Border Force Business Application Development

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Border Force is currently undertaking significant transformation to its core capabilities. Key to this transformation is the use of information technology to optimise Border Force’s operations and make Border Force Officers more effective. This project will support Border Force’s transformation by providing Officers with workflow tools and data to support a range of their duties. Problem to Be Solved Border Force Officers make rapid, critical decisions based on a range of information presented to them. They must make and record these decisions accurately, and, in some circumstances take further action based on detailed operating procedures. The problem this project solves is: how to enable Officers to be more operationally effective through the use of an application developed in conjunction with changes to operating procedures. The new application and procedures shall improve the effectiveness of Officers carrying out their duties at ports, often in harsh climatic conditions, while also interacting with members of the public and trade. Who Are the Users The current users are Border Force officers based at air and sea ports. These users need to make rapid informed decisions based on information from a range of sources including equipment, digital records and physical paperwork. Early Market Engagement Border Force has engaged with a number of COTS and Open Source software suppliers in order to evaluate its technical strategy; this has resulted in a preference for the use of Activiti as a key enabling technology. Work Already Done The Discovery phase of this project has been completed. Products include User Stories, functional and non-functional requirements; detailed business process (BPMN 2.0 notation) wire-frames and style guides. A selection of these products shall be provided to the short-listed suppliers. Existing Team 1 x internal project manager 1 x Internal Product Owner This is not intended as guidance for what roles are expected; short-listed suppliers will specific their own methodology and resourcing as an Agile Team during the second stage. Current Phase Discovery Work Location The work is predominantly based in London within the M25 (Westminster initially at 2 Marsham Street and then Croydon), however proposals of remote working or partial remote working at a different location will be considered. Working Arrangments Expenses will need to conform with Home Office HR policies and travel will not be payable within the M25. The team is expected to work across the multiple sites; the main sites are expected to be Westminster then Croydon. The team must be available during standard Home Office working hours. Security Clearance All staff engaged on the programme must currently hold or be capable of being security cleared to Home Office SC level. To be capable of SC clearance individuals must have resided in the UK for at least 6 months and have permission to work in the UK. Additional T&Cs The intention is the provision of a service with defined outcomes where the supplier is responsible for deliverables, risk, and provision of personnel. It is intended that the contract would be outside of the intermediaries legislation but status could be affected by factors outside Home Office control. The Home Office assumes no liability and will grant no guarantee of status. Suppliers should note that continuity of supply, resource stability, and management are part of the assessment criteria - excessive dependence on independent contractors may impact on the evaluation of tenders unless this is part of a managed supply chain. Skills & Experience Experience of designing and developing front line systems for ‘blue-light’ services and/or design and development of operational systems in safety critical environments such as aviation, oil, gas etc Experience of design and development of systems for use in high pressure operational environments Design and development of systems that provide a range of information to support rapid operational decision making Experience of the design and development of systems to be used in adverse climatic conditions e.g. rain, snow etc. Experience of the design and development of systems that include data up to and including SECRET Demonstrable experience in implementing Activiti as a workflow engine within the last twelve months Proven experience building easy-to-use web-based cross platform (including personal computer, tablet and phone) applications within the last twelve months Demonstrate successful approaches to completion of required GDS Service Assessment, Security Health-Check, Penetration Testing, Service Readiness, and release reviews as part of quality/acceptance tests within the last twelve months Nice to Haves Proven track record of building services capable of running 24x7 with robust disaster recovery plans in place within the last twelve months Proven track record of utilising automated testing procedures within the last twelve months A track record of successfully delivering IT projects within public sector organisations, including delivery of at least one live systems within the last twelve months Demonstrable experience of working successfully with provisions for an offline user interface within the Activiti last twelve months Knowledge and use of Java 8, Scala, Spring Boot, NodeJS, HTML5/CSS, Docker and Kubernetes, SOAP, REST, GitLab, Drone, Jenkins and GitHub Demonstrable use/knowledge of existing DB flavour used in HO e.g. PostgreSQL, or NoSQL DBs, e.g. MongoDB. Assessment of alternative technology in line with Border Force Reference Architecture/GDS Service Standards Experience of Home Office Forms (an open source project - https://github.com/UKHomeOfficeForms/hof) within the last twelve months Demonstrable understanding issues pertaining to applying security checks to individuals travelling across borders Demonstrable experience of writing cloud native / 12-factor apps within the last twelve months Demonstrable knowledge of working with 3rd parties to develop standard interfaces and data exchange portals within the last twelve months Demonstrable experience of successfully transitioning projects into a live service environment within a government department within the last 12 months Demonstrable development experience solely using Open Source products or products Demonstrable experience building services on public/hyper scale G-Cloud infrastructure providers including, but not limited to, Amazon Web Services within the last twelve months Demonstrable experience conducting and documenting user research, and iterating project work accordingly (test driven development) within the last twelve months Demonstrable experience delivering projects using the agile project management methodology within the last twelve months Demonstrable ability to provide continual improvement Have availability of resources to be able to start as soon as possible No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria All essential and nice to have requirements will be evaluated further as part of the overall proposal criteria below 2nd stage Evaluation criteria within Technical Competence will have 8 categories: Specific Competencies 40%, Plan for initial phase 25%, Policy 20%, Methodology 10%, Security 5% Specific Competencies: Includes all essential and nice to have technology criteria Specific Competencies: Includes all essential and nice to have business and project plan Written response as to the type of agile delivery criteria and method proposed Specific Competencies: Ability to transfer to Business as Usual Plan: Quality of delivery plan for first phase of engagement and statement of work, including user research Policy: Cloud - Open Source - IPR and Licensing Methodology: Agile - Government Digital Service Security: Compliance with people security requirements Cultural Fit Criteria Experience working with public sector organisations Ability to work collaboratively with key stakeholders in Home Office Transparency in decision-making Strong pro-active approach to incident and problem management Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 5% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers Budget range budget range of between £1.00m to £3.00m over two years (excl vat)