DfE Digital Transformation Pipeline (Region: North)

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done DfE continues its transformation from a policy to a delivery department. Discoveries undertaken in 2017 identified a potential 250 potential services and 50 service lines. In August 2018 DfE started scaling up its delivery capability to support in developing services to meet the Government Service Standard. A DOS Service Transformation Pipeline Delivery Programme contract was awarded in September 2018 for services to work with digital teams across DfE in delivering projects from 'Discovery' through to 'Live'. Further support has been obtained through four DOS Capability contracts – Software Development, Service Delivery and User Experience & Design. Digital ways of working continues to expand with an on-going demand for assistance from across DfE. Two new regional Service Transformation Pipeline Delivery Programme contracts (of which this is one) are required and will continue to provide assistance to these teams, along with building capability and knowledge required by the department through this change. Through Statements of Work (SoW) work packages, this contract will allow DfE to engage digital specialists/teams who will work with blended teams made up of civil servants, and when necessary other suppliers who provide additional skills and capabilities, to deliver digital projects, programmes or stand-alone pieces of work. Problem to Be Solved DfE are advertising this opportunity in order to engage a delivery partner who can deliver outcomes based on user needs and government service standards. This opportunity is for suppliers who can provide delivery capability to support in-house delivery along with focussing on the end-to-end delivery of digital services. The contract will allow teams from across DfE, through SoW’s, to collaborate with a supplier who is able to provide specialists and teams with core sets of skills to support a range of projects from inception through to live. We would expect the supplier to provide capabilities required for a multi-disciplinary team, with typical roles to include delivery manager, business analyst, user researcher and service designer. In order to pass point 3 of the Government Service Standard, assessors must be satisfied the delivery team has the skills to design, build and operate a service. This approach would provide continuity through the lifecycle of projects, ensuring no break in support and that expertise is developed within the team leading to improved opportunities for shadowing and knowledge transfer. We anticipate between 3-7 concurrent projects at differing digital phases to be running at any time. Who Are the Users Services to support a number of user groups including: •Teachers • Parents • Students • Education advisors • School administrators • People that deliver children’s services • DfE staff • Employers For example, • As a school leader I need to know more about funding opportunities so that my school can apply for relevant grants • As a parent, I need to understand how to apply for financial support for my child • As a student, I need to know how to apply for financial support for my myself • As a Social Worker I want to spend more time directly supporting children and families so that I can offer an improved service • As a Senior Responsible Officer for a project, I need agile capability to provide delivery management, remove blockers to progress and monitor teams • As a Senior Leader I need agile coaching to establish and embed an agile environment required for optimal delivery Early Market Engagement Work Already Done Some digital education services are live via the GOV.UK website, for example: https://www.gov.uk/apply-online https://www.gov.uk/find-teaching-job https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/ However there is still a lot of potential to deliver development work and enhancement. Digital programme discovery is well underway with potential services identified and prioritised. Work continues on prioritising Services with some service discovery, alpha and private beta activity completed and moving to the next phase. Existing Team The supplier will work with civil servants and DfE stakeholders from a range of disciplines, including architecture, security, policy, finance, commercial and other suppliers. Knowledge transfer back into DfE will be a requirement to enable DfE to improve internal capability to build and support the applications. Where required in the development cycle, collaboration with other suppliers maybe necessary, for example, data extract, transformation, load and migration and in the setting up of dev/test environments. This contract will not prevent us from using other commercial arrangements to support the volume of work. Current Phase Not applicable Work Location For the duration of restrictions on movement due to COVID-19, all teams are expected to work and collaborate remotely. For any given SoW, the base location is likely to be Manchester, Sheffield and Darlington, any research activity may be required UK wide. The primary base will be detailed in each SoW, travel may be required to other DfE offices including London, Coventry or Cambridge. Expenses will not form part of the costs unless the supplier is asked to work from a secondary location. e.g. If SoW primary base is in Coventry then no expenses will be paid for Coventry. Working Arrangments The existing DfE digital team comprises lead roles in Delivery and Product Management, User Research and Agile Delivery, as well as stakeholders from Finance, HR and Commercial teams. Output from discoveries will inform the products and services to be explored with our delivery partner. We are looking for a delivery partner to complement our agile development capability in roles including, but not limited to, Product Management, User-Centred Design and Business Analysis. Each Statement of Work will cover a project/phase with associated outcomes and deliverables. We anticipate between 3-7 concurrent projects at differing digital phases to be running at any time. Security Clearance DfE requires all supplier staff to have baseline personnel security standard clearance (BPSS). Some projects may require higher security clearance checks, this will be detailed in the statement of work. Additional T&Cs Standard Framework and Call Off Terms and Conditions. Expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with CCS Travel and Subsistence Policy. Any expenses shall be submitted in line with DfE standard T&S policy. Primary work location stated in SoW will not attract expenses. Contract and Vendor Management will form a key part of governance and suppliers will be expected to co-operate in a manner that fosters healthy working relationships and quality delivery. Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR in line with Procurement Policy Note 03/17 Changes to Data Protection Legislation & General Data Protection Regulation. Skills & Experience Delivering digital services using agile development approaches and continuous delivery techniques Experience in conducting user research, designing and developing working digital services Experience in user journey mapping, delivering evidenced based, prioritised user stories and designing assisted digital support Experience of successful collaborative working, coaching and sharing knowledge with clients, particularly those with limited agile development experience Delivering end-to-end services across a range channels Delivering for complex and evolving operating environment Delivering in complex supply and delivery chains Prioritises understanding needs and behaviour and uses insight to underpin and drive design decisions when designing content, product and services Communicate service concepts and ideas using methods that allow others to see all the different parts of a service Pulling together aspects such as user research, org design, business analysis, data science, policy intent Analysing failure within a service and identifying root causes Designs and develops services through iteration, research and testing Evidence of your ability and approach to deploy multiple resources at customer locations, specifically in the North of England Nice to Haves Experience of working successfully with UK Government and/or Arms Length Bodies Planning and delivering digital services that follow the Government Service Standards Awareness of GDS service assessments Sector knowledge of DfE business requirements and issues No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 7 Proposal Criteria Examples of passing the Government’s Service Standards Assessment or equivalent Understanding/ability to deliver digital products/services to governments service standards Working with users to understand their work, their operating context and constraints & identify and implement adaptations/improvements Designing a service that has passed a government accessibility audit and accessibility beyond standard (e.g. design for neurodivergence) or similar Able to communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries, understanding the context Makes complex and technical information and language simple and accessible for non-technical audiences Ability to make informed decisions based on user needs, available technology and value for money Ability to place digital teams in regional locations, within a short timeframe Cultural Fit Criteria Establish a culture of service and continuous improvement in all teams Reinforce a strong Agile based culture Experience of working with an organisation at the beginning of an agile culture change Experience of working with multi-vendor teams across multiple projects Experience of collaboration with multiple organisational stakeholders with the aim to achieve a single objective. Experience of transferring knowledge to permanent staff within a client organisation Understands how to be part of a multidisciplinary, agile service team Able to explain technical things to non-technical people, and non-technical things to technical people Overview of your business structure and operating model within client locations Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Case study Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range budget approval is subject to cabinet office spending controls, service assessments and dfe governance. a pipeline of activity is foreseen over the next 24 months - based on the scope being considered the budget could range up to £5m consisting of multiple sows, but that scope could expand or contract. dfe does not commit to any minimum or maximum spend at this point. a pricing template will be requested at the proposal stage to shortlisted suppliers. the template must be flexible enough to enable different rates for different locations. rate cards will be static for the life of the contract.