Building the Hackney Works digital service from MVP to Live

Tender description

Summary of the work A digital service that supports Hackney residents to access pathways into employment. The service should provide a more personalised and trusted service than commercial recruitment sites. Expected Contract Length 6 months Latest start date Wednesday 1 November 2017 Budget Range £90,000 for the build. Software support and maintenance will be agreed and paid for separately. Why the Work is Being Done We have developed an MVP digital service to support Hackney Works. This supports the initial onboarding of clients and back office administration matching clients to opportunities. Problem to Be Solved The MVP contains core functionality, but additional components can deliver an end to end digital service. The service: - signposts users to opportunities, which can be regularly updated - provides personalised information, advice and guidance delivered to users - publishes information and live opportunities relating to a range of council programmes - notifies users through the journey via email and SMS - provides API end points - enables advisors and clients to create a shared action plan to set out and monitor progress Who Are the Users As a jobseeker, I need to find opportunities relevant to my skills so that I can earn money As a jobseeker, I need advice on how to look for a job that’s right for me so that I can make an application As a jobseeker, I need signposting and feedback so that I can improve my application so that I increase my confidence in the service As an employer, I need high quality applications so that I have confidence in the service As an adviser I need to give candidates personal advice so that they are supported into work Work Already Done The Discovery phase was run in-house, whilst the MVP was built in partnership with FutureGov. The software, currently hosted on Heroku (http://hackney-opportunities-staging.herokuapp.com), will be made open source to enable any agency to understand the current functionality and the supporting documentation provided. Existing Team 2 lead Ways into Work advisors, supported by the team manager and empowered service manager 1 ICT project manager Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Have experience of developing a similar employment opportunities service • Have knowledge of user needs for the service • Have experience of working to the GDS service design manual • Combine user research, service design and developer expertise • Work to user-centered, iterative, Agile principles • Have experience designing services for a wide range of digital skills and confidence • Consume from and present to Hackney’s new API layer • Understand how to meet the needs of a diverse range of users Nice to Haves • Be prepared to share risk and/or reward with the council if the service is attractive to other authorities • Employ an apprentice who is a resident in the Borough • Promote user-centred design and Agile across the Council Work Location Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, E8 1DY and the Hackney Works hub in Woodberry Down Working Arrangments We would prefer a team onsite for 3 days a week, most weeks in order to engage with ICT and Hackney Works colleagues and build broader engagement with the style of working (eg through show and tells). This would include spending time at the Hackney Works Hubs as well as time on the main campus. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Understanding of user needs from the service • Clarity of approach • How the approach or solution meets user needs • How the approach or solution meets our goal • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes • Take responsibility for their work • Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service • Work openly Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 7% Price 33% Questions from Suppliers 1. It is mentioned you "would prefer a team onsite for 3 days a week" - what is your flexibility around this requirement? We are UK-based but outside London and the cost/time burden of travel would significantly impact productivity, especially considering available remote collaboration tools. We’re happy to carefully consider proposals for collaborative working in multiple locations, but it remains essential that the service is tested in the field and that the team works closely with the advisors. 2. The Essential Experience question 'Have experience of developing a similar employment opportunities service' limits the suppliers that can apply. Would the experience of a traditional jobs board be applicable? If not what makes this employment solution difference and could we show this experience through development of other systems? The service is different to jobs boards primarily in the following ways:- it places as much emphasis on the pathways to make a candidate ready for work as it does the promotion of particular job opportunities- the service will direct people to training and apprenticeship opportunities - the volume of job opportunities is low relative to a job board- users will manage the face to face contact through the serviceWhilst job board experience is useful, using digital to support other face to face services is also valid experience 3. Does the Essential Experience question 'Consume from and present to Hackney’s new API layer' limit the bid to suppliers who have previously worked with Hackney? No. This is currently emerging thinking, which we would want to develop further through this work. We are currently creating APIs using Swagger but don’t have an API management platform in place. The aim of this thinking is to increase, rather than narrow, our range of potential partners.