions and recommendations • Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes • Demonstrate courage (for example, express controversial views, confront reality, make tough decisions, question actions inconsistent with group behaviours, candid about progress/estimates) • Demonstrate vulnerability (for example, declare uncertainty, fear, recognise mistakes, apologise, acknowledge weaknesses) • Demonstrate responsibility (for example, act like a leader, serve your team, provide solutions to problems, engage in external/internal environments, seek the best for the organisation beyond your team) • Demonstrate simplicity (for example, take simple steps to goals, do less but better, mitigate failures, talk straight with respect) • Demonstrate excellence (for example, seek actionable feedback, set challenging targets, know users, deliver cost effective high level customer satisfaction) • Demonstrate enthusiasm (for example, bring whole self to work, celebrate success, share passion and energy with others, optimistic) Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Whilst we understand that you're looking for a team of Front End Developers, on a Time and Materials basis, can you clarify for us what the actual Outcome is ? This has been released as an Outcome rather than Specialists opportunity. Thanks . The outcome that we seek is a supplier that can provide a flexible team of front-end developers (3-6) who meet our essential criteria during the life of the contract. This approach suits the “start-stop” nature of this programme (there are multiple streams of work which start and complete agile phases regularly) better than the specialist option which requires one procurement per person per role. 2. Can SFA help clarify what is meant by ‘ flexible team’, does this mean you would like to stand-up and stand-down resources at short notice? We need to be able to flex up or down the number of developers as delivery phases finish and/or start under the DOS call-off terms and conditions. We are looking for a supplier that can scale up the number of people fairly quickly if and when required. 3. Which java script are you looking to hire Node or Angular ? GDS primarily (performance platform etc) uses Node The javascript reference relates to client side (in the browser) javascript not a server side framework, so standard ecmascript 5 javascript is required to provide progressively enhanced user experiences." 4. What other Platforms, apart from Heroku, would you consider ? Do you have a preferred alternative ? Experience with Heroku is a "nice to have" so any similar PAAS offerings (Azure Cloud Service, Scalingo, etc...) or general experience with deploying UI's (especially prototypes) for end use consumption would be considered beneficial.