Custom software development services

Tender description

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the leading public funding agency for environmental science in the United Kingdom (UK) investing over 300 000 000 GBP in cutting-edge research, training and innovation. NERC funded scientists study the physical, chemical and biological processes on which our planet and life itself depends — from pole to pole, from the deep Earth and oceans to the atmosphere and space. NERC is launching a strategic investment establishing an Environmental Data Service (Dodona EDS), with two primary objectives: 1. To use NERC's data assets and expertise to solve user-defined problems which are often multi-disciplinary, complex and may not map easily onto the expertise of a single data centre/research domain. 2. To realise new data applications and advances in science and innovation by combining NERC data with non-NERC data from other sources or disciplines. This is not a call for competition. This is for consultation only. NERC holds substantial amounts (10-15 PB) of environmental data, managed across its 5 data centres, which serves a research community who use this data to solve important social, technological and environmental problems. NERC want to build on the work of the data centres and further increase the impact and value of these data archives by making them more open and accessible to non-academic audiences, promoting data innovation and delivering economic and societal benefits. NERC is launching a strategic investment establishing an Environmental Data Service (Dodona EDS), with 2 primary objectives: 1. To use NERC's data assets and expertise to solve user-defined problems which are often multi-disciplinary, complex and may not map easily onto the expertise of a single data centre/research domain. 2. To realise new data applications and advances in science and innovation by combining NERC data with non-NERC data from other sources or disciplines. The Dodona EDS will create an overarching framework to provide access to NERC data, to broker user engagement with the data, to identify challenges and to help in direction of funding towards defined innovation programmes, and will be comprised of three components representing a total NERC investment of about 10 000 000 GBP: — A Dodona Operational Service (the subject of this Prior Information Notice), which will support & co-ordinate the delivery of the Dodona EDS including through a technical platform that will provide a preferred (but not exclusive) point of access into NERC data holdings. — Technical data integration activities under the management and direction of the NERC Data Centres. — NERC's data innovation programmes, under the management and direction of NERC Head Office. The Requirement The Dodona Operational Service, to be led by a Director, will have three main functions: 1.A brokerage and facilitation service, which will bring together potential new users and appropriate data to enable data innovation. This will: — Work with data-producers and data-users to understand the needs of data customers and determine what data should be made more usable and available — Improve data discoverability and reduce barriers to data access and use/re-use — Support NERC in the development of future data Innovation Calls 2.The development and management of the Dodona Portal, which may be built on already established and mature infrastructure, taking advantage of common standards and procedures in the NERC data centres and elsewhere, to allow users to discover datasets, metadata and supporting documentation in an effective and efficient way. The Portal should: — Be an eye-catching flagship environmental data and innovation site, providing users with a single point of access into the environmental data and services across NERC and beyond. — Without replicating existing NERC and other data and services, make them available in a more consistent, accessible and integrated manner. — Employ a number of metrics (e.g. site visits, data downloads, user feedback, data usage reports) to build up an evidence base for impact narratives and to encourage deposition of new data. — Be developed in an incremental way, based on clearly defined use cases determining what is in and out of scope. 3.The Coordination of the Dodona EDS, including seeking opportunities to grow the funding of the Dodona EDS from a range of potential data users. Contract Details The maximum total value of this contract is forecast to be 1 955 000 GBP ex. VAT over an estimated 5 years. The contract may be: up to 490 000 GBP ex. VAT per year in years 1 and 2, up to 325 000 GBP ex. VAT in year 3, followed by a possible extension of the contract for a further 2 years at up to 325 000 GBP ex. VAT per year, dependent on satisfactory progress. Around 40 % of year 1 and 2 costs are expected to be for development of the Dodona Portal, which should be operating with limited functionality after 12 months, and completed and operational after 18-24 months.