Development and Support of Data Directorate’s Digital Services

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done DfE has a need to develop and maintain digital services which include: - Analyse school performance (ASP) - Compare school and college performance (CSCP) - Get Information about schools (GIAS) - Schools Checking Replacement Service These services are key to supporting school accountability, Covid 19 response, funding and wider government initiatives e.g. tax free child care. To do this, we need to provide ongoing operation and development of services, which meet GDS standards, including key data and statistical releases Problem to Be Solved This contract provides technical skills and capabilities to build and maintain Data Directorate's digital services which support the DfE's internal business processes, wider Government services and a range of policy areas. GIAS is the source of master establishment data for a number of business critical systems. It is the home of the database of school governors, feeds the new Schools Register and wider digital services. ASP, CSCP and Schools Checking make up the services key to school accountability policy, focused on creating a self-improving school system, engaging parents, school leaders, Ofsted and school governors etc. to help improve education in England Who Are the Users Almost 20 million users have visited the services since 2017: As either a school, Local Authority, Multi-Academy Trust or Diocese, I need to access: -ASP for detailed performance data about my establishment to support school improvement. -Schools Checking to check and amend data before publication. As a member of the public, GIAS is a key database of educational establishments in England and Wales. As an internal school user, I access GIAS securely to update data about my school. As a parent/carer, CSCP as a public facing service helps inform my choice of school/college as it provides performance information Early Market Engagement Work Already Done Three of the services are already in public-beta and one in the private beta stage of development. GIAS and CSCP are publicly available services. Both Schools Checking and ASP are secure services. An informative ASP video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZxymO3Rsj8. All services will need to undergo live assessment within the next 1-2 years. Existing Team Suppliers will be part of multi-disciplinary agile teams, including civil servants, with access to broader specialist support across DfE. The database for one service is currently managed by a supplier hence collaborative working will be required. We anticipate the current model to continue which comprises of up to 3 scrum teams plus a single support team across all services. Current Phase Beta Work Location The services are currently centered in London, but we are in the process of re-organising which may change this location to one of the other DfE location i.e. Sheffield or Darlington. Travel may be required to other Department for Education offices for co-located workshops (including Coventry, Manchester and Darlington). NB. subject to any government restrictions on travel. Working Arrangments Typically scrum teams will work in two-week sprint cycles which will be required to co-locate (or via online collaboration due to government restrictions) for key sprint ceremonies (show’n’tells, sprint planning and retrospectives). High-level priorities will be managed month-by-month by the service owner, distilled to the scrum team during fortnightly sprints, guided by the Product Manager, and monitored during daily stand-ups. Suppliers will be responsible for providing their own suitable work arrangements/locations in order to achieve the required outcomes. We expect services to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with the necessary support. Security Clearance DfE requires all supplier staff to have Baseline Personnel Security Standard clearance (BPSS) and complete the department information handling data protection training. Additional T&Cs Expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with DfE Travel and Subsistence Policy. Any expenses shall be submitted in line with DfE standard T&S policy. Primary work location stated in Statement of Work will not attract expenses. Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR legislation and: • All development must be completed and remain within the UK. • May be required to use DfE IT equipment (provided). • The supplier must adhere to government accessibility and DfE Technology and Security Standards. • The supplier must attend the presentation on specified date; an alternative date cannot be offered Skills & Experience Within the last two years, have experience in delivery management and project support services such as agile, scrum, working in complex, multi-team, agile programmes Within the last two years, experience in building and supporting document libraries, workflow and case management systems (Microsoft Sharepoint O365, Microsoft Dynamics O365 Experience of successfully delivering backend development and Implementing APIs for internal and external use Experience in working with identity and access security in Microsoft Azure PaaS environment Proven experience of successfully supporting customers to build in-house capabilities and ensure effective knowledge management and transfer Within the last two years, experience in successfully building front-end web applications (HTML/CSS/JS) Within the last two years, experience in scalable server-side cloud-based web applications (preferably Microsoft Azure) detailed knowledge of C#, .NET, ASP.NET MVC/Razor, REST API, Cosmos DB optimisation programming languages Evidenced experience of expertise developing software using modern engineering practices such as Test-Driven Development and Continuous Integration & Deployment in an Azure DevOps environment Within last two years, experience in architecture services, ensuring new and updated platforms, products, transactions and system architectures are robust, scalable, open and secure, working within established corporate governance framework Understanding of DevOps services including running production applications and optimising existing applications Nice to Haves Experience of providing insight, structure, guidance and support to digital delivery programmes Experience in building services to meet the UK government Digital Service Standard or appropriate similar standards within complex digital programmes across government Evidence of successfully delivering Minimum Viable Product solutions within compressed timelines Domain knowledge of using Government APIs and Services – such as Gov Notify, Gov Verify Secure Access, GDS Registers and related APIs/services No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria Demonstrate working experience in delivering digital products/services and understanding the challenges of implementing user centered design in a government agile environment Demonstrate understanding to deliver digital .products/services to Government UK Digital Service Standard or appropriate similar standards within complex digital .programmes across government Experience and methodology in approach to agile project using both Kanban and scrum Demonstrable experience of working alongside clients in co-located, integrated teams Demonstrate approach to knowledge and skills transfer Technical competence in a wide range of relevant technologies and agile practices Ability to scale up team and flex team when needed on-site Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Innovate – Act on initiative, drive improvements, balance risks • Approach to developing a "One Team" approach, Work as a team – Collabo-rate, establish good working relationships, generate team spirit. • Build capability – Encourage learning, share knowledge, address capability gaps, act on feedback • Actively promote diversity and inclusion as per the public sector equality duty Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range the budget is capped at £3.7 m plus vat for an estimated 18 month duration. we will issue statements of work for deliverables and outputs. skills required and maximum day rates: • technical architect, sifa 6 - £700 • lead business analysts, sifa 5 - £600 • lead developers (front & backend), sifa 5 - £660 • user experience designer, sifa 5 - £600 • lead qa testers, sifa 5 - £660 • user researchers, sifa 4 - £550 • content designer, sifa 4 - £450 • scrum master, sifa 4 - £550 • junior developer, sifa 3 - £450