Industry specific software package

Tender description

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; and the Department of Communities and Local Government wishes to appoint suppliers for technical support for development and maintaining the methodologies for assessing the energy performance of buildings and associated mechanisms and software. .The key areas of expertise needed are: LOT 1: Maintaining and developing the SAP National Calculation Methodology and energy assessment models and the operation of the process for the consideration of new technologies; and ad-hoc technical support for SAP. LOT 2: The maintenance and development of the products characteristic database. LOT 3: Testing third party produced SAP software. LOT 4: Quality assurance of SAP model. LOT 5: Maintaining and developing the Simplified Building Energy Model and its associated interface tool. LOT 6: The maintenance of SBEM Appendix Q. LOT 7: Testing third party produced SBEM and non-domestic EPBD software. —Development, refinement and creation of the energy assessment methodologies and models. —This requires production of standards; production of change proposals; reviews and validation of models and model assumptions; production of consultations documents and recommendations to Government based on analysis of responses to those consultations; and general provision of advice and guidance material, including: —Updating fuel cost and carbon emissions factors; —Amending guidance; —Responding to stakeholder queries; —Researching technologies and innovations; stakeholder engagement on model improvement; —Developing the assessment process in Green Deal to support policy needs; —Administrative processes to support programme delivery including quarterly meetings, reports to the project manager, risk analysis of delivery, financial reporting and logging and monitoring of issues raised by stakeholders; —Designing and running a process to encourage innovation; and —Providing Ad-hoc technical advice. Ensuring the products characteristics database allows for the inclusion of products, and ensure that there are robust methodologies for verifying the testing of these products. Assessing manufacturers applications for entry to the database, including validation of performance claims; producing monthly downloadable updates; producing progress reports and information. This will include protecting (from malicious attacks) the database, the data, data access points, related software and system procedures. Deal with stakeholder applications for listing on the database; provide ad hoc support to BEIS; etc. Monitoring and evaluation of performance of database. — Maintain and develop software testing procedures, test models and the supporting documentation. — Test third party software and produce test reports. — Make recommendations for software approval. — Provide advice to software providers. —Produce a change notification system, with change notices, to notify software providers of changes to the software that are required and to ensure that those changes are introduced into the software by a predetermined date. — Carry out quality assurance checks. — Provide technical and policy related advice to BEIS, as required, flexibly fielding ad hoc requests for advice and information. — Undertake periodic quality assurance activities to ensure standards are maintained. — Monitor and evaluation performance in the management of software testing. Provision of a system so the model might be tested to ensure it remains robust and of a high quality. Through this lot, DCLG aims to: — Ensure the continued accessibility and usability of the iSBEM tool and the associated guidance, including information relating to SBEM. — Ensure that the SBEM methodology and iSBEM are maintained and reasonably free from bugs, inconsistencies and errors. — Provide a flexible mechanism to meet DCLG requirements for additional expert technical support, as and when required, in relation to all matters detailed in this lot. — Ensure that there exists an effective mechanism for the incorporation of innovative technologies within SBEM. — Provide a flexible mechanism to meet DCLG requirements for additional expert technical support, as and when required, in relation to all matters detailed in this lot. Through this lot, DCLG aims to: — Ensure that dynamic simulation models (DSMs) and software applications of SBEM and ORCalc are consistent in their use of the relevant National Calculation Methodology (NCM) and to make recommendations for approval of software applications to DCLG. — Ensure software for air conditioning inspection reports generate reports to the specification and standard specified by DCLG. — Ensure that software providers operate and work to an appropriate quality assurance standard. — Ensure outputs from software such as Energy Performance Certificates, Display Energy Certificates and Air Conditioning Inspection Reports are fit for purpose. — Provide a flexible mechanism to meet DCLG requirements for additional expert technical support, and when required, in relation to all matters detailed in this lot.