Home Office - ServiceNow Burst Capability

Tender description

Summary of the work Third-party supplier to augment HO ServiceNow DevOps team with in-depth ServiceNow skills and “burst” capability. Providing ServiceNow related skills/knowledge in new/emerging areas of the platform; transfer into/establish within the in-house DevOps Team during design/delivery phases. Providing additional design, development and delivery capability to meet timescales for delivery against ServiceNow Roadmap. Expected Contract Length 12 - 18 months Latest start date Monday 3 August 2020 Why the Work is Being Done ServiceNow is used in the Home Office to support the services and processes delivered to the business and the demand for increased users on the platform and functionality has significantly grown over the past 2 years. There is currently a desire to further increase the scope to support new functions such as the 24/7 IT Operations and Cyber Centres and existing operations teams. Plans to expand into ServiceNow modules within IT Operations Management, IT Business Management, Software Asset Management and further enhance existing functionality within IT Service Management, Security Operations, Governance Risk & Compliance, User Experience. In addition to increased functionality, the user base for ServiceNow is growing across different business areas which is increasing the requirement for integrations with the platform and other toolsets and on-boarding of new business groups that have specific security requirements. There is in an in-house ServiceNow DevOps team but to meet the level and spikes in the demand, plus the skills and domain experience required, access to additional ServiceNow experienced resources is required. Problem to Be Solved The level of requirements, plus uncertainty on volume of demand and required timescales requires access to experienced ServiceNow capability often beyond what can be provided by the current in-house ServiceNow DevOps team. Specifically, during periods of exceptional demand or where there is a deficiency in capability and experience. Specific areas where capability and knowledge is limited includes IT Operations Management (Event, Discovery, Orchestration, Cloud Management) and IT Business Management (APM, PPM, Agile Dev, Test Management), Software Asset Management, Governance, Risk & Compliance, User Experience. Where the Supplier is utilised to fill a capability gap there would need to be the ability to knowledge transfer back in to the in-house ServiceNow DevOps team to ensure capability uplift. Who Are the Users ServiceNow is used to support IT Service Operations across the Home Office. Users of ServiceNow include: - End users accessing the Service Catalogue; - Service Operations management, using the data in ServiceNow to manage IT service provision; ServiceDesk staff supporting end users raising IT issues and - Service Operations staff supporting key ITIL processes. In addition, there are evolving capabilities in the Home Office Cyber Security and IT Operations centres (CSOC and ITOC). These will use ServiceNow for Event Management, using integrations with monitoring tools to view and manage business service health, and to manage and monitor Security Incidents in a secure and controlled environment. Early Market Engagement None Work Already Done The following applications and features have been implemented in the Home Office instance of ServiceNow: -Service Portal; - Chat; - Incident; - Operational Change; - Problem; - Service Catalogue; - Service Request Management; CMDB (including SCCM integration) and elements of the CSDM; - web service integrations with multiple 3rd party and in-house applications; -SecOps – Security Incident; - Event Management; - GRC – Risk Management. Existing Team The Home Office has an in-house DevOps team of permanent Civil Servants currently consisting of 8 Developers, 2 Business Analysts, Technical Architect, Delivery Manager, Product Manager and a Testing team. This team is being expanded through additional recruitment and will be supplemented by the successful supplier under this contract. This work will also include regular contact and cross team working with Project and internal Architects in CTO (Central Technology Office), Security, ITOC and CSOC. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • A broad and deep technical understanding of the ServiceNow Platform at both an architectural and coding / configuration level. • Web service (REST, SOAP, JSON etc) and integration knowledge and experience • ServiceNow certified SMEs in ITOM, ITBM, SAM, GRC, CMDB /CSDM design and Implementation • Advisory and consultancy expertise with up to date platform roadmap knowledge, including awareness and understanding of dependencies between different elements. • The ability develop, input to and review architectural designs (HLD/ LLDs) • Knowledge and experience of operating and delivering functions such as ITOC/ CSOC, specifically utilisation of ServiceNow to underpin the capabilities • In depth understanding of Security controls, mitigations, encryption, best practice for the ServiceNow platform to help inform secure by design approach • Understanding and experience of implementing ServiceNow best practices • Experienced ServiceNow Business Analysts that can take stakeholder requirements and produce refined quality user stories • User Experience specialists • At least 3 years’ recent experience of working within the Public Sector • Successful knowledge transfer to in-house staff Nice to Haves • Experience of working in a DevOps environment with a number of agile methodologies including Scrum, Kanban etc. • Demonstrable experience of integrating and collaboration with an existing in-house Devs Op team Work Location Home Office locations mainly Croydon and Manchester. Occasional travel to other Home Office locations may be required. Currently remote working is appropriate and will be reviewed in line with government advice on Covid 19 working arrangements. Working Arrangments On site working 3-4 days a week co-located with other Home Office ServiceNow resources when required. Currently remote working is appropriate and will be reviewed in line with government advice on Covid 19 working arrangements. Security Clearance SC (security Check) Security Clearance is required to operate on this project. Must hold or be willing to undergo security clearance. Additional T&Cs Professions rate caps will be applied to all standard roles at all SFIA levels. SFIA 1, 2,6 and 7 levels are not required. The rate caps for standard roles will be £450 (SFIA 3), £650 (SFIA 4) and £800 (SFIA 5) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria • The Match to the essential skills and experience outlined above • Examples and demonstrable experience • How the approach and methodology meets user needs • Technical Solution • Value For Money Cultural Fit Criteria • Commitment to excellence • Open and collaborative team approach • Flexible working • Commitment to team working • Shares skills and knowledge • Ability to work within an environment of agile delivery and DevOps Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 15% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you confirm if other than public sector experience is allowed? It is confirmed that the essential criteria “At least 3 years’ recent experience of working within the Public Sector” should be “3 years’ recent experience of working with ServiceNow within the Public Sector or similar complex environment”. Please reference this is your response. 2. Can you confirm that the rate caps for standard roles will be £450 (SFIA 3), £650 (SFIA 4) and £800 (SFIA 5)? These appear low. Apologies the rate caps quoted above were not for the required roles. To clarify:Professions rate caps will be applied to all roles at all SFIA levels. These caps will be provided to shortlisted suppliers but the highest allowable rate is £950 (for technical architects). 3. Would you consider a ServiceNow partner that works 100% remotely extending beyond the current COVID remote working arrangements? Post COVID restrictions the preferred working arrangements would be to be on site in order to facilitate optimum team work and enable effective knowledge transfer. We would want onsite work to be available as and when appropriate without any blockers or obstacles. 4. Can foreign nationals (e.g. from EU or from India) be considered for Security Clearance? Yes but they have to have been resident in the UK for a period of time (5 years for SC) and have the right to work in the UK. 5. Could you advise an indicative budget range for this opportunity The team will be mixed depending on the different work packages. We are unlikely to have more than 2 work packages at any one time so from a sizing point of view we would expect for a reasonably sized SOW:• 1 x Solution Consultant• 1 x Tech Architect• 2 x Developers• 2 BAsThere may also be a necessity for some ad hoc resources for specific deliverables that form part of a larger piece of ongoing work for example Development resource to deliver discreet piece of functionality. 6. Would you support and/or sponsor the SC security clearance? Yes. 7. Could you please confirm if you are looking for a team of people with the required skills all required on-site at the same time and if so how many people?Or a supplier to dip in and out with to enhance your team's knowledge using different resources at different times? This may be for both scenarios. Where possible we would like resources to augment our team and work as a collaborative group rather than to work as a team in isolation but that may be the case for certain pieces of work. See answer to Q5 for size estimate. 8. Are you looking to ring-fence a specific number of resources for a fixed period (resource based) and if so how many resources do you require? Alternatively would you want to engage a supplier with specific requirements which cannot be met internally and have the supplier deliver those on a per case basis (project based)? We wouldn't expect to ring fence. We would engage on a case by case basis although we would expect a number of appropriate resources to undertake SC in preparation to enable fast response to requirements. 9. Which ServiceNow modules are considered your greatest priority in terms of deployment or further enhancement? ITOM and ITBM are the current areas of focus. 10. You mention integration with 3rd party in-house Apps – can you list which apps please? For ServiceNow ITSM this includes JIRA Project, JIRA Service Desk & Remedy and for ServiceNow ITOM this includes Solarwinds and SCOM. For population of the CMDB, there is an integration with Microsoft SCCM. 11. To which other tools do integrations exist for your Event Management solution? Solarwinds and Microsoft SCOM. 12. For GRC – Risk & Compliance Management capability, what does this cover today? IT? Vendor? Please confirm. We are currently only utilising the GRC Risk application within the GRC suite. 13. What is the user base? How many seats etc.? We currently have approx 50k end users that access via User portal. 2500 fulfiller users for ITSM 14. If selected would we be working alongside other third-party ServiceNow suppliers or would we be replacing them in full? No 3rd party that is involved in the scope of this requirement. We do have 2 Security Architects working alongside the ServiceNow DevOps team from ATOS but this is not within the scope of this requirement 15. Is there an incumbent supplier currently providing ServiceNow capability to the Home Office in any capacity? If so, would this capability be intended to replace this or augment it? See previous Q and A 16. What systems are in place to ensure coding standards and governance are met? We have internal coding standards that follow best practice. We follow an agile approach to deliver functionality via 2 sprints per monthly release. 17. Can you please indicate whether any elements of the work can be completed offshore (and if so which components)? None. 18. Can the roadmap be shared? The roadmap will be shared to shortlisted suppliers on completion of an NDA. 19. Are you able to disclose which 3rd party security products that have been added or those that are intended to be added? We are unable to disclose for security reasons. 20. What is the expected effort required from a supplier to support the current roadmap? no more than 2 SOW at one time based on the size of the team in Q5 and for 12/18 months. There may also be a necessity for some ad hoc resources for specific deliverables that form part of a larger piece of ongoing work for example Development resource to deliver discreet piece of functionality. 21. Is the scope Microsoft only and/or does include any Cloud services (Azure, O365, AWS etc.)? refer to ‘problem to be solved' in the advert.