PHE - Corporate ICT - DIEM software support and development.

Tender description

Requirement: Enhancements to Existing Laboratory Control System For this project PHE has a budget of £20k and we estimate 35 person-days will be required for the work. Bidders should confirm that they can achieve this. Public Health England's Personal Dosimetry Service (PHE PDS) provides employers with measurements of radiation doses to individual workers. It does this by means of passive dosemeters or "badges" that are worn for a period, e.g. 1 month, then returned to PHE for processing. See https://www.phe-protectionservices.org.uk/pds for further information. The dosimetry laboratory relies on a software system, known as DIEM, to govern the circulation and processing of the dosemeters, and to run items of handling machinery. DIEM (Dosemeter Information Exchange Manager): • uses a SQL Server 2008 database. • produces and reads text files for data transfer to and from other internal systems. • uses a Windows interface for the equipment, which it controls via DDE and Visual Basic programs. • uses a browser interface for other operations. • has up to 20 concurrent users. Inventory and Traffic • PHE PDS holds records for several hundred thousand dosemeters. • Many of these are re-usable; DIEM keeps complete records of current and previous uses. • Some 35,000 dosemeter transactions are processed each week (issue, check-in, processing). • DIEM controls: o 2 x large-scale sorting machines o 1 x large-scale "reception machine" (check-in and contamination screening) o smaller issue and return stations with code readers, label printers etc. DIEM is subject to a support agreement with a contractor. Requirement DIEM has been in place for two years and requires some enhancements to improve reliability and/or efficiency. The present requirement is to address the most important of these. Outline specifications for the enhancements are given below but the supplier will be expected to discuss with PHE PDS and agree details, test plan and deliverables in each case. Suppliers should also indicate: • their credentials (e.g. experience of similar systems including requirements for machine control) • their proposed arrangements for o familiarisation with the DIEM system o effective capture of requirement details o regular communication with PHE PDS o project planning including timescales Assistance with testing and roll-out is required. Modifications will be treated as delivered once they are successfully operating on the live system, unless otherwise agreed. Suppliers should expect to communicate both with PHE's IT support teams and with the current support provider for DIEM, in order to ensure effective delivery. For this project PHE has a budget of £20k and we estimate 35 person-days will be required for the work. Bidders should confirm tha