NHS England and Improvement: Product development, digital and analytical support services

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Improvement products and services are critical for delivering the outcomes within Chapter 5 of the NHS LongTermPlan. The new NHS England & NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) will need to support the Covid-19 initiatives and NHS Recovery plans through new data driven digital products, while building on their development of state-of-the art data, analytics and digital products to support the Sector. While not an exclusive contract, a core partner is required on support delivery of our digital products and services portfolio. This will include and not limited to; user research, user design, product design and delivery management, and development & testing. Problem to Be Solved NHSE/I requires a supplier to act as primary partner in the continued development of key data driven digital products and services priorities within our roadmap/backlog. NHSE/I requires a supplier that can offer flexible resources with key skills to deliver operational outcomes in conjunction with internal staff and other suppliers, working to develop products and deliver digital solutions. NHSE/I requires highly competent, specialised teams to rapidly mobilise, providing end to end delivery of the full product life-cycle. Who Are the Users As SRO, I need specialist teams to deliver at pace, within defined enterprise architecture constraints, with user led focus, agile iterative improvement and a continuous deliver model with full automation, assured, containerised deployment and transparency. As a Product Manager, I need to rapidly mobilise expert resources to deliver key outcomes with assurance that they will operate effectively within the wider architecture and operational delivery model. As an analyst, I need expert data engineering support to provide me with the information I need, readily available, catalogued and with clear provenance, irrespective of source, product or interface. As an end user in the Sector, I want to be able to seamlessly use the product offerings from NHS Insights platform to access key information. Early Market Engagement A Market Alert Notice was emailed to all suppliers registered on DOS4.1 Outcomes (28/09/2020) Work Already Done The data and development platform is a live service of components underpinning several verticals such as Model Health System, NHS Insights platform, Patient Level Information & Costing System, Provider Finance Monitoring System, GIRFT, NCIP, A&E Dashboard, Annual Planning and Covid operational dashboards. The core infrastructure is cloud based with Azure with varying degrees of automation. The product in our portfolio are built primarily on .net core, and react.js with some legacy products in Python/Django. We also have a number of dashboard products based on Tableau. Existing Team Product and engineering teams in NHSE/I are comprised of both permanent employees and supplier resources. NHSE/I has approximately 100 internal staff working to deliver and support the digital products portfolio. Teams are cross-functional and blended, enabling agile product development and knowledge-sharing while minimising single points of failure, including upskilling internal teams. Current Phase Not applicable Work Location The customer is based in London (Elephant & Castle) and has offices nationally, with Leeds as another major office. There is a requirement to work remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic however as part of the requirements include COVID response work, it may be necessary to work on site in London (COVID safe). NHSE/I requires a supplier who can provide a high quality and cost-effective delivery model as prime partner with access to specialist skills at key points along delivery. Given the user centric nature of digital development, key resources will need to work alongside key customers, wherever they are based. Working Arrangments Team members will be expected to work with and play a key role in implementing continuous integration and delivery pipelines and, where possible, automate any manual operations across the enterprise. The supplier must ordinarily operate with agile business analysis and QA through the application of techniques such as BDD. Agile ceremonies and processes will be adhered to and continuously improved through retrospectives. See also Cultural Fit. Suppliers will promote continuous improvement and Agility through the application of Agile values, principles and associated tools and promote an environment where Quality Assurance is embedded end to end in the development lifecycle. Security Clearance Security Clearance is not anticipated, should this change during the course of the contract we will provide sufficient lead times where the Supplier does not hold clearances currently. Supplier requires satisfactory assessment against NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (as updated), be ICO registered and may require sign additional DSAs/NDAs. Additional T&Cs All IPR will be retained by NHSE/I. No license or permission to use the artefacts delivered by the Supplier is granted except insofar as to deliver the requirements of this Agreement. The successful Supplier is required to enable effective transition from existing service. This transition period is anticipated to be approximately 3 months. The DOS contract will contain additional terms, including (not limited to) the following areas: Behaviours, Liquidated damages for late delivery, Exit and Service transfer, IPR, Testing, Warranty. Information Governance & Data security. The form of contract shall be shared with shortlisted bidders at Request for Proposal Stage. Skills & Experience Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in Agile product development in line with GDS standards, including Business Analysis, Product Management, Development & QA. Continue your answer to the criterion above here. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in User Research, UX and delivery of user focused, data driven products at scale. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in Microsoft Azure development including SQLServer, AzureDW, Web Apps, WAF, APIM, data factory, Web & logic apps, Azure Functions, Kubernetes/docker, Azure infrastructure services. Continue your answer to the criterion above here. Demonstrate strong and established expertise expertise and experience in Okta identity and access management (open ID connect, SAML2). Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in CI/CD and DevOps using a variety of tools and techniques including: Azure Dev Ops CI/CD, Powershell, ARM Templates, TestCafe, JMeter. Continue your answer to the criterion above here. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in deploying test automation techniques and best practices in a digital product delivery environment. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience developing databases/data structures using MS SQL Server. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in understanding content and governance requirements of NHS data and datasets. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in developing with Tableau and Alteryx. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience in ITIL, including change management, release management, user support and helpdesk. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience of ensuring Scrum and other Agile theory and practice is implemented and understood within services delivered. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience developing digital product ecosystem strategy and its implementation, showing convergence of varied portfolios of digital products and services. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience of upskilling customer teams in the course of delivery. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience of supporting PMO governance & reporting within an agile portfolio project delivery environment. Demonstrate strong and established expertise and experience delivering a complex breadth of requirements through both direct delivery and supply chain. Nice to Haves No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria Demonstration of depth of understanding of our product environment, architecture and development model, in line with GDS controls. (20 points). Detail you approach and methodology to deliver our requirements. (40 points). Demonstrate your technical expertise and experience in producing digital products in a healthcare setting. How will this translate to optimum outcomes here (40 points). Provide your team structure, including roles, key personnel and CVs of proposed resources. Describe flexibility and depth of resources over the course of the delivery. (40 points). Demonstrate the capabilities of your delivery partners/supply chain in supporting our requirements, including niche solutions. Describe your associated contracting arrangements. (40 points). Provide your high-level approach for the transition of services from other suppliers. (20 points). Identify risks and dependencies and proposed mitigations to manage them. (20 points). Demonstrate in depth practical interventions to foster and promote innovation within previous engagements, in a similar setting. (20 points). When responding to the Proposal Criteria, shortlisted suppliers must address the technical requirements and other relevant information provided throughout this notice and within supporting materials / Q&A (N/A Points). Cultural Fit Criteria Share knowledge, experience and skills with other team members so as to build sustainable internal capability. (40 points). Work in cross functional teams supporting product development initiatives and integration work alongside other suppliers. (20 points). Manage delivery in an Agile environment. Commercial and legal governance must support agile delivery. (20 points). Challenge the status quo. (20 points). Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Case study Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range up to £4,800,000 excluding vat. this the total budget available with individual statements of work to be agreed per specific outcome required. whilst there is no commitment to spend against the pursuant contract, we aim to provide a minimum of a rolling 3 month sow pipeline. the business case for this requirement is approved. the assumption is the majority of the work shall be on a capped time and materials basis, however the authority reserves the right to include additional pricing models during the life of the contract, on an individual sow basis.