C16327 Application Container Platform Support Services

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The Home Office requires the further development and support of the Application Container platform (ACP), the strategic Home Office Platform as a Service, as well as supporting wider platform strategy in the Home Office. The Home Office has developed a Kubernetes based containerisation platform as a service, using a combination of open source and commercial off the shelf products, to enable individual tenants/projects to develop, build, deploy and manage their applications. It is expected to be provided based on support which is fit for purpose by each tenant. Problem to Be Solved There is an ever-increasing landscape of cloud service offerings, open source products as well as commercial tools and services on the market. Most of them support the software development lifecycle in some shape or form and can be assembled in a variety of different ways. The platform requires continuous iteration and improvement to ensure it remains an industry aligned and high-quality product whilst understanding and meeting user needs. The supplier will be required to continue to develop the current approach to support from basic in-office support to full 24/7 support. Who Are the Users Development and project teams from across the Home Office requiring a cloud environment to deploy code, on-boarding, training and support. Early Market Engagement Work Already Done The service was developed via a contract let on the Digital Services Framework has been in place since 2016. The service requires continuous development and improvement. Currently supporting 36+ projects across Home Office on the platform with over 700+ developers actively developing across these projects. Existing Team The current arrangement utilises a core supplier team of 15~ but this is flexible and variable to meet the requirement. In addition to the Supplier team, the Home Office has a permanent Product Manager and Platform Engineer assigned to work with the supplier. This team may increase, and the supplier would be expected to provide knowledge transfer and upskilling for any additional engineers. Current Phase Live Work Location Work will be carried out from a Home Office location, primarily within M25. Some travel may be required to other Home Office sites. Where resources are based at the Home Office location within M25, and where infrequent travel is required to other sites, reasonable onward travel expenses will be paid, in line with HO travel policy (excluding subsistence). Working Arrangments The supplier will be required to collaboratively work on site (up to 5 days per week to allow sufficient stakeholder engagement and support to be provided). Supplier costs must be inclusive of all expenses. Security Clearance All staff must have SC level security clearance prior to starting work. Staff not in current possession of SC security clearance must be willing to undergo and capable of achieving SC security clearance. Additional T&Cs Additional terms and conditions Individual statements of work may be arranged on a fixed price, T&M or capped T&M basis. Travel expenses in line with Home Office Travel Policy (excluding subsistence). Skills & Experience Evidence of delivering a PaaS on AWS to a large organisation (with over 10 digital delivery teams hosted on the platform) Evidence of expert experience utilising Kubernetes, including Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) qualifications Experience of developing, maintaining and operating complex operational tooling (e.g. Elastic, Sysdig, Keycloak, OpenVPN, Drone or equivalent alternative technologies) Have demonstrable experience of setting best practices and policies, especially around microservice architecture Have demonstrable experience of collaborative working and professional services with a client's ‘in-house’ teams Have demonstrable engagement with the Kubernetes community (for example, pull requests, industry conferences, meetups etc) Nice to Haves Experience of delivering and operating PaaS across multiple cloud providers Experience of delivering a PaaS to over 100+ developers Experience of developing in Angular, Golang, Python and Ruby Experience of delivering to the GDS service standard No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria How they will deliver How the approach meets user needs How quickly and the process for handover mobilisation Team structures Team and organisation capability Technical capability as demonstrated in their written examples and required at interview Added value Assumptions and dependencies Cultural Fit Criteria Ability to function effectively and collaborate in a multi-supplier environment Have excellent communication skills with staff at all levels of the organisation. Willing to take responsibility for their work. Be willing to collaborate and partner, including with other suppliers. Be innovative and promote ideas and suggestions as applicable. Focus on achieving value for money in all activities. Works within the spirit of the Civil Service code, as at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Written proposal Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 55% Cultural fit 5% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers Budget range £1000 day rate cap to apply.