Project Darwin

Tender description

Summary of the work Provide support/maintenance and iterative development for the British Army website (www.army.mod.uk), in line with GDS Standards. The British Army is looking to partner with a proficient digital agency to provide front/back end CMS maintenance/support. Innovative and vigorous thinking taking advantage of digital trends/technical possibilities shaped by user needs is essential. Expected Contract Length 2 Years Latest start date Wednesday 1 April 2020 Why the Work is Being Done The Army website is a critical part of the Army’s digital engagement with the Public. It must be supported to ensure up-time is maintained at 99.9% meaning any technical issues are resolved in a timely manner. Additionally, it must be continuously developed and improved to better inform our audiences and put the users at the heart of communication efforts. A copy of the SOR is available upon request from MOD Commercial (susan.hatchett100@mod.gov.uk) Problem to Be Solved Renewal of contract to provide support, maintenance and iterative development to the British Army website The British Army will require a supplier that can deliver outcomes based on user needs and follow Government Service Standards. Website will need to migrate from its existing hosting environment to a new environment by June 2020. Iterative development and improvements will need to be in line with Government digital standards. Ensure website continues to adhere to all aspects of Level AA standards. Who Are the Users Potential recruits, Family members, Veterans Content stakeholders – Easily update their information on the website Work Already Done The current British Army website was launched in January 2018. Several rounds of iterative improvements to the front end and CMS have occurred since the launch Existing Team Army – SO1 Digital Team Leader – Service Manager Army – Digital Platform Manager– Service Manager Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Must have proven/demonstrable experience using agile project management • Must have proven/demonstrable experience of managing responsive websites based on user needs • Gold or Certified Umbraco partner • Extensive and demonstrable knowledge in conducting on-going user research • Demonstration of delivering projects at speed with clearly identified KPI's deliverables and timescales • Demonstrable recent evidence of harvesting website performance data to transform into meaningful information to make informed decisions • Must have extensive/proven Technical knowledge of website hosting environments such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure • Have experience of assessing and mitigating security threats and privacy issues, including Cyber Essentials certification and GDPR • Understanding, experience and implementing website metric software such as Google Analytics • Demonstrable recent evidence of good planning, co-ordination, communication and project management skills • Must be able to deliver project in line with Government Digital Services Standards Nice to Haves Have an understanding of working with the UK military Work Location It is expected most of the work can be conducted at the supplier’s premises by remote working. There may be the requirement to visit Army locations across the UK. Working Arrangments The supplier will work closely with the Army Communications Digital Team who are based at Army HQ in Andover. Regular contact with Digital Team via regular telephone and email correspondence. The contractor will need to visit Army Headquarters at key points throughout the engagement. The cost of attending any meeting or performing tasks away from the contractors premises shall be borne by the future contractor. The supplier will keep the service manager(s) updated on any change to milestones/issues in a timely manner and without prompting. Security Clearance All work will be conducted at the OFFICIAL classification level. No security clearance is required as the project team will be escorted at all times when on MOD property. Additional T&Cs DEFCON 5J (Edn 18/11/16) Unique Identifiers DEFCON 76 (Edn 12/06) Contractors on site DEFCON 129J (Edn 18/11/16) Electronic business Delivery Form DEFCON 513 (Edn 11/16) Value Added Tax DEFCON 516 (Edn 04/12) Equality DEFCON 518 (Edn 02/17) Transfer DEFCON 531 (Edn 11/14) Disclosure of Information DEFCON 534 (Edn 06/17) Subcontracting/Prompt Payment DEFCON 537 (Edn 06/02) Rights of Third Parties DEFCON 550 (Edn 02/14) Child Labour/Employment Law DEFCON 566 (Edn 12/18) Change of control of contractor DEFCON 642 (Edn 06/14) Progress meetings DEFCON 658 (Edn 10/17) Cyber (if over Not Applicable) DEFCON 694 (Edn 07/18) Accounting for Property of the Authority No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria • Relevant experience and expertise • Timescales • Team Structure • Value for money • Approach and methodology • Approach and solution meets organisations and user needs • Project plan Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate expertise and experience of working with public sector organisations. • Understanding of the British Army and how it operates. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Do you have a budget in mind ? The Authority has a confirmed budget, but to ensure that we obtain Value for Money, we are not in a position to divulge any figures 2. Will the current incumbent supplier be invited and able to bid for this new contract? Yes the incumbent supplier will be able to bid for this contract 3. Have any changes in your requirements in the last 2 years meant that the current supplier is unable to continue in their relationship? We are un-sighted on whether any of the requirements mean that the incumbent cannot bid for this contract, we are duty bound to re-tender every two years to ensure we have the best possible contract and value for money for the Army. 4. Are you obliged to submit this as a recurring rolling framework agreement that renews every 24 months? The Digital Outcomes and Specialist Framework only enables Call-Off Contracts to be placed for a 2-year duration (with possible 6-month extension).  We have to adhere to Crown Commercial Service guidelines 5. What is the website currently hosted on? The website is hosted on virtual servers within the MOD Joint Server Farm 6. Do you want to move your hosting to Azure or Amazon Web Services We currently believe that Azure is a better fit for us and this would be in the pre agreed MOD Cloud environment. 7. By moving to Azure, would you want to move to Umbraco Cloud or your own Azure environment We currently believe that Azure is a better fit for us and this would be in the pre agreed MOD Cloud environment. 8. How many content editors are there and is there a process (or training) in place to ensure that content added via the CMS is in line with AA standards There are around 40 editors. Training for new editors is run in house. Though all new projects that amend the current CMS offering need to be reflected in the training manual 9. If we are successful in going to pitch, will you be able to provide us with any of your existing user research / personas Yes, All information will be provided to successful invitees. 10. Can you please confirm the nature of the “website migration” project? Once a supplier has been appointed, we will work with them on the projects that are to be run for iterative development. 11. Is this just a "lift and shift” – i.e. the exact same website is running, just on different infrastructure – or is there any expectation of iterative development / update One of these projects will be a project to lift and shift to a different environment and then following this further projects will need to be completed to develop the site. 12. Do you require 24/7 hosting support to manage & monitor the site? Currently hosting support is provided but once the migration has happened, it is unclear how much support would be needed in the new environment