Proc195 Sponsorship Delivery Partner

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The Home Office and Immigration IT Portfolio are currently implementing a number of initiatives to improve the Visa Sponsorship process. Sponsorship is currently delivered on a legacy system (PBS) which is not fit for purpose and nearing end of life. As a result, a new system is being developed to replace PBS, incorporating feedback from users to improve it and align with the overall UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) strategic goals. Problem to Be Solved The Programme is building services to transform the way the Home Office (HO) manages immigration into the United Kingdom. Its key deliverables include: The core Immigration system used by Home Office staff, which replaces the existing PBS system, supports several thousand concurrent users, and manages decision making on hundreds of thousands of Immigration and Visa cases per year; Configurable technology modules tailored to a specific business service need; Automation of existing manual, paper-based processes; and supported decision-making to drive consistency. Who Are the Users As a sponsor: •Apply for a licence or CoS/CAS allocation •Assign CoS/CAS •Report on sponsored workers/students •Edit my details •Add/edit users •Add/edit representatives •Renew my licence. As a representative, on clients’ behalf: •Apply for a CoS/CAS allocation •Assign CoS/CAS to workers/students •Report on sponsored workers and students •Provide details of changes to my organisation •Provide details of new users. As a caseworker: •Find cases •Consider risk •Carry out checks •Record the outcome of checks •Make and record decisions •Communicate with sponsors •Suspend/Downgrade/Revoke/Reinstate Licences •Issue CoS/CAS allocations. As a manager: •Perform management checks •Assign work to caseworkers •Report on workload. Early Market Engagement Some market engagement on Alpha has been done within the Home Office, Cabinet Office and with CCS. Work Already Done Discovery Phase has already been completed and Alpha Phase is currently under way. The goals of the Alpha phase are to: build a deep understanding of user needs within sponsorship, inside and out of government; identify opportunities for improving the service; define Alpha candidate and approach to decommission current systems. Existing Team The team currently consists of a Support Team, External Team, Internal Team and Data Team, although this structure may be adjusted for Beta phase. The Supplier will work collaboratively with the other suppliers, as well as other teams in the Programme. Some of the main suppliers are: Atos, PA Consulting, HiveIT, RedWeb & Triad. Current Phase Beta Work Location Foundry House | 3 Millsands | Riverside Exchange | Sheffield | S3 8NH. We would prefer teams to be located within 1 hour of the office in Sheffield. Working Arrangments The work will take place over 6x5 week 'Programme Increments', which includes a 4 week Sprint Cycle and 1 week between cycles (plus a kick off at project start). The supplier should be able to provide up to 3 Sprint Teams (see Q&A section for details on team roles), working alongside and interacting with the current project team. To ensure teams are working collaboratively and are well aligned they should be able to interact easily. We prefer teams to be located within 1 hour of Sheffield office and have facilities for virtual presence through an always-on video link(using Skype/Google Hangouts). Security Clearance Supplier personnel should be compliant with CTC as a minimum. Depending on nature of the role, individuals requiring access to production/production-like environments must have or be capable of achieving SC Clearance. Accessing Foundry House requires HO SC Clearance. Preferably all resources seek this in advance of project start date. Additional T&Cs All suppliers must apply via Digital Marketplace and, in addition, all expressions of interest MUST be received by the Home Office IPT Commercial Mailbox (iptcommercial@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) by 11.59pm Monday 19th December 2016. Reponses after this won't be considered and applications won't be reviewed before the deadline closes. The e-mail should be headed with "Proc195-Sponsorship Delivery Partner". For the response, please confirm whether or not you comply with each of the "Essential Skills and Experience" and "Nice-to-have Skills and Experience" and provide evidence against EACH ONE. The evidence provided against each shouldn't exceed 300 words and should be provided in PDF format. Skills & Experience Experience in using agile delivery methodologies including Scrum, Continuous Delivery and Agile at Scale Experience of building services and application on Java 8 and NodeJS Experience of infrastructure and web operations for the design, setup and running of large scale browser based, RESTful micro-services to 12 factor app principles Experience of building UI to accessibility standards and GDS patterns and templates Experience of domain driven design methods and principles Experience of creating executable specifications Experience of deploying using Docker and Kubernetes Experience in bespoke software application development of browser based software (Please see Question and Answer section for details on response evaluation criteria) Nice to Haves Experience of integrating with legacy data platforms and APIs Experience of working in teams with User Researchers to deliver to user needs Experience of successful collaborative working as part of a multi-supplier delivery team Experience of scaling processes and approach to meet challenging needs such as complex integration with legacy systems, and complex data migration from legacy systems (Please see Question and Answer section for details on response evaluation criteria) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Whether the proposed delivery team includes any subcontractors or partnered resources Capability of standing up the team from the contract award date Ability to deploy the teams within 1 hour of the Customer’s location Ability to adopt the technical solution developed so far and methodology, gain a detailed understanding to allow ongoing support and further development, where applicable enhance the solution and methodology Reference track record Willingness to align with the Programme Approach (for example the Definition of Done, the Test Strategy, the Release Planning Approach etc.), but to offer opportunities for improvements were identified Identification of risks and dependencies that might impact deliverability of the Project, and suggested approaches to manage them Supplier Assessment Day Value for money / Competitive whole life costs (Please see Question and Answer section for details on additional T&M roles) Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Transparent and collaborative when making decisions Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes Application of Agile Principles Ability to add value Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 10% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers Budget range