UK SBS DDaT19116 UKRI - The Funding Service Beta Phase – User Experience Team

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done UKRI is building a unified digital funding service to support the needs of the newly formed UKRI, a merger and transformation of 9 councils into a single provider of grant funding to support research and innovation in the UK. The transformation also includes major simplification and standardisation of schemes with flexibility to support future schemes as UKRI grows to support the needs of the UK Government and its stakeholders. Following a successful Alpha phase, the beta phase must start in early August in order to deliver an initial MVP to open for applications by January 2020. Problem to Be Solved The existing legacy system goes out of service in 2021 and is no longer able to meet user needs. Due to the inflexibility, many funding schemes are run off system which means collation of data for evaluating impact is challenging. External academic applicants typically must learn 9 different processes in order to apply for grant funding 1 of the councils, Innovate UK already has a GDS compliant service, but this will need to merge into the new Funding Service as part of the roadmap. Who Are the Users •As an applicant I need an intuitive digital platform to apply for and manage my grant funding. •As a research office user, I need to oversee approve and manage the grant applications submitted by applicants in my university •As a peer reviewer I need an intuitive digital platform so that I can securely review, score and submit feedback on applications •As an internal user, I need an intuitive digital platform so that I can: •Create and manage an opportunity •Manage applications, peer review, award offers, project setup •Pay grant funding and claims •Manage project assurance •Track funding Early Market Engagement Not applicable Work Already Done The Discovery and Alpha phases of this service have been completed. The Alpha phase included a technical evaluation and selection of technical solution as well as some comprehensive user research, testing and prototyping of user journeys. The design will be a modular component architecture as the end to end journey involves several stages and typically different users from an external organisation at different stages. Existing Team The in-house team consists of the following: • Service Owner • Product Manager • Delivery Manager / Scrum Master • Product Delivery Manager / Agile coach • Lead UI Consultant • Front End Developer • Solution Architect • 2 Business Analysts • Content Designer The team will also work with other internally resourced functions including • A separately procured Supplier to provide technical resources for 2 parallel development teams • Business Change Leads (part of Digital transformation) • Enterprise Architects • Business Intelligence: Data Mapping and Data migration specialises • Internal stakeholders (key users) • Limited DevOps resource Current Phase Alpha Work Location Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire. 2 min walk from Swindon train station. Working Arrangments We are looking to form a strong partnership with the successful supplier such that the total team works collaboratively on the outcomes regardless of for whom they work. We have established agile and remote working practices but expect project team members to be in Swindon 3 full working days per week for face to face meetings. We make extensive use of Video conferencing for regular ceremonies. Workloads will be managed by the in-house Delivery Manager & ScrumMaster, with use of Confluence and Jira. Security Clearance • Onsite attendance at Polaris House requires basic security disclosure (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) • The successful supplier must sign our standard non-disclosure agreement • The successful supplier must provide proof of GDPR compliance • The successful supplier must adhere to UKRI’s information security and GDPR policies Additional T&Cs The contract award is subject to the project passing GDS Alpha assessment, currently scheduled for July 2019. Skills & Experience Demonstrate your proposed team’s experience in GDS compliant service design, user research and testing (5%) Demonstrate your proposed team’s experience in the handover / transition of digital services, particularly in the public sector (2%) Demonstrate your team’s experience in working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and the role of user experience consultants in this team (3%) Demonstrate your team’s understanding and experience of delivering grant funding services (5%) Demonstrate your proposed team’s experience in iteratively designing and prototyping service changes, testing with users and turning research data into clear findings to inform an improvements backlog (3%) Demonstrate your proposed team’s experience in designing services which meet assisted digital needs (2%) Nice to Haves No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrate how your proposed team’s technical expertise will ensure the successful delivery of this project (9%) How the proposal meets our requirements for successful delivery (7%) How the approach or solution meets our organisation’s policy or goal (7%) Timeframes for delivery (in line with the contract period) and proposed programme for beta, detailing how the timeline will be managed to ensure no delays to the project (6%) Provide details of the suggested size, shape and make-up of proposed team, demonstrating how this team will maintain the ability to deliver the services throughout the project lifecycle (5%) Detail risks and assumptions and a plan for mitigating against them (6%) Cultural Fit Criteria Demonstrate how your team will work successfully with UKRI as part of a multi-disciplinary team co-located in Swindon (8%) Demonstrate your team’s ability to deliver in an open, collaborative, agile way according to the principles outlined in the Government Service Design Manual (3%) Demonstrate your ability to deliver outcomes, applying an agile methodology, in non-agile environments and successfully bridging the two worlds (3%) Demonstrate how you will deliver simplicity (e.g. do less but better, explaining complex issues in a clear, simple way, break down and prioritise complex issues) (3%) Demonstrate your approach to engaging with internal senior stakeholders undergoing cultural change and how this will support project success. (3%) Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range we anticipate a budget cost of £30k per month for a user experience / pre-development team to supplement existing in-house resources. budget is therefore £360k for 12 months.