OpenCommunity Beta

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Our OpenCommunity Discovery found that national bodies such as the NHS, DWP, MoJ, along with local bodies such as local authorities and community and voluntary organisations require accurate and trusted data about local community services. The Discovery report recommended that a community services standards ecosystem (OpenCommunity) be built to support connection and alignment between multiple layers of organisations nationally and locally, through the adoption and embedding of a well managed data standard, OpenReferralUK, and a supporting community. A national data standard is vital for efficient referral and signposting by multiple agencies to support for people in the community on a wide range of issues and opportunities; from mental health support, employment support, housing and financial advice, to digital inclusion, social and well-being activities, volunteering opportunities and many more. Front line practitioners across multiple public service teams lack the shared, reliable information they need to confidently refer and signpost people to community support. Commissioners lack data insight, and local data administration is fragmented, duplicated and costly. Furthermore, national bodies such as the NHS (local hospitals, GPs, NHS 111) and DWP (local job centres) have no agreed, trusted method for consuming critical local data across their own services. Problem to Be Solved Driving adoption of the standard across multiple public bodies and the software supplier community. We aim to build a brand, online presence and community, including community events, adoption tools, tailored audience content and case studies. Developing the OpenReferralUK standard further, including technical tools, guides, products and processes and support for the technical community and to adopting organisations. Progress in securing strong adoption among national public bodies, including NHS, DWP, MHCLG, MoJ, NCVO, Government Digital Service, Data Standards Authority, LGA and others. Support to local exemplar projects in Leeds, Adur and Worthing, and Buckinghamshire (Family Information Service). The localgov Drupal project, funded by MHCLG separately will receive support from the OpenReferral UK technical standards workstream of this project. Exemplar work will include standards adoption and building governance processes, designing and testing a common local data management approach, and supporting compliant platforms to scale. Who Are the Users As someone seeking information, I need to know what services are available locally, so that I can meet my health, care, and other needs. As admin of a service directory, I need to publish data so that it is searchable, and easily integrated as a data service. As service provider, I want to update my details once, so people and organisations can easily access what I provide. As national provider I want to access local service directories, including integrations as a data service. As developer, I need to connect to data about local services, so that I can build useful services. As a service owner, I need technical and governance support, so that I can successfully implement the Open Referral UK data standard. Early Market Engagement Work Already Done This work is part of a programme funded by the MHCLG Digital Fund https://localdigital.gov.uk/funding/adur-worthing-councils/ The results of the discovery are published at https://opencommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Report-OpenCommunity-Data-standards.pdf As a result of the work so far, we have already seen adoption of the standard in multiple organisations and the development of the technical standards community. The guidance and technical documentation for the OpenReferralUK data standard, developed in the alpha phase of the programme, are published at https://openreferraluk.org/ Existing Team You will be working with project teams at Adur & Worthing, Leeds and Essex Councils along with the project team at the MHCLG Local Digital Fund. We encourage the lead supplier to explore partnership with other suppliers as appropriate to fulfil the brief. Current Phase Beta Work Location Work will be conducted remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions in place during the contract period. Working Arrangments There will be weekly project meetings via video. Work plans will be agreed and monitored by the OpenCommunity project team. We will use collaborative tools such as Zoom, Miro and Google. We will adopt an ‘open first’ approach to how we work to help others learn from our experience. Security Clearance Additional T&Cs Contract terms to be agreed with Adur & Worthing Councils Skills & Experience Provide a multidisciplinary team, including user research, service designer and data architect / engineer Adopt user centred design and agile approaches Have experience of designing and implementing API endpoints Be agnostic of any particular software Be able to meet the Local Government Digital Service standard Have experience of data standards and the process of developing and documenting a data standard Nice to Haves No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria The proposed approach and methodology Team structure, including skills and experience Estimated timeframe for the work Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them Cultural Fit Criteria Work as a team with our organisations and suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Have a commitment to open standards and data sharing mechanisms Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Case study Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 10% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet Budget range £250,000 with the possibility of a further £100,000 subject to success at project gate 31 january 2021.