Resource Augmentation for BaNCS Development & Live Support of the DWP Technology Children Platform

Tender description

Summary of the work Resource Augmentation for Development and Live Support of the Children Platform technology estate, primarily the Child Maintenance Scheme (CMS) 2012 System. Augmented resources will support the delivery of outcomes for required regular releases of changes, repairs and Live Support of BaNCS to remain current with legislation and optimised for performance/service. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date 01/12/2016 (up to +4 weeks) Budget Range The resources are expected to flex in size to meet requirements during the life of contract. Why the Work is Being Done DWP has existing contracts, that come to an end in 2016-17, including for Provision of Core Business Systems (Development and Live Support of the CMS 2012 System). In accordance with its strategic objective DWP intends to have a core team which will be supplemented by additional supplier augmented resources that will enhance DWP’s internal capability. Therefore contract(s) are required to provide flexible capacity and capability to support DWP by providing resources that comprise of technical specialists and can deliver outcomes. Problem to Be Solved A Supplier is required to provide capacity and capability to support DWP by providing a team that can deliver outcomes in the areas of development/change/repair across a series of releases, and Live Support necessary to satisfy the requirements for a stable performance application/system. The Supplier is also required to provide flexible scaling to meet customer demand. Key technology is BaNCS For info BaNCS is part of a highly integrated solution which includes Siebel, BPM, OBIEE, Adobe and Documentum. Please note that Development and Live Support requirements relating to these technologies will be delivered via by a separate contract agreement. Who Are the Users As a DWP Technology Function I need to be able to augment my development and live support teams to ensure they have the capability and capacity to deliver necessary change and system stability for the Child Maintenance Group (CMG) and its clients. Work Already Done Applications have been developed on the Children Platform technology estate in support of various child maintenance schemes, including the CMS 2012 system that was developed for the latest scheme, which went live in 2012. Development work is ongoing to deliver against a range of additional business and technical requirements. Support of the production system continues to be required within a complex multi-application, multi-supplier environment. Existing Team The successful supplier will provide resource to augment a number of DWP Technology development and Live Support teams. Working in this environment will require collaboration with multiple suppliers, product vendors and other DWP and Other Government Department (OGD) teams. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Experience of delivering a combined Live Support (ITILv3) and Development capability evidencing a wide range of methodologies including agile and waterfall across five or more concurrent projects. 2.50% • Experience of aligning the support/development activities of the combubed team with other parallel work streams across split sites with other DWP teams/suppliers, ensuring quality standards are maintained. 2.50% • Have immediate capacity to supply technical skills (3-5 years’ experience) in application development and support of TCS BαNCS product, Microfocus Server Express and TCS BαNCS Adapter. 2.50% • Experience of operating BaNCS in a comparable integrated environment i.e. BaNCS is a component of the highly integrated CMS2012 system comprising several COTS packages such as Siebel. 1.50% • Have immediate access to a resource pool to undertake the following roles; Project Manager, Technical Architect, Designer, Developer, Quality Assurance Analyst, Web Operations Engineer 1.50% • Have capability to augment resources using a remote model (i.e. not at a DWP location), and have capability to deliver with compliance to ISO27001 standards 1.50% • Have experience of working with incumbent suppliers to transition knowledge of legacy systems and takeover responsibilities within demanding timescales (~2 months). 1.50% Nice to Haves • Have experience of working within DWP or a comparable organisation within the last 3 years. 0.50% • Have experience of ServiceNow 0.50% • Have experience of other CMS 2012 technologies such as Siebel, BPM, WebSphere, Adobe or Documentum 0.50% Work Location The Supplier will be expected to be Primarily co-located with the Customer on DWP sites based within Newcastle Upon Tyne and Leeds with the ability to augment resources using a remote model. Working Arrangments The new supplier will need to gain an understanding of the existing solution to be able to provide support and to deliver future developments with minimal disruption. DWP retains the right to place resources into a team from other suppliers where a supplier or resource has a particular strength. Typically resource will be required to work a minimum of 7.5 hours/day, 5 days/week. NB: Some weekend work will be required for discrete project work and support resource will be required to cover 24/7 on an on call basis. Security Clearance All resources must be BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) compliant or equivalent (or prepared to undergo clearance process prior to commencement of work). Additional T&Cs The Call-Off Contract will be supplemented by additional T&C's, a copy of which can be downloaded from Bravo using the hyperlink provided in Q&A 1 below. Furthermore, in reference to pricing - suppliers must provide a Rate Card for all of the defined roles. Bids must be on a T&M basis, however different pricing models ranging from Fixed Price, T&M and Capped T&M may be used for SoW's. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Experience of your resources delivering major change via concurrent releases and Live Support services for a comparable customer 5.00% • Evidence of adoption and alignment to customer methodology and approach for offering suggestions for improvement 5.00% • Capability of standing up a team from the contract award date, managing resource scaling with related timeframes, managing staff rotation, managing attrition and managing under-performance 5.00% • Ability to gain, at pace, a detailed understanding of the solution to allow ongoing support and further development 5.00% • Ability to deploy, a working arrangements solution for providing out of hours support and how security clearance up to BaselinePersonnelSecurityStandard (BPSS), or equivalent, is managed including related timescales 5.00% • Whether the available supplier resource pool, including subcontractors/partners. In instances of sub-contractor and/or partnered resources then evidence to demonstrate the structure of the relationship and how it is governed 5.00% • Inclusion of value for money proposals associated with provision of resources 5.00% Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a blended team with our organisation and other suppliers, able to take direction within a DWP team 3.75% • Experience of successful collaborative working as part of a multi-supplier delivery team sharing knowledge within the team 3.75% • Have a culture of continuous improvement and to learn from past mistakes 3.75% • Recruitment and retention, training, and on-boarding through the course of the contract 3.75% Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 15% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers 1. Given the size of this piece of work, please could you provide a briefing or any additional background information This is an initial process to short-list potential suppliers for the Delivery Partner requirement. Following the short listing process against the essential and, if necessary, nice-to-have requirements, the shortlisted Bidders will be required to undergo further evaluation. More information of the shortlisting and evaluation process can be downloaded from https://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/toolkit/opportunity/opportunityDetail.do?opportunityId=29081&oppList=CURRENT (login credentials are not required to access the documents). As necessary more information will be provided to the short-listed suppliers under appropriate obligations of confidentiality. 2. When I use the hyperlink in Q1 to access the BRAVO website I recieve the following error message "Warning! Your session is invalid or expired". Please advise how I can access the documents on BRAVO. If when you click the hyperlink you are taken to a webpage that states "Warning! Your session is invalid or expired". Please do the following: 1) Click the "Main Page" button on the right of the webpage; 2) Click "view current opportunities" on the left of the Bravo homepage; 3) Click on the project title "DOS_009b Augmented BaNCS Resource for the Children Platform"; 4) The attachments can be downloaded from the bottom of the webpage. 3. By what method will the authority down select interested suppliers in order to identify the three suppliers to take forward for further evaluation? DWP is following the DOS assessment process for shortlisting. Following the shortlisting process against the essential and then nice-to-have skills and experience, if there are still more than three Bidders, DWP will request evidence to support the shortlisting by evaluating evidence of essential and nice to have skills and experience prior to the further evaluation stage (request for proposal). If there are three or less Bidders following the shortlisting process then they will be taken forward to the further evaluation stage (request for proposal), where evidence of essential and then nice-to-have skills and experience will be requested and evaluated against. 4. What are the time-frames and steps for the procurement up to and including contract award? Specifically, when will suppliers be notified of their progression to the next round, and what are the intended timings for this next phase? Time-scales for the next step depend upon the outcome of the initial process step, described in the answer to question 3 above. If a further step is required bidders will have one week to provide evidence. Evaluation of this evidence will take in the region of one week. Following this we will issue the documentation to short list Bidders for the next stage; and anticipate in the region of 21 calendar days for responses. 5. What information do you require by the closing date for applications? When will you be releasing the full tender documents and what are the associated time-scales? The information that can be provided by the closing date for applications is determined by the Digital Marketplace tool. The information that can be submitted is the email address of your contact for this opportunity, a series of yes/no responses to questions and when you could start work. See answer to question 3 above for further information. 6. The evaluation contains weightings for Technical, Cultural Fit and Pricing. How will these be evaluated? Please see the criteria on our requirements under the section ‘How Suppliers will be Evaluated’. Bidders will be scored against each of the criteria in accordance with the Digital Outcomes and Specialists buyers’ guide. 7. In the instance of the authority evaluating essential and nice to have skills and experience at shortlisting stage; assuming more than three Bidders meet the shortlist criteria would the Authority expect to issue the Request for Proposal to more than three Bidders? No. In the instance of more than three Bidders meeting the shortlist criteria, then DWP will only take the top three ranking (scores taken from evaluated evidence of essential and nice to have skills and experience). Bidders forward to the Request for Proposal stage. 8. (Part 1of2) Are there any additional pre-conditions bidders must conform in order to qualify for contract award? (Part 1of2) Yes, Bidders must strictly note that award of a contract to the preferred Bidder will be subject to the Bidder conforming to the Security Clearance (See security clearance requirements) and Financial Standing requirements for this requirement. If the preferred bidder does not conform to one or both, then DWP will be unable to award them a contract and will refer back to the next highest scoring bidder who is compliant with both. 9. (Part 2of2) Are there any additional pre-conditions bidders must conform in order to qualify for contract award? (Part 2of2) Bidders must also note that there is an expectation that the preferred Bidder will conform to the DOS Call-Off Agreement Supplementary Terms, which shall be incorporated into the Call-Off Contract. A copy of the DOS Call-Off Agreement Supplementary Terms can be downloaded from Bravo using the Hyperlink provided in Q&A 1 above. 10. (Part 1of2) Why and how will Financial Standing be assessed? (Part 1of2) DWP will perform a Financial Variable Risk Assessment prior to entering into contract with the preferred Supplier, to ensure the Supplier is sufficiently financially stable to deliver against the requirements and meet their obligations under the agreement. In the instance of this requirement, the system under development and support is deemed to be a critical and high profile system. Details of the FVRA process are set out in the Request for Proposal document, a copy of which can be downloaded via the hyperlink provided in Question 1 above. 11. (Part 2of2) Why and how will Financial Standing be assessed? (Part 2of2) The financial viability risk assessment will not count towards the overall evaluation scores, but will be used to highlight any financial risks to the Authority. This will be used to provide feedback to Potential Providers on issues they need to consider and resolve in order to satisfy DWP's confidence that the potential provider can deliver the proposed contract. In the event a potential provider is unable to satisfy, then they may be excluded from the process. 12. Where work is detailed as already done are you able to share whether external support was provided to the Authority, i.e. Is there an incumbent supplier? Yes, there are a number of suppliers that have been, and currently continue to be supporting delivery including, Tata Consulting Services and HPE. 13. Does the Authority anticipate if the supplier is expected to co-locate, and would all require co-location from Contract Start, or if there would be a 'ramp-up' in the team size? Co-location is preferable, but we will consider near-shore and off-shore offerings. As part of the evaluation we will seek to understand the proposed ramp up and transition plans as it is expected that not all suppliers bidding will be able to resource a number of teams immediately. 14. When completing the skills, experience and evidence document, does the Authority intend to request suppliers to provide evidence for the specific people who will be doing the work? At this stage DWP expect bidders to provide evidence based on their organisational capability. 15. Are the written proposal and case studies likely to be issued by the Authority together or separately and if separately what are the timelines for each? Yes, they will be issued together to the shortlisted Bidders. This will include details of what is expected in terms of proposal and case studies. 16. Does the Authority expect to award to more than one supplier and if so how many? As part of this procurement, DWP will award to a single supplier. Bidders should also note that DWP reserve the right, as part of a non-exclusive award, to also subsequently obtain certain services from other routes. 17. Will the Authority only use one pricing methodology at SoW level? For the pricing submission, Bidders need to provide a cost that includes all the roles identified. Bids must be priced on a Time and Materials basis, however bidders must note that due to the nature of the requirement the DWP may raise different scopes of work with different pricing models ranging from Fixed Price, T & M or Capped T &M. 18. Why are the word count limits for questions, as described in the request for proposal document, higher than typically set within the DOS guidance notes? The word count allowance limits have been moderately increased for questions because in the context of these requirements it is believed an increased word count will allow suppliers a better opportunity to describe and evidence their capability/experience to each of the requirements set out, which in turn will allow for a more informed evaluation. 19. If DWP hold an initial evaluation of essential skills and experience, how long will bidders be given to respond? Following the date of evaluating expressions of interest, dependent upon the level of interest Bidders will be given either:·         Approximately 5 days to respond to the essential skills and nice to have criteria; and then if shortlisted approximately a further 10 working days to answer the remaining questions; or·         Approximately 15 working days to answer the full RfP questions. 20. Could you please confirm/clarify if this new requirement name "Resource Augmentation for BaNCS Development & Live Support of the DWP Technology Children Platform" is the same or different to "Resource Augmentation for the Development and Live Support DWP Technology Children Platform teams" We submitted a bid response to "Resource Augmentation for the Development and Live Support DWP Technology Children Platform teams", but we are unsure if we have responded to the correct requirement. This requirement is different to the other requirement "Resource Augmentation for the Development and Live Support DWP Technology Children Platform teams". Whilst similar, and interfacing into the same programme of work, this requirement has a specific focus on the provision of resources that can specialise in the BaNCS technology platform. 21. When you say BaNCS Product Support does not form part of the requirement, I believe you mean this is covered under the BaNCS AMC (Standard Support Services)? Yes. 22. Please can you help clarify on development and live support of "CMS 2012 BaNCS deployment" - does this mean development of BaNCS product as such which is deployed at CMG and its live support? Or is the RFP for development and live support of other applications that interface with BaNCS but not for the BaNCS product deployed at CMG? Yes, this means development of BaNCS which is deployed at CMG and its live support. No, this is not for development and live support of other applications that interface with BaNCS.