Her Majesty's Passport Office - Digital Developer Team

Tender description

Summary of the work A team of Big Data Developers for both Front End and Back End Development, experienced in using Java and/or Scala. This will include Technical Leads and an Agile Business Analyst to support HM Passport Office’s Transformation Agenda. Expected Contract Length Up to 2 years (24 months) Latest start date Thursday 17 May 2018 Why the Work is Being Done HM Passport Office's contracts with existing strategic partners are coming to an end during 2019. Digital Services and Platforms need to be ready to take over all hosting and application processing by then. HM Passport Office’s data will be stored in the cloud in POLE format allowing easy reporting and the potential to share information securely across government where permitted. This will be delivered by the Data Platforms project utilising the HO Common Data Platform. Digital Application Processing (DAP) is responsible for building the capability to deliver in-house case working, workflow and checking to support the processing of passport applications. Problem to Be Solved To achieve HM Passport Office’s Transformation agenda by 2020, our digital services need to introduce risk-based approaches to application assessments, resulting in automated checks of low risk applications and more time for in-depth examination of higher risk cases. All HM Passport Office data is to be hosted on the HO Common Data Platform. By 2019 a new service will be required for application processing which meet users’ needs and transforming HM Passport Office data into the POLE format. Who Are the Users As a user HM Passport Office needs a system that automates passport applications where safe and practical to do so. As a user data needs to be stored in an accessible format that meets the requirements of all consumers. So that HM Passport Office can achieve its transformation agenda and 2019 contract objectives we need to build the capability to deliver an in-house case working, workflow and checking capability to support the production of passport applications and a common data platform for all HM Passport Office data sets. Existing Team We expect the Team to work collaboratively with existing suppliers and project teams who are also transforming HM Passport Office’s business processes/applications. Service design and development must align with HM Passport Office’s strategic technical architecture and technologies. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Experience in providing application support and fault diagnostics to public-facing web services • Experience providing support to complex cloud-based applications using the following technologies: Java, Javascript (Node.js), RabbitMQ, Kibana, and Grafana. • All Team members must meet the essential criteria as set out GDS job description requirements for the roles quoted. • Big Data Developers specifically must Have demonstrable experience of mapping source and target data models, identify gaps, data cleansing, schema modelling (Relational/XML/JSON). • Big Data Developers specifically must Experience in delivering big data solutions using leading Hadoop distributions like Hortonworks, Cloudera. • Big Data Developers specifically must Have demonstrable experience of successful design, implementation and migration of relational databases to Big data based data stores utilising Amazon AWS. • Front End Back End Developers specifically must Have significant experience in using Java and/or Scala to transform legacy services in an Agile environment. • Front End Back End Developers specifically must Have demonstrable hands-on experience of several of the following systems (not necessarily all) Kafka,Apache Nifi,Big Data,Hadoop,HBase,Graph Database,Map Reduce, Java,Python,Micro services,Elasticsearch,Git,Jenkins,Bash Scripting and Linux • Front End Back End Developers specifically must Experience in designing and building API with SOAP and REST. Nice to Haves • Looking for a supplier who can provide an integrated team with experience of working with other contractors, and is able to work with other teams to achieve agreed objectives • Experience providing incident support and contributing to problem management and ITIL -based service management • Experience using Jenkins and/or continuous integration • Demonstrable experience of successfully and collaboratively working, coaching and sharing knowledge with client teams, particularly those with limited agile development experience. Work Location Westminster, Victoria. Initially based in Clive House for training, then some remote working may be possible Working Arrangments There may be an occasional need to attend our other office in Croydon/Aldershot. When team members are required to attend additional offices expenses for exceptional travel authorised outside of Central London this will fall under the Standard Government Terms and Conditions for Expenses as covered in the DOS Contract. Security Clearance A minimum of SC clearance is required for this role. HM Passport Office will support the clearance process. There may be a need for ‘DV’ Clearance within this team and team members must be willing to undergo DV clearance if required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets user needs • How the approach or solution meets your organisation’s policy or goal • Estimated timeframes for the work • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Team structure and succession planning • Value for money • Evidence of ability to provide high quality professionals Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Take responsibility for their deliverables and work • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Share knowledge and experience with other team members and HM Passport Office staff Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 10% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. The opportunity refers to the following roles - Big Data Developer Front End Developer Back End Developer Could you tell us where we can find the GDS Job Description for each of the roles? Search for:Digital, data and technology job roles in Government - GOV.ukwww.gov.uk 2. Has the application data model been defined or does the vendor team need to include data modelling skills, particularly NOSQL modelling, in case a NOSQL data store is being used? The data model is currently being defined. We are looking for data modeling skills and must have working experience on NOSQL databases. 3. Can we just confirm whether you are looking for standalone supplier teams (working collaboratively with other teams), augmentation into existing teams, or both? Both 4. The current phase of the project is described as 'Alpha'. Does this mean that our team will add resources to this Alpha phase or are we mobilising resources for the Beta phase? We are looking for additional resources to support our current Alpha phase as we move towards Beta. 5. Would the vendor need to transition from an existing service provider to complete an ‘in-progress’ piece of work or is this a new green-field application? The big data side is 'in Progress'. This is not a new green field. 6. Since The Passport Office is using a varied and diverse set of technologies, would it be acceptable to provide a resource mix covering all the technologies or is it intended to have a small team of full-stack capabilities? We are looking to you as the experts to suggest the optium team mix so we are intrested in what you think would work best and why. 7. Are there specific roles (Scrum master for e.g.) that the Passport Office would like to retain with itself? The Portfolio Director, Project Manager Role and Service Manager roles are normally retained by HMPO. 8. Are there any particular non-developer roles such as Architecture, Admin, Testing, DevOps etc that you would desire the vendor to fulfill? All other roles are being recruited seperately 9. There are 3 types of roles (Front-End Developer, Back-End Developer, Big Data Developer). What is the breakdown of people required for each of the roles? Day 1 and over the next 3, 6 & 12 months? We are looking to you as the experts to suggest the optimum team mix so we are interested in what you think would work best and why. We are intrested in how such a team will flex this up and down to meet HMPO needs. 10. What are the anticipated timeframes for obtaining security clearance? We have an SLA for 35 working days in place 11. Has the functional architecture been defined and can it be shared with potential suppliers? We would look to share this with the successful applicant only given security constraints. 12. Who are the various users using/adding data into this application and how do they access the data? The current Passport Service Live services will be the 'users' adding data to the application. Data access is being scoped and defined currently. 13. Our understanding is that the Passport office is looking to create a multi-vendor team and own the overall solution in-house. If so this can be perceived as a staff augmentation type of a request. What is the overall technical solution and approach that is expected as part of the response? The technical solution is governened by our TDA and Design authority. We would look to share this with the successful applicant only given security constraints. 14. How is the passports related data used? Is this a transactional application that digitizes the passport application process or is it used as an analytical application as well? The application will be both transactional and analytical 15. In the section Essential Skills and experience, the 3rd bullet ending “…essential criteria as set out GDS job description requirements for the roles quoted”. Can you clarify which roles and requirements this question refers to please as no specific roles have been defined in the information provided. All roles must meet the GDS requirements for the role. 16. Can you confirm how many developers you are likely to need? We are looking to the Supplier as the experts to suggest the optimum team mix so we are interested in what you think would work best and why. 17. Can you please confirm this is contract is outside of IR35? We expect this engagement to be outside IR35, however status is assessed on a case-by-case basis. 18. Can you please confirm the size of the team required and a full list of roles? We are looking the Supplier as the experts to suggest the optimum team mix so we are interested in what you think would work best and why. 19. Would you please confirm the budget for this contract ? 3.5 - 4.5 million over 2 years