Department for Education Data Engineering Capability

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Department for Education (DfE) Data Directorate are looking for a supplier who will be able to provide all the required Data Engineering roles for delivering services, compliant with Government Digital Standards. This is a partnership on a range of digital and technical projects as part of the DfE’s Data Transformation Portfolio. You will provide expertise and specialism to boost capacity and enhance capability. You will work alongside our in-house teams. Each project will have SoW that will outline the work package and the specific capabilities that may be required Problem to Be Solved The DfE Data Directorate is looking for a supplier to support a range of user led data and digital projects, including both existing and new projects, from inception through to live. The supplier will work with blended teams, using agile to deliver outcomes based on user needs and, where applicable, government service standards. Each project will require a different mix of Service and Data Delivery capabilities and may not require the full complement of capabilities. Who Are the Users Internal Users Analysts, Policy team, Operations, Service Delivery team As a data collector working in Data Engineering and Operations division, I need to setup data collection in line with department policy Early Market Engagement Not applicable Work Already Done There are a number of projects and programmes that require data engineering resources , these range from the improvement of existing developed systems to transformation leading to new systems. The expectation is that the supplier will be able to provide the capabilities required to support end to end delivery from discovery through to live Existing Team The existing teams are comprised of multi-disciplinary agile delivery skills. These teams are involved in continual product improvement as well as providing brand new digital services. Typical team size is up to 12 with a skills mix such as • Product Owner • Service Manager • Scrum Master • Technical Business Analyst • Solution Architect • Data Engineer • QA • Data Analyst • Infrastructure Engineer • Security Architect Current Phase Not started Work Location Primary location will be Bishop gate Office, Darlington. There is the potential for some work in Sanctuary Buildings, London and Sheffield. Any travel to other sites to be approved and will follow the DfE's Travel and subsistence policy. The primary base will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW) and expenses will not form part of the cost unless the supplier is asked to work from a secondary location instead during the execution of the work relating to the SoW. e.g. If SoW primary base is Darlington then no expenses will be paid for Darlington Working Arrangments This will be a 5 day per week (Monday to Friday) commitment and detailed working arrangements, including team location, size and make-up, will be contained within each statement of work. Day to day delivery will be governed by standard agile delivery techniques. These could be either a Kanban or a scrum approach (depending on the work) but the standard agile ceremonies appropriate to those will be undertaken. These will be monitored by the Delivery Manager and the Product Owner will be responsible for prioritising backlogs in refinement sessions. Security Clearance The successful supplier must be able to demonstrate that all proposed team members have been subject to Baseline Personnel Security Standards checks. However higher levels of Security Clearance maybe required dependant on work agreed. Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Experience in designing and building data ingestion, transformation, validation, cleansing, migration and storage capabilities. Utilising industry standard tools for end to end development for data platforms projects for large organisation. Experience in using agile tools and techniques to develop front-end web applications (full stack development), data validation and data storage in non-relational databases Experience of end-to-end solution development and delivery of multi-strand digital and data programmes, setting up DevOps functions, building CI/CD pipelines and data testing capabilities within large organisations Proven resourcing and engagement model to ensure the right quality of the team, ability to rapidly scale up & flex resources. Experience of coaching & development of internal capability and upskilling of resources in large organisations Experience of establishing and operating testing processes for data and software testing in large, complex, data intensive organisations within central government including regulatory and compliance requirements Experience of working well in large public sector organisations, across organisational boundaries, and with multi-agency departments, ideally in government Nice to Haves Experience of end-to-end solution development and delivery of multi-strand digital and data programmes, setting update DevOps functions, building CI/CD pipelines and data testing capabilities within large organisations Experience and understanding of the Education sector. Experience and understanding of educational datasets No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria Demonstrate how you as a supplier have been fully accountable for delivery of a project or outcome and successfully delivered to specification, time and with value for money Delivering business value – making sure business requirements are understood, validated via positive challenge and delivered against while understanding the value being generated (i.e. business intent) Design for minimising build and run costs Supplier teams are expected to use DfE’s collaboration software like Azure DevOps and Teams Experience working with SQL server, Azure Blob, CosmosDB, ETL tools including Informatica PowerCenter/DEI, Informatica Data Quality Ability to scale up team and flex resource when needed on-site Cultural Fit Criteria At Data Engineering Division we want to grow our in-house skills: How would you support this? What skills, time and expertise would you make available and where? Experience of collaboration with multiple organisational stakeholders with the aim to achieve a single objective. Evidence how you would deliver in a multi-supplier environment: Ensuring DfE’s interest is reflected in the approach to work and outputs delivered, demonstrating openness and transparency in engagement Demonstrate how you will ensure inclusivity and collaboration Experience of transferring knowledge to permanent staff within a client organisation Able to explain technical things to non-technical people, and non-technical things to technical people Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Case study Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 55% Cultural fit 20% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range indicative budget could range up to a approx maximum of £4.5m consisting of multiple sow's, but that scope could expand or contract. dfe does not commit to any minimum spend at this point. a pricing template will be given at the proposal stage to those suppliers we shortlist. maximum day rate will apply for the following roles software engineer (full stack developer) £800 data engineer (back end developer) £800 infrastructure engineer (azure devops) £800 qa (automation, data and software) £750 we would not expect any roles to exceed sfia level 6.