WP1435: Delivery activities of an Alpha phase for the cross government portfolio assurance tool

Tender description

Summary of the work Portfolio Assurance Tool, Alpha Development Expected Contract Length 5 sprints of 2 weeks Latest start date Thursday 31 August 2017 Budget Range Up to £145,000 ex VAT Why the Work is Being Done The current Cabinet Office Controls tool is a cloud based product used by 9 departmental functions to administer assurance on government programmes is approaching contract expiry and needs to be replaced. A discovery for the new tool has already taken place and the Alpha phase to deliver a series of prototypes needs to be conducted from August 2017 Problem to Be Solved Develop a replacement case management/work flow, sitting on/absorbing base pipeline data from departments, with its requisite reports and management information to meet user needs. Should reflect current assurance process and the new pipeline-based assurance model currently being implemented. Who Are the Users The Discovery phase identified multiple consistent groups from across government departments. These vary from departmental programme management offices to finance departments including those who assure technology internally within departments. Early Market Engagement n/a Work Already Done The Discovery Recommendations highlighted the following epics: 1) Design for the needs of requesters 2) Introduce structured data 3) Improve guidance about spend controls 4) Define the boundaries 5) Put a team in place and build a service The scope of the Alpha phase is to deliver (using an Agile approach) a set of prototypes to address the above. Points (1) and (2) will be fundamental in designing a service that meets user needs for spend control and service assessment teams in Cabinet Office and that of the departments. Existing Team The current team is a multidisciplinary team in Government Digital Service who collaborate with a range of stakeholders across Cabinet Office, Treasury and government departments. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Min 5 years experience in using evidence-based research to inform a user-centred redesign, • Focused on external users’ needs, end-to-end user journeys, motivations and goals • Have more than 5 years experience designing services for users with low digital literacy • Proven experience of complex user journey mapping across ranges of users and stakeholders • Have experience of working with multi-agency departmental programmes over 5 years • Detailed understanding of government digital service standard and Technology Code of Practice, including GDS service design manual and wider industry-standards • Have experience designing case management systems that interact with different types of users • Have mimimum of 5 years experience designing services using data to extract value and insight with ease • Proven experience in using robust metrics, analytics, search data and user feedback to audit and define key content and services • Minimum of 5 years experience in prototyping, testing and iterating with users and stakeholders • Technical expertise of front-end, UI web development and responsive web design (HTML5/CSS/JS) • Proven successful development of back-end technologies, databases, developing • APIs, meeting data standards, and experience of GitHub • Demonstrate experience of delivering agile projects in sometimes non-agile environments • Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to deliver compliance with the government’s Service Standard Nice to Haves • Provide evidence of delivering at scale • Demonstrate experience of successful delivery of similar complex service transformation projects from discovery to live including retiring legacy service Work Location Largely London centric - Holborn, Whitehall and other government departments buildings. May include travel to visit other government locations around the UK. Colocated in Aldgate at times. Working Arrangments Expect that 1-2 days on site per week to engage with current team. Working with central multifunctional team including user researcher, delivery manager and product managers. Includes collaborating with stakeholders across Cabinet Office and departments. Expenses limited to travel to other UK locations where appropriate. Security Clearance BPSS Additional T&Cs 5 sprints of 2 weeks No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets user needs • Provide evidence of researching using stories and using those to inform building a service • Estimated timeframes for the work • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Team structure & profile of proposed contributors • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Experience of successful collaborative working as part of a multi supplier delivery team sharing knowledge within the team • Create and maintain an agile working environment • Take responsibility for their work • Can work with clients with low technical expertise • Able to challenge the status quo and use persuasion skills to achieve business buy-in • Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes • Bring agile mindset and principles into practice Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 15% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is the only assessment method Written Proposal? We made an error on publishing and the assessment methods will be as follows:Written ProposalPresentationWork HistoryReferencesCase Study. 2. What team size are you looking to have in the Alpha phase based upon your discovery? What makeup are you looking for? Suggested make up of:Developers (x2)User ResearcherProduct ManagerDelivery ManagerHead of Strategy. 3. You say the solution will likely need role base access, how many current user groups have been identified in the discovery? 7 roles top levelInternal controls teams across WhitehallExternal controls and assurance people in all major departments and agencies. 4. Will GDS be providing a dedicated service manager or product manager for the project, to work alongside the supplier team on a day-to-day basis? There will be a product and delivery manager to work with and should the supplier deem a service manager necessary then they should include the respective costings as part of their quote.