Delivery partner for the development of the Energy Customer Database

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Our aim is a better functioning retail energy market. A key recommendation from the CMA’s 2016 Energy Market Report was the creation and management of a disengaged customer database. A disengaged consumer has not switched tariff or supplier in the last three years. There are approximately 8million disengaged customers, who can typically save £300 per year by switching supplier. The purpose of this database is to drive customer engagement in the retail energy market by prompting more disengaged customers to switch supplier. Ofgem is creating the database and testing different services that can prompt engagement using the data. Problem to Be Solved We need a delivery partner to work with us to create the disengaged customer database so that Ofgem (or relevant third parties) can setup and run services to prompt customer engagement. This includes: • working with energy suppliers to set up data transfer and validation processes • setting up ongoing operational processes for updating and managing data • creating a variation of our Check Your Energy Deal service (website) • understanding how users interact with the Website to iterate and improve the design • creating the operational processes and MI needed to run the scheme • support further developing services Who Are the Users Energy customer – We need to make it as simple as possible for them to use the service and switch supplier – strip out complexity and jargon, remove the hassle, keep them in control. Energy supplier – They will need to give us accurate data (as specified by Ofgem) in a timely fashion. They need to be able to update the data regularly. Ofgem policy team – Through analytics and reports from the database, iterate the service design to improve effectiveness, plan further services. Wider Ofgem team – Use data to inform wider understanding of disengaged customer group Early Market Engagement N/A Work Already Done We have been through discovery, alpha and recently a private beta with a digital web based service, Check Your Energy Deal (CYED). For CYED we created and populated a “tactical” (ie MVP) cloud database using AWS with ~10000 customer records from one supplier. We ran the service for 8 weeks prompting customers to switch through our responsive website. We made suppliers invite the eligible customers to use the service and we also used social media to prompt activity. The service integrated with an Energy Deal provider who provided real-time energy deal data. We tracked performance through Google Analytics. Existing Team We have a central Ofgem project consisting of (all full time equivalents) 4xPolicy and Comms Managers, 1xProduct Owner, 1xReporting Manager, 1xLegal Advisor. We are also recruiting a team to manage the relationships with the energy suppliers. All IT development, service design and user research has been carried out to date by external contractors. We have chosen AWS as our cloud hosting provider, but have where possible tried to avoid vendor lock-in to ensure that the database is portable should this be required. Current Phase Alpha Work Location Ofgem: 9 Millbank, London, SW1P 3GE (moving to Canary Wharf in April) Working Arrangments The IT delivery team to be co-located with Ofgem at 10 SC Canary Wharf. The IT delivery team will be co-sourced from April when we will have Ofgem IT resource (developers, BA) available to us. We will integrate these people into the team as and when they become available and flexibility to ramp up or down is important to us. We take an agile, user-centred design approach and so any IT development work must be flexible enough to respond to changing information and needs, as our research develops. No expenses will be paid to work in London office. Security Clearance Baseline Personnel Security Standard clearance required. Additional T&Cs Ofgem shall have the right to terminate the Contract at any time, by giving 4 weeks written notice to the Supplier, and Ofgem’s liability thereto shall be for costs reasonably incurred by the Supplier up until the termination date. Suppliers must confirm acceptance of this term. All title to and all rights and interest in the IPR’s in the Services delivered by the Supplier for the Customer under this Call-Off Contract (or by a third party on behalf of the Supplier), and all updates and amendments of these items, shall vest in the Customer. Skills & Experience evidence delivery of digital services within a multidisciplinary agile team have experience of large scale IT development with a number of third party integration points evidence delivery of digital services using agile techniques (as in GDS Service Manual), that meet GDS Service Standards have experience of developing services that have passed GDS Service Assessments and Accessibility assessments (WCAG2.0) evidence user research with range of users to ensure good understanding of users and needs evidence experience of developing appropriate technical architecture and functional design for large scale databases that contains personal and sensitive information (DPA definition) evidence capability to design data validation processes to ensure only accurate data is added to the database demonstrate understanding of the data protection act and the requirements of a data owner demonstrate experience of designing websites with a high volume of users and content demonstrate experience of the design and deployment of websites in a mobile-first manner demonstrate experience of integrating with third parties using an API demonstrate experience of setting up and use of analytics to inform service development and iterative design of services demonstrate experience of creating reporting and management information package to enable operational teams to manage effectively evidence collaborating with teams as they develop new operational processes to transition to a business as usual state confirm willingness to co-source with Ofgem at Ofgem's London office, able to ramp number of contractors up or down based on Ofgem’s requirements Nice to Haves demonstrate experience of website development that has led to proven improvements in one or more of: user engagement, user satisfaction evidence energy market experience No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Quality of proposed approach, methodology and timescales, including team availability and responsiveness Understanding and identification of risks, dependencies, and offered approaches to manage them Quality of project team and management structure (with roles and responsibilities) Relevance and deployment of the skills and experience of the team Overall value for money of end-to-end delivery Cultural Fit Criteria demonstrate their approach to engaging with suppliers who will be legally required to provide data demonstrate how they will work transparently, collaboratively and share their approach with the project team and seek actionable feedback demonstrate how you will take responsibility to challenge the status quo and stand up for your discipline whilst involving staff evidence of working with a government organisation evidence of working with clients with different levels of technical expertise Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range £1million to £1.5million