Mapping tool for place-based transport data – Discovery Phase

Tender description

Summary of the work The winning supplier will be required to deliver a Discovery report (MS word and PDF) with analysis and supporting evidence, as well as a presentation and Q&A session when the final report is submitted. Expected Contract Length 4-6 weeks, although dependent on preferred bidders advice Latest start date Monday 10 February 2020 Budget Range Max.£25,000 including VAT fixed price contract Why the Work is Being Done The Discovery Phase should establish: - Who are the proposed users of the tool and their requirements/ preferences, outlining information that would be useful to include within the tool, and any data issues that need to be resolved in order to do so - Are similar tools already in existence which deliver similar user benefits - What options there are, with associated pros and cons, for DfT in either developing their own system, or using an ‘off-the-shelf’ product. - Recommendations for keeping the tool up-to-date, ideally in line with existing Departmental processes. There will be no Alpha or Beta stage. Problem to Be Solved In the medium-term the Department is aiming to develop an interactive mapping tool, capable of displaying a wide range of information e.g. rail projects, population size, proportion of population that uses public transport etc. that will be used within the department to make better decisions, as well as to be able to better tell a story, and make better strategic links when making investment decisions. This discovery phase is to identify what information should be included within the tool, the key users, and highlighting where this information is sourced from. Who Are the Users The primary users of the Discovery outcomes will be internal DfT users, who will use the evidence to inform consideration of options on the future development of an internal Civil Service only mapping tool. These users will include area leads who will be providing information into the tool), policy and project teams around the department, as well as senior managers and Board members who will be the customers of the tool, and who will have preferences in the type of data and the format in which it is presented. Early Market Engagement Not applicable Work Already Done N/A Existing Team A Steering Group will be established to oversee this work which will be made up of teams across the Department with an interest in this work, with the key contact point being from within the Regions Cities and Devolution Directorate. The specialisms on the Steering Group will range from policy to governance, technology and programme delivery. Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Proven previous experience of conducting discovery activity in order to support better information display using location data • Demonstrable evidence of some experience with transport data, but without being limited to the transport sector • Demonstrable evidence of experience of desk-based research, and interviewing senior stakeholders (both internal and external) • Demonstrable evidence of technical experience with/ awareness of mapping tools • Demonstrable evidence if a high level understanding of the work of the Department for Transport Work Location The majority of the work will be conducted at the supplier’s own site (or other chosen location) though conducting of user research travel to interview respondents at the Department for Transport in their office in London as needed to complete the discovery activities, and fortnightly updates to the Steering Group: Department for Transport Great Minster House 33 Horseferry Road London SW1P 4DR T&S should be included within the initial bids, and will be paid in line with DfT rates and terms. Working Arrangments We are open to discussions around the best format for delivering the work. We would expect the successful supplier to be available during DfT working hours (Mon-Fri, 9-5), and for any knowledge transfer activities. The supplier will need to either travel to London to get an understanding of the information/ data requirements of the tool from those stakeholders who will use it (DfT Civil Servants), as well as fortnightly meetings with the DfT Steering Group, either in person or via tele-conference. T&S should be included within the initial bids, and will be paid in line with DfT rates and terms. Security Clearance Baseline Personnel Security Standard that should be active from when the contract commences. Evidence of clearance of that you are working toward obtaining clearance will be requested as part of stage 2 evaluation. Additional T&Cs N/A No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrable evidence of how it fits with technical competence criteria, approach and methodology (10%) • Demonstrable evidence of how the approach meets department’s goals and user needs (15%) • Demonstrable evidence of how they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them (3%) • Demonstrable evidence of how the approach or solution matches DfT’s existing skill set (2%) • Demonstrable evidence of how the approach will transfer knowledge to DfT staff (5%) • Team structure (3%) • CV (2%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrable evidence and Experience of working as a team with our organisation and other stakeholders (3%) • Demonstrable evidence and Experience of the idiosyncrasies of the transport sector (7%) • Demonstrable evidence and Experience of interpreting the brief and applying sectoral knowledge (5%) • Demonstrable evidence and Experience of transparent and collaborative decision making (3%) • Demonstrable evidence and Experience of sharing approach, knowledge and skills with other team members and with the department by example (2%) Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 45% Cultural fit 20% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers 1. Has the DfT team used any mapping tools in the past? Is there a particular tool they have in mind or have already made an investment in? If so, it would be useful to know which tools have been selected or used in the past. DfT uses a variety of mapping and visualisation tool including QGIS Leaflet, R Shiny, and ArcMap. Additionally, we have an emerging roads-based visualisation tool, which is being built on an open-source stack of Leaflet, Geoserver and Postgis. This discovery project could involve identifying tools which are already in existence and considering the suitability of existing tools for further development. 2. With regards to the map being interactive, is this interactive in the sense of the user drilling down into more data / searching the data – or will the interaction require the user to entire or update data via the map visual? Exact functionality required would depend on the outcome of the discovery. We would envisage that future users of the tool would be able to access a wider range of information (e.g rail projects, population size etc). We would also like to see recommendations for keeping the tool up to date. 3. For the final essential requirement "Demonstrable evidence of a high level understanding of the work of the Department for Transport" what sort of evidence are you looking for and what do you consider a 'high level understanding'? The concern is that this wording as it stands would seem to preclude any suppliers who haven't previously worked with the DfT. For the final essential requirement "Demonstrable evidence of a high level understanding of the work of the Department for Transport" what sort of evidence are you looking for and what do you consider a 'high level understanding'? The concern is that this wording as it stands would seem to preclude any suppliers who haven't previously worked with the DfT. 4. For the final essential requirement "Demonstrable evidence of a high level understanding of the work of the Department for Transport" what sort of evidence are you looking for and what do you consider a 'high level understanding'? The concern is that this wording as it stands would seem to preclude any suppliers who haven't previously worked with the DfT. We are looking for bidders to demonstrate an understanding of the breadth of the Department’s work and policy responsibilities, including how a visualisation tool could be useful in this work in the future. There are many ways for potential suppliers to demonstrate this understanding, and we welcome bids from suppliers we have worked with before, as well as those we have not 5. Is there a preference to use Open Source software for the mapping tool? The Department already uses a range of mapping tools, both open and closed source. There may be advantage in recommendations building on top of or using these existing tools. The mapping tool will need to adhere to GDS’ Service Standard point 11 – choose the right tools and technology. As this is a discovery exercise, we would like to ensure that user research would help articulate the user and business need. We expect all options to consider Cost/ Benefits, meeting user needs and adaptability to changing requirements in the future. 6. How many users/stakeholders are expected to be involved in this Discovery? We plan to establish a steering group of internal stakeholders (size tbc) to advise on project direction. We expect the number of individual potential users to be directly involved in the Discovery to be established as part of this work, we expect to see representation (at various levels) from all modes and Departmental functions (e.g. governance and strategy) and from Departmental Area Leads (e.g. LA engagement leads). We would not expect this to be fewer than 20 discussions, potentially with multiple attendees. We would expect the Discovery work to identify and quantify the potential user-base for a tool.