Maintaining and Supporting the Dynamic Dispatch Model

Tender description

BEIS is looking for a contractor to provide ongoing maintenance and support for the Dynamic Dispatch Model to ensure BEIS analysts can use the model effectively to meet policy needs, to provide ad-hoc model development and to ensure changes to the model are properly tested and integrated. Description: The contract has two main objectives: • Improving the in-house DDM capability and expertise, and in particular up-skilling in-house model developers. • Extracting better value from the model by implementing improvements, including model run-time improvements, and addressing risks early. The contract will cover support and training for DDM in-house expert users to assist them in setting up inputs, creating output templates, and resolving technical issues with the working environment. The project will also cover the development and roll-out of small and medium scale upgrades. The contractor will be responsible for dealing with issues that cannot be resolved by the in-house team, for providing training and for providing expert tailored support. As part of user support, contractors will be expected to set up their own systems to develop and test extensions and upgrades to the model. A range of different skills are required for this research. The following skills are considered particularly important for this work. • Expertise in the GB power sector • Expertise in software development and testing, preferably in the context of energy modelling • Expertise in C# programming • Understanding and meeting user requirements in a software development context. • Understanding and meeting user requirements in a model development context. • Mathematical and statistical modelling. • Ability to provide clear reporting and documentation of software functionality, model assumptions and any other relevant information. • Applying sound quality assurance processes and procedures to minimise modelling and input errors and to ensure model outputs are robust; • Training and coaching