UK SBS IT17334 BEIS Product Safety Database (Discovery)

Tender description

Summary of the work Regulatory Delivery (part of BEIS) requires a team to work with the internal Service Manager to carry out a Discovery phase on a product safety database for UK government bodies. Expected Contract Length 6 weeks with the option to extend for up to an additional 2 weeks Latest start date Monday 28 August 2017 Budget Range £58,000 to £65,000 Why the Work is Being Done The UK requires a national database to facilitate the exchange of information between various UK government bodies about market surveillance activity and dangerous non-food products posing a potential safety risk to consumers. The EU currently provides two separate online databases (RAPEX and ICSMS) to fulfil this need. However, the UK will no longer depend on these databases following its departure from the EU. A UK-based service is required ready for when the UK completes its departure from the EU in 2019. Problem to Be Solved Following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the UK will no longer depend on ICSMS and RAPEX to exchange information about market surveillance and dangerous products. A database will need to be developed for national use, allowing UK government bodies to exchange information quickly and effectively. This may include information sharing with other countries to ensure effective national and international enforcement activity. The database should be user friendly and encourage high usage amongst enforcement bodies. Who Are the Users The users of the database will be UK officials from various government bodies (local authority trading standards, Health and Safety Executive, BEIS, enforcement bodies, etc.), their primary needs are: • To report dangerous non-food products and actions taken to mitigate against risks and accidents • To share information about market surveillance activity • To search for information submitted by other government bodies (product type, risk mitigation approach, etc.) Existing Team The existing team consists of internal staff with expertise in subject areas and knowledge of users. A Service Manager is being recruited. Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to deliver user-centred services and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to develop digital services using agile methodologies and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to assess existing services and scope API integration requirements and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to research and document a range of user needs and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to conduct user research remotely and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to develop service requirements from Discovery outputs and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project Work Location The successful supplier can choose to deploy a team at 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ. Working Arrangments Co-located at chosen site (London or Birmingham). Adhering to BEIS normal working hours (09:00 - 17:00). The successful supplier must comply with BEIS travel and subsistence policy. There is a possibility of travel for user research purposes, which could be anywhere in the United Kingdom (BEIS will meet any additional travel costs incurred away from the chosen office for the purposes of user research or attendance at other BEIS sites). Security Clearance Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution will meet user needs • Estimated timeframes to complete the work • Team structure (with roles and responsibilities) • How risks and dependencies are identified and approaches to manage them • Approach to maintaining control, transparency and quality Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate how you will work transparently and collaboratively with the BEIS Regulatory Delivery team when making decisions throughout this project • Demonstrate how you will engage and work with suppliers developing existing services to inform Regulatory Delivery’s approach Payment Approach Fixed price Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 5% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. Hello, we are confused about working arrangements as the brief says "offsite" and "remote working". However later talks about co-locating in Birmingham or London. Please could you clarify? Are you saying the chosen supplier could work remotely and come to your premises for key meetings/stand-ups/workshops etc? Thanks When uploading the requirements the system does not allow for multiple locations to be selected which is the reason for the location showing as “No specific location”. Further down it is clarified that the supplier can choose to deploy a team to either 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ.Remote working will not be possible as we need the team onsite to work closely with Regulatory Delivery subject matter experts. 2. When do you anticipate the presentations to be? I'm checking as some of our key people are on annual leave in August. Thanks We anticipate the presentations to be on Thursday 10th August and/or Friday 11th August. 3. Hi - you have stated separately that the chosen supplier's team can work remotely and that the work location will be co-located at one of two Central London locations. Can you please clarify which of these is actually the case? When uploading the requirements the system does not allow for multiple locations to be selected which is the reason for the location showing as “No specific location”. Further down it is clarified that the supplier can choose to deploy a team to either 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ.Remote working will not be possible as we need the team onsite to work closely with Regulatory Delivery subject matter experts. 4. At the beginning of the brief you state remote working is acceptable but later in the brief you are asking for a team to be colocated at either London or Birmingham. Could you clarify your preference? When uploading the requirements the system does not allow for multiple locations to be selected which is the reason for the location showing as “No specific location”. Further down it is clarified that the supplier can choose to deploy a team to either 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ. 5. 4. At the beginning of the brief you state remote working is acceptable but later in the brief you are asking for a team to be colocated at either London or Birmingham. Could you clarify your preference? When uploading the requirements the system does not allow for multiple locations to be selected which is the reason for the location showing as “No specific location”. Further down it is clarified that the supplier can choose to deploy a team to either 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ.Remote working will not be possible as we need the team onsite to work closely with Regulatory Delivery subject matter experts. 6. The stated structure of the responses to the initial Selection Questionnaire is: "When you write your evidence, you should be specific about: • what the situation was • the work the team did • what the results were" The questions are phrased as "Demonstrate how you will... " Do you want responses in the "provide evidence" structure or would you prefer an explanation as to "How we will....."? You can adhere to the Selection Questionnaire guidance whilst also linking your responses to demonstrate how you will apply those skills to ensure the successful delivery of this project. 7. In this opportunity the budget is fixed. Is the project expected to be an agile project which recognises that the scope will vary? This means that within a fixed budget project deliverables will be regularly re-prioritised to reflect user needs, progress and in this case the remaining resource allocation. As a result the final deliverables may be different to those originally planned. We accept that the scope will vary depending on how the work progresses, but by the end of Discovery we still expect to have a better understanding of user needs and the requirements for the remaining phases within budget. 8. Are you wanting all members of the team on the project to have BBPS clearance or just the lead members? We need all team members to have BPSS clearance. 9. Please correct my question to BPSS clearance. Thank you. We need all team members to have BPSS clearance. 10. Hello. In the opportunity details it states that there is no specific location, that people can work remotely. Further down the details it states co-located at Birmingham or London sites. Can you confirm whether our team could work remotely (from our own office) or whether there is an opportunity to split our time between BEIS and our own offices? Thanks When uploading the requirements the system does not allow for multiple locations to be selected which is the reason for the location showing as “No specific location”. Further down it is clarified that the supplier can choose to deploy a team to either 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET OR Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ.We need the team onsite to work closely with Regulatory Delivery subject matter experts. 11. If we were to be successful in our bid for this work, would this prohibit us from undertaking future phases of the project e.g. development of the database? No, future phases will be tendered and will be evaluated fairly to find the most economically advantageous tender. 12. Are the budget range figures inclusive of VAT? No, budget range figures are exclusive of VAT. 13. Please can you tell the time of day submissions close on 25th July? We have some experience of it being 1700 and some at 23:59 on the stated date. Clarification would be appreciated. The deadline for submissions is 23:59 on Tuesday 25th July 2017. 14. How do you plan on recruiting users to participate in the discovery? We will use a combination of Regulatory Delivery staff and engaging with user communities and recruiters. 15. How has the solution requirement for an API been determined? We need to consider the possibility of being able to receive information from the European Union and other systems to populate the UK database and vice versa, most likely through APIs.