Digital, Data & Technology Transformation HE 2020 Programme - Strategy & Commercial

Tender description

Summary of the work Highways England requires support to enable the successful rollout of initiatives in order to prepare and deliver the Road and Investment Strategy 2020 to 2025 (RIS 2). Expected Contract Length 24 months Latest start date Thursday 1 August 2019 Budget Range Up to £1,000,000. Why the Work is Being Done To support the delivery of the Road Investment Strategy 1 (RIS 1 - 2015 to 2020) and the HE2020 Transformation Plan preparing Highways England for RIS 2 (2020 to 2025). RIS 1 - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-investment-strategy RIS 2 - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-investment-strategy-post-2020 Problem to Be Solved HE is a fast-paced, constantly evolving enterprise with RIS and RIS2 delivery imperatives managing a diverse supplier base, technology landscape, data architecture. HE ITD lacks the breadth of capability and capacity to meet its objectives during peaks of demand. HE is looking for support with their strategic capabilities, Researchers, Lead Service Designers, Procurement Leads, and Program and Project (PMO) Leads, to enable the delivery of various initiatives. Who Are the Users As an organisation I need to deliver various programs of work aligned to RIS 1 and RIS 2 to enable better services for the general public and internal users of Highways England. Early Market Engagement This is the second publication of this requirement. Work Already Done Projects range from pre-discovery through to beta in the delivery lifecycle. Existing Team The existing team consists of a commercial and procurement specialists, program and project managers, and business relationship managers (which work across the programme) Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Demonstrable experience of delivering strategy and technology planning in large scale programs and projects in organisations responsible for high-risk, safety / mission / business critical services. • Demonstrable experience in the following but not limited to :- Strategic Planning e.g Technology inputs for RIS2- Technology Roadmaps • Demonstrable experience in being responsible (outcomes focused) for planning and forecasting. • Demonstrable experience in managing the systematic interaction and business engagement with large volumes of end users. • Demonstrable experience in agile product management including evolving user stories, creating and grooming product backlogs,managing feature roadmaps, creating acceptance criteria, quality assurance, managing technical debt / bugs / enhancements • Demonstrable experience in engaging with large number of stakeholder groups, including internal, and external (such as suppliers, vendors and other 3rd parties). • Demonstrable experience in deliverying programs within ITIL-aligned organisations, with capabilities such as service design, service management, service transition, change control / release management, and operations. • Demonstrable experience in designing, evolving, implementing and overseeing IT governance frameworks. Work Location The Cube 199 Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN Working Arrangments Monday to Friday based in Highways England offices starting work by 9.30am, 7.5 hours per day + lunch time. There will be a requirement for the people working on this outcome to participate in extended hours support rota depending on the nature of the delivery (this will be discussed in consultation with the supplier). Estimated time on sites: 70% Birmingham, 20% Bristol, 10% Leeds. Warranty period (as per framework is 90 days). Security Clearance All must have BPSS as a minimum. HE may request contractors to become SC cleared during the engagement; however we would be willing to sponsor the SC clearance process at the supplier's expense. Additional T&Cs All expenses must be pre-agreed with between the parties and must comply with the Highways England (HE) Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy. All vendors are obliged to provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures so that the processing meets the requirements of GDPR and ensures the protection of the rights of data subjects. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website:https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Ability to oversee the delivery of a user centric service based on user needs (10%) • Team structure covering various elements of business analysis, service design, procurement, user research, IT governance and project delivery, and how the the team will adapt according to changing priorities (10%) • Identify risks and dependencies and offer approaches to managing them while developing a service (10%) • Team members can work with proritised agile backlogs (10%) • All proposed team members must provide evidence that demonstrates they meet all the cultural fit criteria (2%) • Experience working in multidisciplinary geographically dispersed agile teams using agile methodology (3%) • Value for money of the proposed solution (10%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Ability to function effectively and collaborate in a multi-supplier environment • Working successfully in complex public sector organisations • Working successfully in complex public sector organisations • Approach to proactive issue management, problem resolution and improving ways of working Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. The original engagement resulted in the award of a 2 year contract. Is this complimentary to or replacing that award? The previous competition was withdrawn and no contract was awarded. 2. Please would you clarify what evidence you are seeking in response to the following question?'Demonstrable experience in designing, evolving, implementing and overseeing IT governance frameworks.' Highways England is seeking evidential experience of working with complex organisations in either the public or private sectors. This will include demonstration of working through an end to end approach in meeting all funding, design, and required approvals in accordance with Public Sector regulations 3. Could you please share few examples of the types of engagement and outcomes expected here ? Thanks. Engagement with stakeholders to help understand business requirements., This will be via workshops, scheduled planning sessions and face to face questionnaires 4. Is there an incumbent supplier for this opportunity and how long have they been in place? There is no incumbent supplier for this service. 5. Is the closing date for applying for the opportunity (completing the 100 word answers to the seven questions) different to the closing date for this competition? The closing date for completing the initial response (100 word answers) is for the first stage shortlist evaluation. Three suppliers will be shortlisted from these responses and then invited to submit written proposals, case studies, references and prices. The closing date for this stage will be decided once the initial evaluation has been completed. 6. Why was the previous competition withdrawn? Was an award made? The previous competition was withdrawn due to internal delays and resourcing. An award was not made. 7. Please would you clarify the evidence you are seeking from the question: 'Demonstrable experience in the following but not limited to :- Strategic Planning e.g Technology inputs for RIS2- Technology Roadmaps'? Are you looking for evidence of bidders experience specifically working on RIS2? Highways England is seeking to work with a partner to develop its Information and Technology strategic planning as we progress towards the second Roads Improvement Strategy. You will be expected to demonstrate your experience of strategic planning within a large complex organisation. 8. The working locations is stated as being split between Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds. Is there any flexibility to allow remote working as part of this work? There is potentially some scope, but this would be by exception. It is expected that the majority of the workplan will be administered via the Birmingham Office 9. In order to compare suppliers like for like, how will price be evaluated? Price will be evaluated in line with the Framework Guidance, we asked for price on a a Time and Materials basis: this will be scored as follows: 'To score time and materials and capped time and materials quotes, you must:•calculate a total score for each supplier by multiplying the day rates for the individuals who’ll be doing the work by the number of days the supplier said each role would be needed to complete the work•find the cheapest quote•divide the cheapest quote by each supplier’s quote ' 10. Will the scores from the evidencing round be taken through to final evaluation? Or will they only be used for the purposes of shortlisting suppliers? Yes, the essential skills criteria will form part of the overall technical competence requirement, bearing in mind that suppliers who score 1 or less for any of the essential skills criteria will be excluded from the 2nd phase as per the guidance: 'Exclude suppliers who get less than 2 for any essential skills or experience criteria.' 11. Has any other supplier been engaged with this project so far? No. 12. Are you expecting the listed roles to be provided full time, or will some deployments be part time? Full time 13. Are you able to recruit and provide access to users for the purpose of user research? Yes. Highways England will be able to provide access to users 14. Will you be providing a full time Product Owner to this project? Yes 15. Are you able to continue straight into the next phase of this project with the same supplier with no air gap between phases? In principle yes but this will be subject to Highways England internal governance 16. Is there a preferred technology stack within the your estate? Primarily Microsoft and Oracle. 17. Is there an expectation for how long during a week you would like suppliers onsite? The expectation is primarily on site. 18. As there is a duration and budget specified, can we assume work has been limited and prioritised? Yes it will be prioritised 19. Are you looking for an organisation with GDS assessment experience or just certain individuals proposed in the supplier team? Whilst GDS assessment experience would be advantageous this is not a specific requirement 20. For the first evaluation round (evidence), what would you expect to see from an answer for it to be deemed 'exceeding' and score 3 marks? Refer to framework guidance. This relates to high level evidential information that shows both capability and showcases work in a similar operational environment 21. As per DOS guidelines 'You should only provide one example for each essential or nice-to-have requirement', are you only requesting one example per skills and experience question? Correct- please respond in accordance with the Framework Guidance- the initial response to essental skills will have a 100 word limit set by the Framework 22. How would you like suppliers to present expenses (separate rechargeable or included in day rates based on assumption for travel) Separate rechargeable 23. Do you either require or prefer that public sector examples are cited rather than private sector examples? Or, if we have a relevant private sector example, will it be given equal consideration to a public sector example? Private or public examples will be given equal consideration 24. Can you state when the timescales for the down selected bidders to provide their responses to the next stage of the bid, following this initial round? Once the essential skills have been evaluated we will invite suppliers to submit their written proposal and price allowing a week for submission. 25. We are interested to discuss some more detailed requirements in order to best tailor our answers to your brief. Do you have a supplier briefing planned? No. 26. Are there any incumbents that have helped the development of the programme that are allowed to bid for this work? No 27. Are there any supply chain partners who have secondments within the team who would fall into the scope of this week? No 28. Have you had somebody engaged with shaping this procurement. If so are they allowed to bid? Highways England has not engaged anyone in relation to this procurement.