Careers Wales Website

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done In line with 'Changing Lives, A Vision for Careers Wales', Careers Wales will maximise the use of digital services to meet client needs, to allow the organisation to prioritise and target resources effectively. A standards based website that is agile and adaptable is required on a stable and secure platform, that implements a layered architecture and exhibits best practice. Integrating standard COTS SaaS products hosted on an Azure cloud platform, should avoid the need for patching and maintenance. Integration of video content, webinars, webchat, and interactive games / diagnostic tools is required. Problem to Be Solved The current website was implemented through the use of customised proprietary technologies, leading to vendor lock-in, technical debt, lack of flexibility and high cost of change. The use of standard commercial products and containerised code will remove vendor lock-in and drive down cost. The data generated in COTS applications needs to adhere to the defined data model and must be available via Web API. Administrators need to perform administrative functions, and gather and manipulate user and management information. Data protection is a priority. This engagement is the first in a large programme of work to develop the Careers Wales website. Who Are the Users The Careers Wales website provides impartial, bilingual, all age careers information and advice to users regardless of location. All users in Wales will be able to: - Search for content - Create a user profile, saving personal information - Access tailored information/advice regarding career development and opportunities (with log in) - Receive push notifications tailored to a user's profile - View and book events Specific users: - Careers professionals need access to tools for group activities, consultancy support, and access to education business partnership tools - Young people with specific learning needs/disabilities require access to tailored tools Early Market Engagement Careers Wales has conducted research into the market and identified best practices by engaging its peer network and working with its third party adviser. This market engagement has informed this requirement in the following areas: - Assumption that the solution will be SaaS or a Cloud-based implementation, and no additional infrastructure hardware will be required. - Software must be non-proprietary, with good skills availability in the marketplace. - User research has shown that simple navigation and intuitive labels are key to the user experience, and this is an area of high priority for the new website. - The successful supplier will need to work with a third party digital design agency to ensure the new website meets user experience requirements. Work Already Done Careers Wales has a defined architecture, which the successful bidder will need to comply with. A roadmap is being developed for the planned direction of travel for the new website which will evolve and change over time in line with business priorities. A new Information Architecture will inform developments with an initial focus on the UX and design of static content and the development of a responsive digital style guide. A further development (MVP) identified within the roadmap, is the Job Information search which will consume a third party web service. Job Information is currently in its Discovery phase. Existing Team An internal Careers Wales team will support the site re-platform. This will include key internal resources, who will be responsible for integration of the key elements of the website, and approving and initiating the automated releases. In addition, there will be third party design support and potential SaaS/ Cloud suppliers. Existing suppliers will be involved in the migration. Developments such as the Job Information minimum viable product (MVP) will form projects within the roadmap with a separate project team deployed (there will be slight overlap with the technical team e.g. Project Manager/ Software Testers/ Design etc.). Current Phase Discovery Work Location Remote working, with regular meetings/ updates in Wales (Cardiff) as needed. Working Arrangments Expected to follow agile development methods - the specific process is to be agreed with the supplier, but is expected to be Kanban. The successful bidder will be experienced in continuous test and build, agile and cloud deployment; they will be given access to GIT and DockerHub to facilitate integration and development. Security Clearance BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standards) BPSS are not formal security clearances; they are a package of pre-employment checks that represent good recruitment and employment practice. A BPSS aims to provide an appropriate level of assurance as to the trustworthiness, integrity, and probable reliability of prospective employees. Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Demonstrate experience using agile development methods (specifically Kanban), and integrating with client teams Demonstrate experience building and developing functionality on Azure, and integrating with the native components of the Azure cloud platform Demonstrate understanding and experience of defining, implementing and publishing APIs Describe experience of implementing a full set of test driven development processes, where unit tests and continuous integration are part of the deliverable Demonstrate experience of enabling social login, referring to required account security protocols and associated formats Give an example of a method and technical solution you have used to implement an entity model through ORM Provide evidence that you have implemented scalable services in a micro-services context, considering design practices and tools Demonstrate your experience of building code in GITHub (or similar), based on Jira requirements Summarise your experience for packaging code in Docker (or similar). Multiple examples may be used Reference mechanisms you've used to work collaboratively with multiple suppliers, and the team structure / resources (roles and responsibilities) that achieved this Demonstrate experience of collaborating / integrating with client teams, training, knowledge management and providing appropriate documentation Demonstrate your experience in migrating data between different operational systems. Include key methods and considerations / challenges Demonstrate technical experience of implementing data security for public sector clients Nice to Haves Demonstrate experience utilising user research, and controlled user testing Demonstrate experience delivering digital services that incorporate young people's preferences Demonstrate experience of incorporating Welsh Public Sector digital priorities. Include relevant examples No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Technical solution Approach and methodology How the approach or solution meets user needs How the approach or solution meets Careers Wales' goal Estimated timeframes for the work How risks and dependencies have been identified and approaches offered to manage them How success will be measured Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Transfer knowledge to our organisation Can work with clients with low technical expertise Account Management Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range