Scrum Master 3

Tender description

Summary of the work This specialist will be an experienced Scrum Master who has worked with a mixture of different team sizes and types. They must understand the underlying principles of Scrum and be able to work with different types of people and continually strive to improve their team’s efficiency and productivity. Specialist role Agile coach Expected Contract Length To 30/6/2019 with the option to extend for 6 months Latest start date Thursday 1 March 2018 Maximum Day Rate 850 Who Speclialist Work With Day to day the specialist will work with the Agile Delivery Teams and the Business, managing and running Sprint ceremonies including daily stand ups, planinng meetings, showcases and retrospectives. Working with the Business to ensure that the work has been adequately prioritised and has specific businesss benefit. The roles includes supporting the Product Owner to maintain a product delivery roadmap that identifies deliverables, dependencies and milestones. What Specialists Work On "Borders IT require Scrum Masters to help deliver multiple Agile projects within the Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) Programme , which are deployed upon a secure cloud environment running a distributed big data platform. The current projects within the programme are: Border Crossing (BX), Advance Border Control (ABC) or Advanced Freight Targeting Capability (AFTC)" Skills & Experience • At least two years experience in the use of Agile methodologies. (15%) • Run Sprint ceremonies including daily stand ups, planning meetings, showcases and retrospectives (10%) • Light-touch leadership that employs a highly collaborative approach to guide people without controlling them but employing authority when the situation requires. (5%) • Facilitating inclusive decision-making and conflict resolution. (5%) • Knowledge or experience with Agile techniques: User Stories, estimating, TDD, continuous integration, pairing, automated testing. (5%) • Guiding and mentoring skills that demonstrate the Agile values and principles. (3%) • Remove impediments that are preventing the team from delivery (5%) • Growing and facilitating highly motivated and capable teams to deliver innovative software products, as well as less experienced teams. (2%) Nice to Haves • Experience of working on digital by default service standard compliant government website (5%) • A highly developed understanding of government organisations, and how to operate and communicate at the varying levels of management (2%) • Will have a background in Technology with proven success in a complex programmes (3%) Work Location The specialist will be predominantly based at Home Office premises at Lunar House, Croydon, CR9 2BY, but may be required to attend Marsham Street, London, SW1; and MetroPoint , Croydon; Surrey; or other locations as necessary. Working Arrangments The specialist is expected to alongside existing delivery teams focussed on specific outcomes. The specialist will conform to prevailing Home Office rules & procedures. The specialist requires being physically on site Monday – Friday. Approximate hours are 08:00 – 18:00. Expenses will conform to Home Office internal policies and will not be payable within the M25. Security Clearance SC Security Clearance is required. Additional T&Cs This role is deemed to be outside the scope of IR35 of the Intermediaries legislation. Candidates may be working towards obtaining SC clearance and must possess this by the latest start date. The HO may support the candidate with this process, but this must be in place by employment commencement. Candidates with DV Clearance have already undergone SC level checks will also be considered. Work History/ CV's will be requested once the shortlisting process is complete. No. of Specialists to Evaluate 3 Cultural Fit Criteria • Ability to work under pressure and prioritise a very varied work schedule • Understanding of working across a broad geographical area and different functional departments with competing priorities • Work closely with colleagues and be transparent and collaborative in all communications • Be respectful and work with integrity and flexibility. Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Notice - more information on the Security Clearance required. "To access the Home Office building at East Croydon, current Security Clearance is required. SC will also be required for access to the production system and service data. For the avoidance of doubt this means either:a) SC clearance has been approved or renewed by any government department within six months prior to the start dateb) SC clearance has been used within any government department (preferably the Home Office) within 12 months prior to the start date" 2. It is stated, "Candidates may be working towards obtaining SC clearance and must possess this by the latest start date. The HO may support the candidate with this process, but this must be in place by employment commencement." In other words, is it acceptable to submit a specialist who only has BPSS and, if they are successful, work with HO to obtain to SC clearance? The Home Office will sponsor SC clearance; however it is a preference for the individual to already be SC cleared 3. Is there flexibility in the start date to allow for SC clearance? Yes for this role there is some flexibility. 4. Will the %age weightings provided for each essential skills and experience be used at short-listing stage in any way or only at evaluation (interview and CV stage) ? It is our understanding that, normally for shortlisting, all essential criteria must be satisfactory to proceed to evaluation so the %age weightings effectively have no bearing for shortlisting. Correct? The essentials skills and experience will be scored when shortlisting, the top 3 scorers will go through, the CV’s will then be issued and interviews taken place. Once this has happened, the evaluators will score and apply the % weighting against each criteria. 5. Is the shortlisting being carried out independently for each Scrum Master role (x3) ? For example, if we submit the same specialist for all 3 roles, will they only be shortlisted for one role or could they end up being shortlisted for all three roles? They could end up being shortlisted for all 3 roles. 6. Is this role outside IR35? This role is deemed outside of IR35 7. Are you running three separate competitions with different evaluators for each where theoretically you could interview the same candidate for each of the three positions or will the three opportunities be pooled with the expectation that you will pick the best 9 candidates to interview for 3 positions? We are running 3 separate competitions 8. As Scrum Master 1, 2 & 3 are all identical, will you be looking to “pool” all the applicants and then choose who to bring in for evaluation ? or will you select the top 3 from each separate Opportunity ? The top 3 from each separate opportunity will be shortlisted. 9. When submitting an application, should the specialist's full name be referenced in the first response box? When submitting an application, the specialists full name is not required, you are providing the evidence against the essential and nice to have skills required. 10. When applying by the Friday 2 deadline, must evidence of SC, e.g., a letter/document approving SC, also be sent to an email address by the deadline date? If not, by what date will you require evidence of SC? The evidence will be requested once the top 3 shortlisted suppliers are identified. 11. The DOS role type is "Agile Coach" as opposed to "Delivery Manager", which is normally associated with Scrum Master roles. Was this deliberate because the role needs specialists who more have Agile Coach skills/experience as opposed to Delivery Manager skills/experience? This was purely a category of resource, but the skills and experience listed are the required ones for the role 12. How many teams will each Scrum Master be working with? Do these teams also have a Delivery Manager role? Each project also has a Delivery Manager. The number of teams per Scrum Master does vary but is broadly 1-3 teams 13. The requirement states as well as managing and running sprint ceremonies, the specialist will be working with the Business and supporting Product Owners. Is there scope to perform an agile coaching role with the Business in order to better deliver their projects? Yes this can be considered where deemed necessary 14. Can we submit the same candidate for all three Scrum Master positions? Yes, you may. 15. The default DOS call-off contract allows extensions up to 2 years. Will the call-off contract still allow this? Extensions as per the PCR 2015 are permitted to DOS contracts. 16. Would a specialist who exceeds the essential criteria and, in addition to acting as a Scrum Master for delivery teams, also provide agile coaching to the Business and other areas be of interest? Yes 17. In regard to, "SC clearance has been used within any government department (preferably the Home Office) within 12 months prior to the start date" What evidence/documentation do you require for that? Is the original letter from BIS acceptable (more than 12 months ago) along with proof the specialist has worked with government in last 12 months? We require sight of the confirmation of previous security clearance and evidence of the last government employment 18. Important Notice - to clarify the SC clearance The Home Office will sponsor the succesfull supplier to obtain relevant Security clearance, if required.