Agile development of the ‘Send data to DfE’ service formerly known as Data Exchange.

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Data is vital to the DfE achieving its overall vision of improving educational outcomes. Across DfE there are a number of different systems for data providers to send this data to us. These date back many years; involve business processes which are manually intensive and that by nature incur ongoing risks to data quality. We want to • reduce the burden placed on schools etc. when it comes to moving data. • streamline our data collection processes. • improve DfE’s evidence base to enable effective policy making. • spot warning signs more readily. • provide better, more timely benchmarking information. Problem to Be Solved To align our data capture functions and provide modern, automated, services that provide a consistent user experience for sending data to us in a flexible and scalable way, addressing: • data is not always of good quality when it first moves. • data does not enable early detection of issues and quick decision making. • collecting and validating data takes too long and involves significant manual effort within the sector and across DfE. • there are inconsistencies between data in school systems and DfE systems. • feedback and reports from data take too long to be of use to schools. Who Are the Users Data Providers including schools, LAs, MATs have responsibilities to provide data to DfE throughout the year. There are around 90 different data collections ranging from small scale collections through to the termly school census. Suppliers of systems across the sector who support data providers return data to DfE. DfE use the data to assist delivery, assess progress, inform decisions and to evidence that the Department is achieving its ambitions. Early Market Engagement The DfE plans to tackle the problem through delivery of a number of digital services (API and Web) each of which are directly driven by user needs established in Discovery and Alpha phases. These user needs will be further validated and refined through ongoing user research. We’re about to enter the Beta delivery phase which is focussed on automating data flow from the data provider systems into DfE and we expect to begin an Alpha phase progressing the user need around the manual return of data in August and is also within the scope of this request. Work so far has been delivered through a blended team of permanent civil servants and external partners procured through commercially compliant frameworks. The existing model has worked well with the right balance of skills and flexibility; we anticipate that the successful supplier will continue to work within this model. If a supplier wishes to provide an alternative, we would be interested in hearing their rationale and explanation of how this would achieve our ambitions including building in house capability. Work Already Done We’ve explored the use of application programme interfaces (APIs) to automate the flow of data from data provider systems into the DfE. We’ve built prototypes for the products associated with API usage • A developer hub where MIS suppliers can register their software to work with our APIs • A data provider hub where schools can approve that software to provide authoritative data on their behalf and see what data has been provided to DfE • Mock APIs to validate and receive test school census into DfE. Research is also ongoing looking at the user need to manually return data. Existing Team A blended team of permanent civil servants and external partners. Service Owner Product Owner (with a 2nd PO to be appointed before September) Delivery Manager / Scrum Master (*) (this role will eventually be filled by a civil servant) Lead User Researcher Senior User Researcher (we expect to appoint a further two user researchers shortly) Senior Business Analyst (we expect to appoint a further two BAs shortly) Technical Architect(*) API Developer (*) Comms / Business Engagement Lead Project Support (Roles marked with an asterisk indicate roles supplied externally) Current Phase Beta Work Location Department for Education Darlington Digital Hub Bishopsgate House Where travel to other DfE sites is required, the DfE will meet expenses in line with the Departmental T&S claims policy. Working Arrangments Day to day delivery will be governed by standard agile delivery techniques. This will involve daily stand up and fortnightly sprint planning sessions which take a retrospective review on work delivered and the Product Owner will prioritise work for the next 2 weeks. The Delivery Manager will monitor progress and maintain proportionate project documentation that will ultimately feed into monthly Project Boards We expect all roles to attend stand ups and come together after each two week sprint cycle. Security Clearance Evidence of BPSS clearance and annual certification on information handling and data protection are required for all contractors. Workers are not permitted to copy/remove or share any data owned by DfE, additionally suppliers will need to ensure that any system holding DfE data comply with the government security policy framework. Additional T&Cs • GDPR compliance • Short-listed suppliers must attend the DfE open day and presentation day on the specified date; we will not rearrange for an alternative date. • All contractors have completed security checks (BPSS clearance), completed information handling training, and data protection training prior to work commencing Skills & Experience Provision of the following technical roles: Technical Lead, Full-stack Developer, Front-end Developer, API developer, DevOps Engineer who have demonstrable experience and excellent communication skills. Experienced in using Agile/Scrum methodology to iteratively architect/develop high quality government digital services to GDS standards. Experience of hands on management, knowledge transfer including training and coaching. Prior experience of creating high and low level designs on Azure platform, CMS design / development and supporting high-usage production applications. Extensive prior experience of Microservice Architecture, RESTful API design using Swagger (OpenAPI). Extensive experience of using C#/.NET Framework and Core Javascript, good knowledge of Razor (ASP.NET Core), SQL Server, Continuous Delivery (ARM), JWT simulator for QA scenarios, Redis cache and GIT. Extensive experience of development using the following web technologies JQuery, HTML5/JavaScript/JQuery/CSS3/SASS, NodeJS/grunt/bower config, WCAG 2.0 accessibility. Extensive experience of Authentication technologies including OAUTH 2.0 JWS/claims-based authentication with IdPs. Extensive experience of MS Azure: Hosting/platform/monitoring, API Management, App Services/web jobs, Service Bus, Resource Manager (ARM), APIs (e.g. Azure Graph API), Visual Studio Team Services. Infrastructure Automation, IaaS/PaaS. Prior experience to include using GDS Design Principles and Digital Service Standard and keeping up to date with Gov APIs, services, libraries and toolkits, GDS FE toolkit, service assessments. Prior experience of, but not limited to Test Driven Development (especially frontend unit testing), Behaviour Driven Development (exposure to SpecFlow and Gherkin), Government APIs, DevOPs, Test Automation Microsoft Stack. Ability to provide and flex Service Design/UX Designer, Content Designer, User Researcher and Business Analyst resource as required in line with internal capability and capacity. Service Design / UX Designer – Prior experience to include but not limited to delivering high quality digital, user-centred services to GDS standards. Content Designer – Extensive experience of writing web and technical content in a succinct, clear manner with an ability to be creative and compelling. User Researcher – extensive experience of undertaking user research in line with the GDS Service Manual using a variety of research techniques to identify and analyse the user need. Test Lead / Testers(s) – Extensive experience in quality assuring digital services. Working effectively with other team members to ensure quality is embedded throughout the development life cycle. Business Analyst – Extensive prior experience to include using agile/non-agile methodologies, proven communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills; analysing business, technical and user needs to agree detailed functional/technical specifications and plans. Ability for all roles to work effectively and collaboratively with other delivery teams both internal and external to DfE to achieve shared goals and objectives. Ability to quickly mobilise skilled and experienced teams. The supplier must adhere to WCAG 2.0 standards, with a score of AAA or AA. All development must be completed within the UK and all data must remain in the UK. Nice to Haves Experience of providing on the job coaching in agile delivery on the specialist skills within the team. Experience of building in-house capability. Experience of developing software that complies to Government security guidelines and current OWASP risks – including presenting compliance and necessary documentation showing that all suppliers are vetted. Experience of ensuring that software delivery has undergone rigorous security testing and security accreditation. Contingency and Flexibility – Ability to easily scale resources up or down based on project needs and substitute similar resources without any implication to the project. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Their understanding of the project’s ambitions and key services, including working with the MIS supplier market. How they will meet a private beta key milestone to deliver APIs to support validation, and return of census data between the data provider and the DfE – December 2018. How they will meet a private beta key milestone to deliver APIs to return data insight back to the data provider – December 2018. How they will meet a private beta key milestone to deliver a working version of the framework through which APIs can be accessed (Developer Hub) – December 2018. How they will enable data providers to securely authorise MIS applications to directly send their data to the DfE and run reports (Data Provider Hub) – by December 2018. How they will meet a private beta key milestone to enable data providers to securely view data, which has been sent to the DfE (Data Provider Hub) – December 2018. Their approach to API design and development. How they will ensure they deliver services in line with user needs and GDS service standards, and not be overly driven by technology. How they will ensure they deliver quality service features which meet industry best practice. How they will ensure the solution (services) is flexible and scalable. How they will support the DfE prepare for the Private Beta Assessment and readiness for Public Beta (planned for March 2019). How they will grow a team in Darlington in response to the needs of the project and provide confidence that this resource will have the right experience and capability. How they propose to work with any projects that have a dependency on ‘Send data to DfE’. How they propose to work with any projects where ‘Send data to DfE’ has a dependency. How they will identify and address potential overlaps comparing work on each proposed service with the manual data return process, showing how the emerging services / architecture will support both. How they will support and deliver an Alpha phase looking at the manual return of data. What risks and dependencies they have identified and their approach to managing them. Include security and protection of data, and risks to the DfE’s reputation. Availability, what will the hours of work be and how will these hours be. How they will ensure the DfE receives best VfM. Cultural Fit Criteria Ability to work out of the Darlington office with flexibility to travel to other locations as required. Coaching and mentoring of DfE staff to develop and build capability. How will they work with other contractors. How will they interact with the in-house aspects of the team and wider DfE. Their flexibility to work outside normal hours at critical times and ability to adjust resourcing at short notice to meet the needs of the project. Proactivity in managing risk and identifying potential issues and providing effective mitigations in a timely fashion. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 40% Cultural fit 20% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers Budget range the budget for this work is capped at £2 million for financial year 2018/19.