UK SBS IT17436 BEIS Primary Authority Digital Service – Public Beta Support

Tender description

Summary of the work Office hours technical support for an existing live Drupal 8 digital service to develop backlog items and support improvements to the service as required. Part-time access to UX resources (user research and interaction design) to develop product backlog and upskill internal team as part of a digital capability building programme. Expected Contract Length 12 months with an optional 2 month extension. Latest start date Monday 4 December 2017 Budget Range £350,000 to £400,000 excluding VAT We expect the work to be weighted towards the start of the contract to deal with any major backlog priorities and to focus on coaching, with contractor resource tapering down to a steady-state for smaller iterations and maintenance. Why the Work is Being Done RD is responsible for delivering a range of digital services to deliver key policy areas. The first of these, the Primary Authority Register (PAR), will enter public beta in November 2017. PAR will require ongoing technical support to cover office hours. The service will also maintain a product backlog that will form the basis for service iteration. Although PAR is the primary focus for this requirement, RD is looking to develop a support model that supports its wider digital portfolio as it develops. RD is also keen to develop its own internal digital capability. Problem to Be Solved We require technical support for an existing Drupal 8 system to ensure continued service availability and issue resolution. We also require resource to deliver improvements to the live service, using technical resource working with User Research and UX Design. This will address post beta service iteration requirements. Some UX resource will be required for this purpose and to upskill internal resources so RD can develop its own digital capability in this area. Initial priority is supporting the PAR service, but we envisage extending this support to cover other RD digital services in development as they reach a similar stage. Who Are the Users As a PAR user or long term user of an RD digital service, I need a live service that is supported so that any technical issues are resolved in a timeframe that does not impact negatively on me. I need it to be responsive to my feedback so that improvements can be made to the service design and user experience. As RD’s UX manager, I need coaching and support to develop my long term capability in user research and UX design so that RD can develop its own digital capability. Work Already Done PAR is currently in beta production. A beta service assessment is scheduled for mid-to-late November. Prior to this, there had been a Discovery and Alpha. Beta has focused on delivering an MVP service. A product backlog has been identified and prioritised. The RD UX Manager has received some initial coaching support from the existing supplier. RD has a skills/knowledge transfer programme designed in place that we would expect the supplier to adopt and work with. Existing Team The current team for beta production is supplied entirely by an external supplier and contracted to early December 2017. It is a full multi-disciplinary team covering all roles to develop and deliver a digital service into public beta. For this requirement, the following roles will be provided by internal BEIS resource and the procured team will work with them: Delivery Manager Technical Lead Business Analyst UX Manager* DDaT Apprentice Data Analyst The support team will take direction from the Delivery Manager with support from the Technical Lead. *To be upskilled as part of this requirement Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to… (Please do not answer this question as it will not be scored) • Provide technical support for a live Drupal 8 or equivalent digital service so user issues are resolved quickly and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Support the application layer by the test and implementation of upgrades and patches, and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Develop production ready code in Drupal 8 or equivalent for public Beta/live releases and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Use automated testing environments and user acceptance testing and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Implement continuous integration, delivery and deployment and how will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Maintain and iterate digital services that are compliant with the Government Digital Service Standard criteria to ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Develop prototypes (wire frames/coded prototypes/etc.) iteratively via user testing/research and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Develop digital services using agile methodologies and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Prioritise key content and features using metrics and analytics and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Design and build a service which meets user needs and follows GDS design patterns and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this service. • Design and build services which meet accessibility standards to ensure the successful delivery of this service. Work Location The primary site will be 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0EH. However, RD have other sites including Birmingham and Teddington and the team may be required to work there on occasion to engage with RD colleagues and stakeholders. There may be a requirement for travel to other sites to conduct user research and testing. Working Arrangments The team must be co-located at 1 Victoria Street, London and adhere to BEIS normal working hours (09:00 - 17:00). Suppliers must comply with the 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 London office for the purposes of user research or attendance at other BEIS sites). Travel to Birmingham and Teddington offices should be expected occasionally. Security Clearance Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology • Technical solution • How the approach or solution meets 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… (Please do not answer this question as it will not be scored) • Work with the GDS PaaS team and other delivery partners to ensure that issues caused in the wider live environment are understood, communicated and actioned to ensure rapid resolution. • Coach internal team members to develop their experience in user research and interaction design so that they are capable of taking lead UX roles within a digital delivery team. • Work transparently and collaboratively with Regulatory Delivery when making decisions throughout this project. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Would you consider a distributed delivery model based around training and support being on-site with planned enhancements and 2nd tier support being delivered from our South West based offices? No, we are committed to co-location and expect the team to be based in 1 Victoria Street. During the backlog refinement, there will be significant input from the internal Regulatory Delivery team, and there is a desire to continue to work collaboratively to deliver outcomes and facilitate upskilling of internal staff going forward. 2. Would you be open to the support service being provided from the supplier's own offices, provided there was a period of ramp up followed by regular communication (including face to face meetings) with the BEIS team? No, we are committed to co-location and expect the team to be based in 1 Victoria Street. During the backlog refinement, there will be significant input from the internal Regulatory Delivery team, and there is a desire to continue to work collaboratively to deliver outcomes and facilitate upskilling of internal staff going forward. 3. The requirement mentions part time UX resources- how many days a week would this person be required or would the work be more ad-hoc? The UX resource function will serve two functions. The first is to provide short term capability to respond and iterate the service either as a result of outstanding user stories from the product backlog or in response to ongoing user feedback and analytics.  The second is to provide coaching to internal resource to develop long-term capability. Bidders are to propose the roles required for this resource.  We anticipate that there is likely to be a greater need at the beginning of the contract period for these roles. 4. Q3 Part 2: The requirement mentions part time UX resources- how many days a week would this person be required or would the work be more ad-hoc? During this period, the internal resource will be expected to work alongside both as part of their development.  As the contract progresses, we anticipate that the focus will be more on directly coaching the internal resource.  We anticipate 4 days for each role per month.  How we deploy these resources for this purpose can be flexible in agreement with BEIS  This is our best estimate at the moment.