CCS Travel Website copy

Tender description

Summary of the work Crown Commercial Service (CCS) requires a team to build a digital service for employees of public sector organisations to access 3rd party travel and event booking systems. The new service should include user account management, single-sign on and an API to allow suppliers to report real-time management information to CCS. Expected Contract Length 4 months Latest start date Monday 29 January 2018 Budget Range £200k Why the Work is Being Done Crown Commercial Service (CCS) requires a team to build a digital service for employees of public sector organisations to access 3rd party travel and event booking systems. The new service should include user account management, single-sign on and an API to allow suppliers to report real-time management information to CCS. Problem to Be Solved CCS is procuring new travel booking systems for public sector organisations covering rail, air, hotels and events management. There is a requirement to provide a single point of entry for staff wishing to book travel, no matter what booking service is chosen by the department, agency or other public sector organisation. There is an additional requirement to provide consolidated reporting for departments who have selected travel services from multiple suppliers. Who Are the Users Public sector employees who need to book rail/air travel and hotels Public sector travel managers who need to manage user access, which booking systems are available to their employees and see consolidated reporting on current/future travel 3rd party travel booking systems who need to authenticate users and provide real-time management information about bookings CCS framework managers who need to understand the performance of the framework and the overall digital travel service Early Market Engagement None Work Already Done Procurement of the 3rd party travel booking systems is underway. A high-level system architecture has been defined, which covers the 3 main components: digital front-end service, user account management with single sign-on, and a reporting API. Draft specifications for the API have been produced. Existing Team Product owner, Technical architect Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Experience developing and integrating services with OAuth, SAML and OID Connect Sign On systems. (5 points) • Experience developing JSON/XML based APIs (5 points) • Experience defining and structuring a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) (2) • Proven experience working on agile projects as part of a multidisciplinary team, as outlined in the Government Service Design Manual and Digital Service Standard. (2) • Expertise in iteratively prototyping, designing and building services which meet both user needs and the GOV.UK guidelines for content design, service design and accessibility.(2) • Be able to architect robust, scalable systems and display knowledge about system security risks and how to pragmatically mitigate them. (2) • Proven experience building and managing public cloud based infrastructure services. (2) • Expertise developing scalable services using public cloud technologies, service-oriented architecture, microservices, security and integration. (2) Nice to Haves • Ability to prototype and test with users and stakeholders (1) • Ability to turn research data into clear findings to inform what you build (1) • Demonstrable experience of designing content to meet user needs and making complex language and processes easy to understand in line with style and standards. (1) • Experience of providing coaching in agile methodologies (1) Work Location We would expect the team to be co-located in the CCS London office. Travel to Norwich and Liverpool may be required. Working Arrangments Onsite work for a minimum of three days a week. Travel to other offices will be required. Security Clearance CTC minimum, SC desirable. Additional T&Cs NA No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Understanding of requirements • High level approach - how you will approach delivering a Minimum Viable Product to meet project aims and transition to the team that will take over the service after beta • Team structure - covering product, infrastructure setup and maintenance, ongoing prototyping and design, software delivery, content and how the the team will adapt over time according to changing priorities. • Timeframes - estimated timeframes for the work to be undertaken • How the proposal presents value for money and ensures customers have access to the best rates available. Cultural Fit Criteria • Experience of successful collaborative working as part of a mixed supplier-client delivery team sharing knowledge within the team • Experience delivering in an open, collaborate, agile way according to the principles outlined in the Government Service Design Manual • Experience of working with clients / team members with low technical expertise • Experience of successful agile delivery in non-agile environments and bridging the two worlds • Demonstrate simplicity (e.g. do less but better, explaining complex issues in a clear, simple way, break down and prioritise complex issues) Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can an agency that does not currently hold the CTC minimum security clearance still apply? Note: as an agency, we are more than willing to go through the process (if shortlisted and the CCS would sponsor)Note: as an agency, we are more than willing to go through the process (if shortlisted and the CCS would sponsor) Yes an agency that does not currently hold the CTC minimum security can apply to this opportunity.Thank you 2. One of the essential skills refers to 'OID Connect Sign On', are you talking about integrating with an OpenID Connect provider, or Oracle Internet Directory? Thanks for the question we are referring to OpenID. 3. Is the 3rd party booking system in procurement a single system with its own front end or is it multiple systems with their own APIs that you are looking to consolidate and build your own front end from? There is a single front end to authenticate the user, and a number of redirects to travel service provider website that are separate. The redirection needs to include identity assertion. 4. Is the 3rd party booking system in procurement a single system with its own front end or is it multiple systems with their own APIs that you are looking to consolidate and build your own front end from? There is a single front end to authenticate the user, and a number of redirects to travel service provider website, each of which is separate. The redirection needs to support identity assertion. 5. Do you have a preference on the technology stack and hosting provider? If so, what is it? Follow Technology Code of Practice https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/technology-code-of-practice/technology-code-of-practice 6. You mention that the procurement of the 3rd party travel booking systems is underway. Would you be able to clarify what that system is at this time? If not, is there a system you have in mind? There will be several systems, which will depend on the outcome of a procurement activity currently in play. 7. Will users be booking on the system? Or is this a Single Sign On platform to integrate with other platforms? The second. 8. How long do you envision seeing the build phase being? Four months to public beta 9. Any indication thoughts as to what 3rd party travel booking system they are procuring? There will be several systems, which will depend on the outcome of a procurement activity currently in play. 10. Is there an existing Account Management capability that could be utlilised which meets the Govs security requirements? No 11. Are there any high level requirements you can share with us please? Not at this time 12. How are they looking at maintaining this going forward? There will be a separate procurement for maintenance 13. Any indication thoughts as to what 3rd party travel booking system they are procuring? <see above> 14. Any indication on how many 3rd party systems will be integrated? <see above> 15. What type of access will we have with the third party travel providers for the integration points? Will work with each service provider to establish integration 16. Potentially how many people would be using this application? The service is aimed at central and wider government; Number of users is not know at this time but will grow in a managed way. There will be thousands or many thousands of users. 17. A supplier has asked a question about ‘CCS Travel Website copy’ No question 18. We recognize it is a multi-disciplinary team are there specific disciplines you want us to major on? Delivery management, engineering and interaction design, with an emphasis on user authentication and authorization systems with third party identity assertion, with agile delivery in high availability cloud platforms, 19. At what phase will the project be at the start of contract? We will start with alpha/prototype stage through to public beta 20. At what phase will the project be at the start of contract? We will start with alpha/prototype stage 21. Is the requirement to integrate a COTS product or develop a bespoke product? That depends on the outcome offered. We anticipate a bespoke core integrating available cloud hosted components.