Infrastructure support and maintenance for live running of Connect Digital Service

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done The NLC was created by the government in October 2018. It connects the most senior leaders across the public sector in England and helps them work together to improve public services. The Centre runs a world-class leadership programme (with residential courses), connects people across sectors and regions, and is becoming a global hub of leadership data and high quality research. The Connect Service supports activities across The Centre by providing an online service where senior public sector leaders can find one another. After passing a Beta service assessment in December we are now looking for a supplier to support and maintain the infrastructure that underpins this service. Problem to Be Solved The Connect Service solves a need uncovered through User Research and market analysis that there has been no space for public sector leaders to come together across sector or geographical boundaries. Our directory service provides the core offering for those users. We are now looking to put in place a support and maintenance contract for the infrastructure of the service. This should include regular patching of security releases for our database, support of the continuous integration systems and monitoring tools. A supplier should respond to alerts from the system and ensure that they are dealt with quickly. Our infrastructure is built on AWS, the Cabinet Office's provision and uses containerisation, and auto build and deploy processes. A supplier will need to work with Cabinet Office Digital Data and Technology colleagues. We have ambitions for The Service and will be releasing new features throughout the year, as such a supplier will need to consider support for new infrastructure requirements that may arise as a result in changes made, or new feature releases to the application. A supplier will need to work with development teams to ensure seamless change and release processes. Who Are the Users Our primary users are the most senior public sector leaders in the country, roughly 1,200 people. We have identified many needs, including: As a member of the network... 1) I need to connect with my peers across other sectors, so I can broaden my network and approaches to challenges 2) I need curated content that is tailored to my interests, so I can save my limited time Additional groups include delegates on programmes (I want to know what I expect on the programme, so I can prepare), personal assistants (I need to undertake research on behalf of my public sector leader), and NLC staff (I need to connect with public sector leaders to organise our Programme offering, publicise upcoming events or target members of our network who might be interested in new insights arising from our research). Early Market Engagement In August 2019, the NLC tendered for a contract for our current digital work (Beta). The market was competitive and the contract was awarded to Convivio. Now that Beta assessment has been passed and we move into live operation of the service, we are splitting our contracts to reflect support of the infrastructure, and ongoing digital design and development of the service. As part of that we have undertaken some conversations with suppliers about how best to approach this. Work Already Done Beta Assessment was passed in December 2019. The application is built using Drupal, and data is held within Salesforce powering the CRM back-end. It offers the following MVP which we are looking to continually improve and iterate - Directory - Filtering and search functionality - Apply for our flagship programme Existing Team The NLC is around 20 people: nationalleadership.gov.uk/about/team/ The Head of Digital acts as Product Owner. It is expected that you'll work very closely with other teams, particularly the Research, Networks and Programme teams to deliver products and services that meet their users needs. You may be required to work with an incumbent supplier to hand over technical responsibilities. Current Phase Beta Work Location The NLC is mostly based in 1 Horse Guards Road in Westminster, with a small team based Manchester as well. We use, Slack, Zoom, Hangouts and other tools to manage collaborative working. Most of this work can be delivered remotely, however some presence at meetings relating to release of new features may be required if changes to infrastructure are required. Working Arrangments We are unable to host a team regularly in our offices unless you already have CTC clearance. We are happy for work to be undertaken on a remote basis, with daily stand ups beneficial - other communications channels (Slack, Hangouts, Zoom) also encouraged for more informal conversation. It would be useful to have face to face sessions at least once a fortnight as a whole team. Security Clearance BPSS is minimum to access government assets. We do not anticipate SC level clearance being necessary. Existing CTC clearance will be necessary if the team will want to work in 1HG building. Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Have recent experience of delivering to the Technology Code of Practice Have experience of continuous iteration and improvement of an existing Private Beta and/or live service, drawing insights and key results to inform priority areas for development Experience of working with non-digital and operational focussed teams to share insights and prioritise development Have experience of supporting a highly secure service and understanding of government requirements for data protection and security Nice to Haves Provide details of when you have worked with multiple partners to support the delivery of new feature changes to infrastructure Provide details of where you have worked with the wider public sector No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria Demonstrating an understanding of user needs and NLC requirements Proposed approach and methodology - including technical approach Identifying risks and dependencies Team structure, including relevance of the team members' skills and experience Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria Work in an open and transparent way, sharing work in progress and involving others as you go Value boldness and creative thinking Share learning and build capability in others Value diversity and inclusion Communicate clearly and work with others with less technical expertise Challenge our assumptions through evidence based decision making based on identified user needs Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range up to £100,000 over 1 year. we anticipate that 2-4 days per month should cover essential monitoring and patches. with additional work required when we are sprinting and deploying changes more frequently. as such we welcome suggestions for how best to manage this approach in a cost effective and flexible way.