Developing a minimum viable user research library

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Hackney Council is conducting a growing amont of user research through its agencies and partners, and is about to have three dedicated user research roles in-house, We want to create a user research library so that we can identify patterns and gaps in our knowledge and understanding and share that across the council, with agencies and partners and other public bodies. Problem to Be Solved User research currently exists in a number of different formats and is conducted on a project-level rather than a strategic level. Core attributes associated with the research are not captured in a way that facilitates broader undertsanding (socio-economic, gender, equalities, date, digital confidence) Research is shared through usual project rythms rather than on its own. We begin every project without reference to previously commissioned user research. Research may be stored in separate places and is difficult to retrieve. Who Are the Users As a user research I need to read existing research findings so that I can hone my research questions As a lead user researcher I need to review existing research so that I can spot patterns and gaps As a lead service designer I need to review existing research so that I can iterate design patterns As an agency I need to understand what the council already knows about its users so that I can focus on key gaps As staff in another public body I need to see Hackney’s user research so that I can build on it Early Market Engagement Work Already Done We have assembled links to our existing user research across docs in Google Drive, Trello, Jira and PDFs. Our service design methodology is set out: https://lbhackney-it.github.io/HAL/ Existing Team Currently working with 5 agencies on briefs that involve user research; employ 2x user research contractors and have a user researcher to shortly take-up a permanent role. The team is recruiting a lead user research, 2x service designers and 2x front-end developers in the next few weeks. We are also developing a front-end tool kit, and intending to develop design patterns (based on GOV.UK) and API documentation in Github. Current Phase Alpha Work Location Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, E8 Working Arrangments We would expect the supplier to be based onsite for key moments of the project with a focus on putting the MVP in place in the first few weeks, and then checking-in (say 6 and 9 months) to evaluate progress and re-examine user need. Security Clearance Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Have awareness of the needs of a multi-disciplinary team, including user research, service design, front-end developer and product owner Be familiar with user-centred design and Agile approaches Understand how the tool could fit into common workflows for a digital team (eg. Github, Slack) Be agnostic of any particular software, enabling us to consider a range of options to meet user needs Share their work freely and openly with the Council and the wider community Be able to build or design a tool that’s so good, people prefer to use it Nice to Haves Be able to meet the Local Government Digital Service Standard Experience of a similar project No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Understanding of user needs from the service Clarity of the approach Experience from an analogous project Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 5% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers Budget range £30,000 - £40,000 excluding vat