Digital Channels Partner 2020-22

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Apps: Met Office has an ongoing requirement to support and iterate the native iOS and Android apps. Both apps are due to be migrated from their current to new data sources. Met Office will be relying on the successful supplier for the technical implementation, as well as the ongoing support. Website: The website has recently been rebuilt to provide a new responsive site. Three major deliverables are anticipated: 1. Migration of underlying data sources to a new platform 2. Work to explore how we might expose new types of data 3. Potential transfer of Support and Delivery Capability Problem to Be Solved Protect and consolidate market share in an increasingly competitive market through our Met Office digital consumer channels. This includes growing downloads, improving engagement and loyalty through continuous iterative improvement. Who Are the Users The users of this service are any internet user, but the service is focused on UK users at home and abroad. This encompasses a broad range of personas accessing weather forecasts and other related data for a variety of reasons ranging from weather warnings to social activity planning. Early Market Engagement An early market engagement event took place on 10th July 2019. The primary objective of this event was market warming. Work Already Done Apps: Mature and already well established in the marketplace for native IoS and Android. Website: The website has recently been rebuilt to provide a new responsive site. The work was founded on a significant UX investment and the findings from this are still being implemented. The site will continue to iterate. A significant amount of the UX work used to deliver this has not yet been implemented. We currently have well established backlogs and a strong, outcome-focused roadmap for the next few years. Existing Team The Met Office Digital team is responsible for maintaining and developing our consumer digital channels, including the Met Office app and websites. The team is a blend of product ownership, UX and technical skills. The makeup of the team will vary across the lifetime of the contract in negotiation with the successful supplier. Current Phase Live Work Location The work will be delivered via the Met Office at Exeter. The Met Office website is PaaS hosted and the Met Office makes extensive use of cloud based tooling and videoconferencing for the sharing of requirements, work activities and for the holding of meetings. Hence suppliers would not be expected to work primarily onsite at Exeter. However, for key stakeholder meetings and ceremonies, the supplier would be expected to attend onsite. Potential suppliers should be aware of the Exeter location of the Met Office and consider the costs and logistics of such attendance in their proposals. Working Arrangments The working arrangements will vary according to the activity. In the case of the apps, we expect that the team will operate as an offsite Kanban team, with local leadership, reporting to a Met Office product owner. Work on the web will be led by Met Office product owner and technical leadership with the supplier aligning to the Met Office development lifecycle. As responsibility for the Website potentially moves to the supplier in the later stages of the contract, it is expected that these arrangements may vary. Security Clearance Work at the Met Office requires SC clearance, however clearance will not be required for teams that work primarily offsite. Met Office will expect that potential suppliers have robust vetting and security processes in place. This should include formal alignment to external standards or demonstrably comprehensive internal processes. Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Demonstrate awareness of the market and future technology trends in web and app development with examples of how you have been able to exploit opportunities to use new technologies Provide evidence of an ability to provide enterprise level insight into the strategic direction of relevant areas Demonstrate experience of the ability to develop effective complex, informational, user facing websites Provide evidence of a strong capability to deliver user experience design, ideally aligned to GDS principles Provide evidence of expertise in accessibility, specifically WCAG compliance Provide evidence of capabilities to engage with users via quantitative and qualitative user research and testing throughout the development process Provide evidence of enterprise level native app development (iOS and Android) capabilities with the capacity to commit full time resources to the Met Office for app development and support Provide experience in building, deploying, managing, supporting solutions on public cloud, ideally based on using AWS capabilities including serverless implementations Provide strong evidence of an ability to work using agile principles and techniques Demonstrate the ability to supply technical leadership with extensive app experience Provide strong evidence of organisational expert level development skills in web technologies Provide evidence of skills in web services (RESTful APIs and microservices) Provide evidence of resources and flexibility for reach back into your organisation for additional skills such as, but not constrained to, development, UX, or product ownership Evidence strong capabilities in cloud solution design, ideally on AWS including AWS Well Architected Framework Evidence an organisational ability to offer 24/7 fix response for business-critical incidents across both web and app Nice to Haves Have the ability to develop and deliver training to Met Office teams, either one to one, or one to many Provide experience of Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) Provide experience of the weather market Provide experience with BloomReach CMS or other similar capability Provide evidence of familiarity with the BEIS/GDS approvals process Provide experience of public sector procurement policy Provide evidence of digital advertising expertise Provide evidence of representing technical/scientific data to meet user needs No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 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 Value for money Ability to meet security requirements included in Cyber Security Questionnaire Cultural Fit Criteria Alignment with Met Office behaviours Alignment with Met Office collaborative working practices A commitment to equality and diversity A commitment to sustainable working practices Have a defined knowledge transfer process and be prepared to share knowledge with internal and external personnel Site visit Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers Budget range whilst met office has some key activities, such as app support, that will require continuity of resource, the majority of activities will be defined and, resourced on a sow basis. met office will work with the successful supplier to identify, scope, cost and resource activities in a timely fashion, but is looking for a supplier that has the capability to flex resource to help us meet our challenges.