Border Force Digital Product Design Service

Tender description

Summary of the work Border Force would like to grow and evolve its capability to design great digital products. In order to do this, it needs to engage a partner to work with the current team on several programmes. Expected Contract Length Up to 24 months, inital work package will be 4-6 months. Latest start date Monday 14 August 2017 Why the Work is Being Done Border Force has a requirement for a digital product design capability to shape and lead the development of new products for Border Force portfolios for internal and external customers. Problem to Be Solved Border Force would like to grow and evolve its capability to design great digital products. In order to do this, it needs to engage a partner to work with the current team on several programmes. Who Are the Users Users include citizen facing services and internal tools for Border Force Officers to secure UK borders, and detecting criminal behaviour within the Home Office and wider government agencies. Work Already Done There are currently resources in place, where the current contract with an incumbent supplier is coming to an end. Existing Team There is an existing team in place working within Border Force. The new supplier will need to work collaboratively with other areas of the programme and other suppliers. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Experience in building services to meet the Digital by Default Service Standard • Experience in proving the benefits of a user-led approach in a deadline-driven environment • Experience in designing services that meet both user needs and business objectives • Experience in delivering digital solutions that meet Level AA of the W3C WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards • Experience in successfully and collaboratively working, coaching and sharing knowledge with public sector client teams, particularly those with limited agile development experience • Experience of building an internal capability – knowledge transfer, blogging, training sessions. • • Demonstrable experience of working in multi-team agile delivery programmes Nice to Haves • Previous successful experience delivering digital services within Government. • Demonstrate ability to collaborate and function within a complex ecosystems of suppliers and internal stakeholders, and ensuring that the end user needs are represented and met. Work Location 2 Marsham Street initially then Croydon from summer / autumn 2017 Working Arrangments The team need to work across the portfolio, to standards and practices set by GDS and the Home Office Centres of Excellence. Resources are expected to work within delivery teams. The team is expected to work across the multiple sites, the main site is expected to be Croydon and be available during standard HO working hours. Expenses will conform to HO internal policies and will not be payable within the M25. Security Clearance Service provider personnel need to be compliant with SC clearance, and in certain circumstances, DV clearance. Additional T&Cs Individual statements of work (SoW) will be agreed periodically and subject to satisfactory performance of the supplier and HO needs. This contract is non-exclusive. The intention is the provision of a service with defined outcomes where the supplier is responsible for deliverables, risk, and provision of individuals. If this was to be executed in this manner then it would probably be deemed outside the intermediaries legislation but could be affected by factors outside HO control. HO assumes no liability and will grant no guarantee of status. IPR in any developed technology will rest with HO. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Identify named team members including CVs and relevant experience • Ability to mobilise the team quickly and approach to service continuity • Ability to flex up and down resources, whilst ensuring quality and consistency • Approach and methodology to meeting the requirements outlined in RFP • Approach to ensuring value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Ability to function effectively and collaborate in a multi-supplier environment • Working successfully in complex public sector organisations • Approach to proactive issue management, problem resolution and improving ways of working Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please would you outline what the initial SOW will look like? HO Border Force initially see a need for a small product design team cover user research/content design/interaction which we expect could be covered to by a 4-5 people. This will form the basis of an initial Statement of Work. This will flex in the future based on business demand 2. Are any of the existing contractors expected to be TUPE'd or otherwise employed by the winning bidder? No this is not expected. 3. Could you tell us what phase is the work currently in? Is there an expectation that the work in progress will conclude at a defined point? The winning supplier will be tasked with multiple projects and will not be aligned to a particular phase of work. 4. Is there any prohibition to competing for follow on work for the contractor selected for this initiative? We do not envisage this to be an issue. 5. What is the anticipated value of this contract? We do not expect this contracts cumulative value to be in excess of £5m over the two year duration. 6. Can you provide further information regarding the tools you mention in the brief? Plus any related technical requirements/limitations/integration considerations. By ‘tools’ we mean digital products used by our staff (rather than public facing products/services). 7. The brief mentions that the supplier needs to work in 'multi-team' programmes. Does this mean that the Digital Team already has a well-defined internal role at the Border Force that they undertake specifically as part of wider projects? We have a number of defined/established digital teams working across a range of projects. We expect the supplier to demonstrate some experience of providing individual resources to new or established teams. 8. There is mention of a need for individuals with DV level security clearance in 'certain circumstances' - are these circumstances to be a large part of the initial work packages and if so, over how many internal projects/programmes are DV cleared individuals needed? DV is not required in the initial work packages. The likelihood is low of requesting DV but remains a possibility. 9. Could you please provide us with any information on the development tools that the Border Force Digital Team is currently working with? We run a standard dev shop. We currently use some Adobe tools for design, jira for ticket management, html prototyping 10. It is mentioned that the supplier needs to work with the current Digital team on 'several programmes' - how many programmes are there and what is the size of the existing team and the completion timescales for each programme? Currently w're running 7 projects across 2 programmes. Projects tend to run 6m - 2y, and we follow the GDS phases of discovery/Alpha/Beta/Live. We endeavour to work as cross functional teams with strong business/user engagement 11. Is there any information on the size and skill distribution of the current Digital Team? A small team covering service design, uer research, content and user interaction 12. What is meant by the term 'external customers' in the 'why is the work being done' section? This refers to new products and services for the general public as well as our staff. 13. Is there an expectation for the prospective supplier to provide some vision for the full two year engagement while bidding for the initial work package? There is no expectation of this, but an understanding of GDS/Government ways of working is expected 14. Is there an expectation for the prospective supplier to provide some vision for the full two year engagement while bidding for the initial work package? There is no expectation of this, but an understanding of GDS/Government ways of working is expected 15. We suspect that for security clearance reasons there is a limit to how much information you can provide, but a better understanding of the scale and types of projects would be useful for us to respond appropriately to the shortlisting criteria. - What legacy systems will you be decommissioning/looking to replace? - Are you expecting service design specialists complemented by design and UX, website and app development/delivery teams? - What about VR/AR expertise? Cyber-security specialists? - All of the above, plus project management and strategic oversight? We require the specific capability listed - user research, content design and interaction design. 16. Is there any prohibition to competing for follow on work for the contractor selected for this initiative? In the answer to question 1 you have indicated that 4-5 people will be required initially. How long is the initial period? What is the range of resources required (e.g. up to 12?) No prohibition. The current size is 4-5, and will flex around this, indicatively by by +/- 50%.