Teachers' Payment Service - Beta

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The Department, delivering on a Government manifesto commitment, is developing a service to enable eligible teachers to apply and receive payments aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of teachers in subjects and areas of most need. Problem to Be Solved The new service to enable eligible teachers to apply for a payment and for the department to process applications must be in place by 1st September 2019. Key components of the service include: verify identity; validate eligibility (specific critiera met); notifications; and payment. A payment solution will be procured which the service will need to integrate with. Who Are the Users As a teacher I need to confirm my eligibility so that I can apply for and receive a payment I am entitled to. As a teacher I need to apply for a payment in a simple and easy way to minimise the impact on my time and to receive a payment so that I feel valued in the profession. As a school I need an easy and secure way to provide the information DfE require to validate the eligibility of teachers so that they can make payments and the impact on my time is minimised. Early Market Engagement Work Already Done A 6 week discovery and 14 week alpha has been completed on Teachers' Student Loan Reimbursement. User Research has been carried out using an end to end prototype with teachers and schools, a beta backlog has been developed to deliver the minimal viable service. The scope was extended during alpha to include additional payments for Maths and Physics teachers. As a result the beta is for a Teachers' Payment Service. Existing Team Senior Responsible Owner Product Manager Current Phase Beta Work Location Co-located and working on site at Department for Education, Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester. M1 2WD. Some limited travel to other DfE sites may be required. Working Arrangments Operate a standard agile scrum methodology: daily stand-ups, sprint planning, sprints, retrospectives, show and tells. Working principally from DfE's Manchester office, maximising opportunity for engagement with policy units and stakeholders. The supplier will lead by being a role model in agile working. They will need to work collaboratively and invest time in knowledge sharing and coaching to increase DfE capability. Some travel to other DfE sites, and to meet users is expected. Expenses must be included in the contract sum, there is no separate budget for this. Security Clearance Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance is required for all team members. This will need to be in place before the start of beta. We will consider suppliers without security clearance, and provide support to gain clearance. The supplier will also need to be compliant with DfE's Departmental Security Standards. Additional T&Cs All expenses, travel and user research incentives must be included in the contract sum. There is no separate budget. 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 unconditionally and immediately upon their creation. Skills & Experience Proven experience of designing and developing transactional digital services using an agile approach and successfully meeting the Digital Service Standard. Ability to take alpha outputs and build on these to deliver a public beta service that meets user needs and strategic objectives and GOV.UK design patterns and standards. Proven experience of designing and building cloud based web solutions. Demonstrable experience of recruiting user research participants including users with accessibility and assisted digital needs. Significant experience of conducting user research and usability testing sessions (on a range of devices, face to face and remote) based on a robust methodology. Ability to design services to ‘AA’ of the W3C WCAG2.0 accessibility standards (including compatible with the latest Assistive Technologies: JAWS, Zoomtext, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and Dolphin Supernova). Proven experience of assessing and mitigating security and privacy issues and ensuring GDPR compliance. Nice to Haves Recent experience of successfully meeting the Digital Service Standard for a public beta government service. Recent examples of using the styles, components and patterns in the GOV.UK design system. Experience of using common platforms, specifically GOV.UK Notify, Verify, Get Information About Schools and DfE Sign In. Experience of building using Microsoft Azure cloud. Experience of delivering a service integrating with a payment out solution and mitigation of fraud risks. Experience of leading, coaching and upskilling people in agile methods and techniques in order to build internal capability. Experience of analysis of existing research, analytics and insight to ensure good understanding of users and their needs. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Design solution – recent examples demonstrating experience of working on digital projects to deliver public beta services that met user needs and the Digital Service Standard. Approach and methodology – examples that demonstrate a solid understanding of agile, iterative user-centred delivery and evidence of how these will be applied to deliver this service within timescales. Value for money – examples where the supplier has applied a transparent financial structure and fair pricing for the service. Proposed team structure and members, including expected members from DfE, explaining the justification for each member. Explain your approach to identifying and managing risk within the project to ensure delivery by 1 September 2019. Cultural Fit Criteria Evidence of working within Government on transactional services with a strong policy component. Evidence of working in a multi-disciplinary agile team within Government. Evidence of working collaboratively with policy colleagues new to agile ways of working to increase internal knowledge and skills and support wider stakeholder engagement. Evidence of how the supplier will on-board team members during beta to ensure no impact to delivery and quickly understand user needs to maintain continuity between alpha and beta. Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Written proposal Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range estimated budget of up to £1.5m (including vat). bidders must fully detail their resources and charges at the proposal stage. travel and subsistence, along with any research costs, should be included in the proposed charges.