CCT 784 - Technical, Project and Service Mgt Support to Interoperability Gateways programme

Tender description

Summary of the work We require support from a trusted and highly skilled partner to meet Programme milestones. Requirement is provision of strategic advice on future interoperability capabilities, liaison with programme stakeholders, delivery of technical and project management support, conducting service management function of gateways and overall support to the development of interoperability services. Expected Contract Length Two years, with potential 6-month extension subject to financial approval Latest start date Monday 25 November 2019 Budget Range £5.92m (Incl T&S) for the two year contract, 6-month extension option if exercised will have an additional budget, however this is not yet approved and is subject to financial approvals Why the Work is Being Done To support the delivery of the gateways’ current and future interoperability capability requirements. Problem to Be Solved The Programme Team are under-resourced and require a partner to provide Technical, Project and Service Management resources to enable the continued development and delivery of the interoperability services, and the service management of all gateways for migration into Service Operations. There are several projects within this overall programme which are at different stages of the lifecycle and they have varying degrees of support dependent on their current status. The projects also support an assurance function with a prime contractor. Who Are the Users The gateways provide classified interoperability services between the UK MOD and a number of national and international partners. It is planned for the number of gateways to incrementally increase. The partner will be required to provide strategic interoperability guidance and liaison with JFC Cap, technical, project and service management support in conjunction with project stakeholders for the full project lifecycle of these new capabilities. The team will continue to develop and implement the interoperability services (such as Email, Chat, Browse, SharePoint, secure Voice and VTC) as required, ensuring project, programme and portfolio milestones are achieved. Work Already Done Incumbent contractor managing existing gateways and the delivery of live services. Approval has been secured for new and future requirements. Existing Team The current support is provided by mixed teams of crown servants and contractors. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • 1. Experience of assuring contracted Service Desks processes, the investigation and liaison with third parties to help in the resolution of escalated user issues. 5% • 2. Experience of delivering ICT projects /programmes Communications, Stakeholder Management strategies and Strategic Advice. 15% • 3. Strong and demonstrable knowledge of interoperability gateways, and user applications such as Email, Chat, Browse, SharePoint, secure Voice and VTC. 10% • 4. Experience of providing technical assurance of the tasks carried out by the prime contractor ensuring that the solutions are aligned with the programme’s technical strategy. 5% • 5. Experience of working on complex digital transformation programmes with many dependencies and integrations with backend and legacy applications. 10% • 6. Experience of putting together a multidisciplinary team to deliver projects. 15% • 7. Experience working with Defence customers, understanding how ICT integrates with military operational posture whilst delivering ICT programmes, processes, systems/services. 15% • 8. Experience of providing roles and scalable team structures to meet customer deliverables and as defined in the statement of requirements. 10% Nice to Haves • 1. Experience in the delivery of classified interoperability services with international partners.5% • Ability to deliver resources immediately on contract award. 10% Work Location MOD Corsham, Westwells Road, Corsham, SN13 9NR Working Arrangments The team would primarily be based at Corsham, however, there would be requirements for visits to other sites in the UK and with occasional Overseas travel. Full time, standard working days (Monday - Friday). (T&S up to £200,000 ex VAT for the duration of the contract) Security Clearance SC and DV The Authority WILL NOT sponsor SC or DV Clearance, it must be in place and remain valid for the duration of the contract. All workers must be UK Nationals (i.e. no dual nationality status). SC clearance required as a minimum, DV clearance required for certain technical roles. Additional T&Cs • Suppliers must use MOD's CP&F electronic payment system. If not already signed up to it they must be prepared to do so. • Travel and Subsistence will be paid in accordance with MOD policy (i.e. Contractor's staff will be treated as CS for T&S purposes). • T&S will be paid based on receipted actuals and in compliance with MOD Policy, no other expenses are permitted • Successful bidder will work to the Authority or Authority’s nominated representative. • Further contractual conditions will apply and will be confirmed at a later stage of the process. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • 1. Demonstrates approach and methodology to delivering against the Statement of Requirement. Clearly articulates the task breakdown, processes, timelines and resources involved in delivering each task. 20% • 2. An effective scalable resource plan, identifying individuals with the necessary skills and experience and details individual responsibilities and team structure. 20% • 3. Supporting CVs- These shouldn't be included in the page/word limit for the main proposal but are limited to a maximum of 500 words and 1 page per person. 10% • 4. Identify risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies and how they will be managed. 15% • 5. Demonstrates how they will provide effective assurance function with the prime contractor to manage delivery of their outputs. 20% • 6. Progress Reporting. Includes approach to ongoing task progress and reporting structure for formal progress reports. 15% Cultural Fit Criteria • 1. Work as a team with our organisation, other suppliers and all relevant stakeholders 20% • 2. Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes 20% • 3. Take responsibility for defined work outputs and be accountable. Share knowledge and experience with other team members and all relevant stakeholders 20% • Can work with clients with low technical expertise 20% • 5. Able to operate at a senior level and work transparently and collaboratively with different stakeholders 20% Payment Approach Fixed price Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please can you confirm the estimated percentage of resource that the authority anticipate need to be DV cleared? Any roles which require access to Designs and the full architecture of the system will need to hold DV, for example, Solution Architects, Network Engineers, live service managers. This equates to approximately 40% of the resource required. 2. NOTE FROM THE BUYER - CHANGE TO ASSESSMENT METHODThe Advert states that the Assessment Methods to be used are Written Proposal, Case Study and Presentation. This is incorrect. The Assessment methods to be used are Written Proposal and Presentation - there is no requirement for a Case Study. All information contained in the question. 3. Can you confirm if there is any requirement to TUPE across current personnel involved. There is no requirement to TUPE across current personnel. 4. Are you able to provide an estimate on the number of roles/resources required. The following figures are an indicative estimate, provided for planning purposes only. However the requirement is for supply of an Output, so if a bidder believes they can supply the output with a different number/breakdown of staff they may shape their bid accordingly.Our estimate is 13 Full-Time-Equivalents:PMsx5Network_Engineerx2Solution Architectsx1Integrated_Logistic_Specialistsx2Strategic Liaison Officer x1Project Risk/Planner (scheduler) x1Admin Supportx1Please note that 20% of the marks for the final Proposal will be awarded for “an effective scalable resource plan” and that you will need to consider scalability of the team to cope with emerging work. 5. Can you confirm the IR 35 status of the roles within this requirement The intermediaries legislation does not apply to this engagement 6. Can the Authority confirm the highest level of security classification permitted in a submission? - Official Sensitive 7. Will a submission that exceeds the highest permissible security classification be deemed non-compliant? The CCS system is limited to OS responses, and our expectation is that responses would be limited to this classification level. If a supplier believes that their response will exceed this classification he should contact us (via CCS) to discuss how to transmit it.A response would not automatically be deemed non compliant due to a higher security classification. 8. Are the Project Delivery teams going to be organisationally and operationally structured to implement through AGILE / Waterfall / Other methodologies. ? Traditional Waterfall 9. What is the governance structure for the team to support / work within – too many meeting / reports will impact time available to deliver? The Support Team will work to the ISS EMPO governance structure. This involves monthly reporting and checkpoint meetings, and weekly updates of risks and plans. 10. Must all work be conducted in Corsham – is there a mobile/remote operating capability? The expectation is that the majority of work will be conducted at Corsham. There is LIMITED scope for working from home/off site subject to prior permission from the Programme Manager. 11. What is the volume / scale / value / complexity of the projects to be managed at any one time – rate of new verses closing? This Gateways programme has multiple project deliveries. Complexity level is high and this has been considered when setting Milestones to ensure these are achievable. More details will be supplied at the next stage of this process 12. Will the interfacing customer organisations be structured to support an ITIL delivery model and will the interfacing supplier organisations be structured to support an ITIL delivery model please? Yes, ITIL is widely adopted across Defence 13. At what level in the customers organisation will the team be interfacing with – customer stakeholders and at what level in the suppliers organisations will the team be interfacing with – supplier stakeholders please?. The team will primarily interact up to the Programme Manager level, there will be a requirement to provide briefings and presentations up to the Portfolio Sponsor. 14. You have stated that DV will not be sponsored. However, we believe we cannot obtain DV without a sponsor. Can you provide guidance on how we would obtain DV for this role. The DV roles will require DV clearance in place from the outset. Due to the length of the DV process personnel who do not already possess DV clearance, or who are not already undergoing the DV application/assessment process already would not be able to achieve DV clearance in time. 15. Is there any indication as to the volume of incidents the team can be expected to manage at any one time (P1’s, P2’s and P3’s)? – this can be all consuming the primary SM function is conducted by the delivery partner (i.e. not this role), the required function is SM assurance 16. How is success measured – what are the benefits / critical success factors? This will be covered at the next stage of this process 17. BAE Systems notes the Authority’s intention to tender CCT 784 – Technical, Project and Service Mgt Support to Interoperability Gateways under the DOS framework. Can the Authority indicate if it sees a conflict of interest if a BAE Systems Business Unit intends to submit a proposal for this opportunity? The Authority will be willing to accept a BAES Business Unit proposal provided that BAES can demonstrate that appropriate conflict of interest management processes are in place to safeguard the integrity of this tender and subsequent contract. 18. Please can you provide an organisation chart to enable a better understanding of the team’s composition? This will be provided at the next stage of competition 19. Please can you provide an overview or high level summary of current/future plans per in-scope gateway? This will be provided at the next stage of competition 20. Can you please confirm who the incumbent is? The incumbent is SA Group