OpenCommunity: data standards for local community-based services

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done As a recipient of the MHCLG Digital Fund, the collaborating organisations are carrying out a discovery on local service directories. Councils and local public and voluntary organisations have various needs for accurate and trusted data about local services. There is a lot of duplication of effort, little join-up and existing data standards are rarely used in local service directories. We want to know what a directory of services could and should look like in 2019. Problem to Be Solved Public service organisations have a need to connect their service users to local community organisations and activities, including providing information, advice and guidance to meet statutory obligations. They do this by publishing directories of services, but we know there is significant duplication in the creation and management of the data in local areas. This results in an administrative burden (and cost) of maintaining overlapping sets of data. The development of canonical directories or sets of directories could save money, encourage innovation and increase the trust in the data they hold. Full information at https://localdigital.gov.uk/funding/adur-worthing-councils/ Who Are the Users As someone seeking information, I need to know what services are available locally, so that I can meet my health, care, and other needs. As admin of service directory, I need to publish data so that it is searchable, and easily integrated as a data service. As service provider, I want to update my details once, so people and organisations can easily access what I provide. As national provider I want to access local service directories, including integrations as a data service. As developer, I need to connect to data about local services, so that I can build useful services. Early Market Engagement No formal work has been undertaken. Work Already Done This work is part of a programme funded by the MHCLG Digital Fund https://localdigital.gov.uk/funding/adur-worthing-councils/. There is a requirement to conduct research and evaluate related previous and current projects (some already identified). This will ensure we fully understand what is needed by our users. This project seeks to validate - and build on - the learning of others and to incorporate previous work in this area where appropriate. Existing Team Tom Dixon (Devon CC) will manage the project on a part-time basis. The project team is led by Paul Brewer (Adur and Worthing) and supported by Ben Unsworth (Buckinghamshire). Further resources will be drawn from participating councils as required. There will be no other suppliers engaged on this work Current Phase Discovery Work Location Worthing, West Sussex with some travel required to Buckinghamshire and Devon. We anticipate some activities will take place in London as a convenient location for teams and stakeholders. The discovery will involve significant desktop research and analysis and remote working is expected. We anticipate some activities will take place in London as a convenient location for teams and stakeholders. The discovery will involve significant desktop research and analysis and remote working is expected. Working Arrangments There will be weekly retros via video link for the project team. Work plans will be agreed and monitored by the OpenCommunity project manager. We will use collaborative tools such as Google Docs for creating and sharing information, Google Hangouts for our meetings, Trello for managing tasks. We will adopt an ‘open first’ approach to how we work to help others learn from our experience. Three councils, together with many stakeholders, distributed across the UK will place an emphasis on effective collaboration to ensure successful delivery. We will publish information at opencommunity.org.uk in due course. Security Clearance N/A Additional T&Cs This project must be delivered in line with the commitments the collaborating organisations have made as signatories to the MHCLG Digital Declaration https://localdigital.gov.uk/declaration/ Skills & Experience Provide a multidisciplinary team, including user research, service designer and data architect / engineer Adopt user centred design and agile approaches Have experience of designing a directory that consumes / provides API endpoints Be agnostic of any particular software Be able to meet the Local Government Digital Service standard Have experience of data standards and the process of developing and documenting a data standard Nice to Haves Experience of a similar project No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria The proposed approach and methodology Team structure, including skills and experience Estimated timeframe for the work Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisations and suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range this project is funded from the local digital fund and as such has a maximum spend of £78,400.