C16832 Delivery Partner to provide a Digital Portfolio Office and Burst Capability for EU Exit

Tender description

Summary of the work A Delivery Partner is required to provide a Portfolio Office, with additional Burst Capability to coordinate and support the delivery of a range of new and emerging policy initiatives in relation to EU Exit. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date Thursday 12 December 2019 Budget Range Upto £3,000,000 Why the Work is Being Done The Home Office is being asked to respond to an unprecedented number of challenges relating to mainly but not limited to, the delivery of new and amended Digital and Legacy ICT systems and services that support front line and back office services in response to EU Exit. This work requires coordinated actions across the Home Office and wider Central Government to assess what actions need to be undertaken to ensure successful delivery of outcomes in line with challenging timescales and limited existing resources. Problem to Be Solved The Home Office is required to respond to a high volume of new policy challenges, emerging as a result of EU Exit. A delivery partner is required to quantify and coordinate our response to these requests, working with teams across the Department to determine what impact they will have on our current and planned services contracts and associated systems including planned Digital/Technology platforms. This capability will also be responsible for tracking risk across the portfolio; producing coordinated plans; responding to data requests and coordinating engagement with other Government Department. It may also be required to provide suitably qualified resources to support the delivery of the outcomes proposed. Who Are the Users Senior Leaders within the Home Office need to receive a coordinated response to the current raft of policy changes so that the Digital and Technical Platforms, Services and contracts can be amended and developed to meet the operational requirements within the time and budget constraints that exist. Work Already Done An existing Discovery Phase has been undertaken to understand the size and scale of the work that is required. The work has been split into 8/9 separate work streams, each of which might have multiple possible options for delivery. This has also created an outline plan for the work to be undertaken and a proposed team structure for the portfolio team element of the requirement. Existing Team This requirement is intended to replace an existing team provided by a supplier who currently interacts with EU Exit workstreams within the Home Office and colleagues in other Government Department who are focused on the same areas of work. Details of the make-up of the proposed team will be included in the RFP document but this is likely to include 1 x Programme Manager, 1 or 2 x Project/Delivery Managers, with strong commercial capabilities at different levels and resources with service management and communications experience. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Evidence one example of experience in establishing and operating a Portfolio Office into a large, complex environment, incorporating multiple work streams • Evidence one example of experience of integrating with a similarly complex organisation to establish processes, procedures and governance. • Have experience producing a full range of management reporting to satisfy multiple audiences • Have Experience of providing commercial delivery management capabilities to a complex, Government or critical national infrastructure environment • Have experience or in-depth knowledge of working to GDS standards and working within the GDS/CCS Spend Control regime Nice to Haves • Experience of undertaking knowledge and skills transfer to a replacement team • Have the ability to draw from their own Cross-Government or similar experience and networks to aid in the running of the Portfolio Office Work Location The work will predominantly take place in the Home Office sites in Westminster and Croydon. There may also be a requirement to visit other Home Office sites nationally and other Government Departments Working Arrangments The Delivery Partner will be required to work flexibly with teams across the Home Office and wider Government Departments. Within the Home Office, where the bulk of the work will be completed, it is expected that the Delivery Partner will act as an integrated function of the Home Office’s Digital, Data and Technology Team on EU Exit. Any expenses for travel between Government sites within the M25 should be included within the pricing proposed. Security Clearance CTC clearance will be required as a minimum. SC Clearance is preferable. Additional T&Cs 1. Travel expenses are payable for journeys outside the M25, where approved in advance by the customer and in line with HO Travel policy (subsistence is not payable). 2. SFIA level 6 or 7 resources are not anticipated to be used for the delivery of this contract. Should the parties exceptionally agree any SFIA level 6 or level 7 resources for limited use, the day-rates for such resources will remain under the cap of £1000 (exc. VAT). 3. Seasonal furloughs may be enforced. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Approach to Portfolio Management • The identification and management of risks and dependencies resource planning • Development and implementation of processes and governance • Impact assessment and analysis • Quality and availability of staff Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a Team • Engagements with stakeholders both within the Department and Cross Government • Knowledge Sharing Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 40% Cultural fit 20% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers 1. Does the Home Office wish to retain any of the personnel performing the role currently? If so, are these resources obliged to be working through the incumbent supplier. The Authority is not expecting to retain any of the incumbent personnel. 2. What knowledge artefacts will be available for a new provider to be taking upon the work as left off by the incumbent? Does the Home Office anticipate a new provider needing a transition / handover period with the incumbent? All relevant Home Office badged material, subject to sensitivity and confidentiality conditions, will be available to a new supplier. There will be a transition period between the incumbent supplier and the new supplier to ensure a smooth handover. 3. Will there be any elements of the programme impacted by the Brexit change freeze 19 Oct – 17 Nov? No foreseeable impacts. 4. The second nice-to-have requirement is unclear. Please could you explain what is the thing you are expecting the supplier to "draw"? What do you mean by "networks"? How is this requirement different from the 1st essential requirement? The bidders are required to demonstrate how they are able to draw from their experience working in government spend control regimes such as GDS and CCS. The criteria stated under the essential requirements in not specific to working within a government spend control environment. 5. Can you confirm who the incumbent supplier is? Ernst and Young LLP were awarded the existing contract in December 2017. 6. Can you confirm which supplier completed the discovery phase? The discovery phase was completed in-house by HO 7. The background states the requirement will be for the incoming supplier to replace an existing supplier team. One of the nice to have questions asks for our experience in performing knowledge and skills transfer to a replacement team.Please can we double check whether you are wanting examples of where we have performed knowledge transfer to a replacement team, or is it more applicable to give examples of where we have been required to receive the knowledge transfer? Bidders are required to provide evidence of instances where they have performed knowledge transfer to a replacement team. 8. The opportunity requires resources with service management and communications experience – can you confirm expected level of effort/utilisation for these roles and are they required to start on the same date as the rest of the team or just to be available to call in as required The Burst Capability requirement is being determined and is likely to fluctuate from a limited amount to as many as 5-6 resources, dependent on whether additional work can be accommodated within existing Home Office teams/contracts. The Burst Capability requirement is likely to be formed of short, individual pieces of work to deliver specific outcomes but the number of these commissions and whether they will run in sequence or concurrently, and if so to what volume is currently unknown. 9. Can you confirm whether the burst capability is focussed on a particular skillset or does it extend across portfolio, commercial, service management and communications experience. Burst capability requirement extends across portfolio, commercial, digital service management and communication experience. 10. Which part of Home Office, or specific Home Office Programme(s), will this requirement primarily support? The successful bidder will be working within the DDaT Commercial Team, liaising with other areas of the Home Office. 11. Is there any previous Digital Marketplace opportunity relating to this requirement? The advert for the existing contract can be found here: https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/5787 12. Regarding the commercial delivery management aspect, please can you advise whether this is managing & tracking supplier delivery against milestones? Or is it managing contracts? Or is it delivering a commercial service such as running competitions? The commercial delivery aspect will include the management of a wide range of commercial processes, including but not limited to those mentioned in the question. 13. Could you confirm if there is current incumbent and if so will they be reapplying? Ernst and Young LLP were awarded the existing contract in December 2017. We have no knowledge of their intention to reapply. 14. Is the expectation that the whole team will be in place by the 12th December? Full details of the initial statement of work will be shared during Stage 2 of the competition. 15. What are the plans for seasonal furlough over December 2019? Seasonal furloughs may be enforced but some consideration would have to be given to operational and key delivery activities. 16. Can more detail be provided on the other ‘8 / 9 separate workstreams’? More details will be shared during Stage 2 of the competition. 17. Will the Home Office be looking for support with delivering the other 8 / 9 workstreams? If so, will the selected Portfolio Office Delivery Partner be prohibited from bidding to support the other workstreams? There is potential for the successful supplier to support delivery of the other workstreams. In the event that any conflict of interest is identified the appropriate measures will be applied to ensure a fair and open competition.