0590 Service Design Partner

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Essex County Council (ECC) works to enable better lives for people in Essex, and our Organisation Strategy (https://www.essex.gov.uk/Documents/Organisation_Strategy.pdf) articulates 4 priority areas of focus. We need to think very differently about how we operate in order to achieve our ambitions whilst supporting the delivery of savings targets of £186 million by 2021. We are looking to partner with an expert in service design and strategy for the internet age, to support, challenge and lead the work of the council’s teams, deliver efficiencies and embed user-centred design and an agile mindset as ‘the way we do things’ across the organisation. Problem to Be Solved Our senior leadership teams require strategic support to help identify and explore transformational opportunities, and to move away from traditional delivery approaches and reliance on legacy systems. A programme of practical capability development is required to shift the mindset, capabilities and delivery models of ECC teams towards being more citizen-focussed, and to embed these new approaches and an awareness of the Government Service Standards as ‘the way we work’. Our ECC service design team requires support to develop its capability, capacity and roadmap of activity, and to build on its work to lay the foundations for sustainable digital services. Who Are the Users As an ECC leader I need to identify and explore transformation and innovation opportunities, so that I can organise my teams and modernise services to effectively meet the needs of Essex residents and businesses. As a corporate development leader I need to help my team develop and embed new capabilities and ways of working, so that we can deliver effective transformational support to the organisation. As an employee of ECC I need to understand how and why our organisation is evolving, so that I am empowered to take advantage of new opportunities and do my best work. Early Market Engagement None Work Already Done We have undertaken recent discovery work around a number of areas including: - ECC’s approach towards user-centred design - the implementation of government service standards - the building of agile and service design capabilities and communities of practice - analysis and improvement of adult social care and waste and recycling customer journeys - early exploration around essex.gov.uk as a platform for public service in Essex -prototyping and testing of a new alpha.essex.gov.uk website The work in this opportunity will also be aligned to other existing ECC programmes of work which are delivering improvements to end user computing and cloud migration. Existing Team The ECC Corporate Development (CD) function was recently created to drive innovation across Essex County Council. It brings together a range of capabilities to support innovation including Strategy, Research and Customer Insight, Data Science and Analytics, Delivery and Service Design, Technology Services, Communications, Equalities and Partnerships and Commercial teams. CD staff work in multidisciplinary delivery teams aligned against key organisational priorities. It is envisioned that the partner will help to identify capability gaps and skills development opportunities, and will support the building of capability across CD teams to the benefit of the whole council. Current Phase Discovery Work Location Work will primarily be based at County Hall in Chelmsford, but there may also be a need to work with teams at other ECC and partner locations across Essex. Working Arrangments We generally encourage flexible working but the partner will be expected to spend an appropriate amount of time working on-site, with services, with users and teams across the County. Security Clearance Where working directly with vulnerable people the providers staff may need to hold DBS clearance (which may be gained during the contract). In the absence of this, staff from the relevant service areas would need to be present and need to be considered as part of the work. Additional T&Cs Service design statements of work will be defined as part of core support activity. Payment for individual service design statements of work will be tied to the definition and delivery of key deliverables, with a final payment on successful completion and sign off by the Executive Director for Corporate Development or other relevant Programme Strategic Board or Director. Where appropriate payment will also be contingent on agreed transformational savings being met. Further work packages defined in core support or service design statements of work activities may also be subject to a further procurement process. Skills & Experience Successfully delivering agile service discovery and alpha outcomes, to support complex transformation and the delivery of savings in a large-scale political organisation. Successfully delivering agile service discovery and alpha outcomes, to support complex transformation and the delivery of savings in complex areas such as adults & children's social care. Successfully deploying an effective, culturally integrated team to hit the ground running on the required date and that consistently delivers the required outcomes. Successfully leading and coaching large public sector organisations through the digital transformation process, aligned to an agile service design methodology, including programmes of internal/external culture and behaviour change. Successfully leading on the discovery, design, prototyping and testing of innovative or disruptive digital solutions. Successfully establishing trusted advisory relationships with political and/or corporate leaders of local government organisations of a similar size and scale to ECC. Nice to Haves Setting up and running innovation labs Understanding and working within political environments and the challenges faced within the UK public sector Accessing a wide network of partners and suppliers to compliment your skills No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Describe how your approach and methodology meets our needs in terms of providing senior management advisory and strategic support Describe how your approach and methodology meets our needs in terms of supporting the ongoing development of our in-house service design team capacity, capability and roadmap Describe how your approach and methodology meets our needs in terms of a programme of practical capability development Describe your experience of delivering large scale savings through complex digital transformation projects in tight timeframes Provide a case study which demonstrates how your approach has met user needs, and what sustainable benefits this has enabled Cultural Fit Criteria Demonstrate how you have established trusted advisory relationships with political and/or corporate leaders of local government organisations of a similar size and scale to ECC. Demonstrate experience of working as part of a team within a complex organisation, outlining your style & approach to challenging the status quo. Provide an example of where you have worked transparently & collaboratively when making decisions and recommendations. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Case study Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 40% Cultural fit 20% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers Budget range this opportunity is formed of two elements: 1. core strategic support, capability building, service design support and scoping of service design statements of work - up to £500,000 over 24 months. 2. delivery of service design discovery, alpha and beta statements of work, to be scoped and defined in as part of core strategic support – up to £1,500,000 over 24 months. please note that this is not guaranteed work, and each statement of work may be subject to additional internal governance and approval processes.