Software supply services

Tender description

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of a range of economic, social and demographic statistics relating to the United Kingdom that serve the public good and meet our legal obligations (both domestic and international). The contract is for the licensing,development and introduction of a field work management tool for both the ONS Social Survey Division and Census. It is the intention of ONS to increase the value of the contract following a number of discovery/build phases. A more robust specification has been developed focusing particularly on the census element. The clearer scope of works has increased the contract value. The contract was originally let using the digital marketplace g-cloud framework and ONS undertook a clarification of understanding selection exercise to select the supplier. The contract covers both social survey division and census requirements. The services provided under the contract are software licences for the field work management tool product and resources for development of bespoke requirements, training and support. The challenges of managing and supporting substantial and geographically widespread field-based work forces are significant. Highest among those challenges is a lack of reliable and real time information on how a service is performing against various tasks and other key performance indicators. This lack of real time and/or reliable information leads to an unresponsive service – information required to make management decisions is often out of date by the time it is in the hands of those required to make those decisions. The ‘knock-on’ effect being a less productive workforce, a higher cost of service delivery and dissatisfied general population, due to a poor experience. This contract variation constitutes a financial uplift of 1 500 000 GBP ex VAT.