Level 1 Kanban Course (PMK1 or PSK1)

Tender description

Summary of the work Provision of face to face training in Kanban for 45 people, in Manchester, Newcastle and Blackpool. Training must be completed by 31st March 2020. Latest start date Friday 7 February 2020 Budget Range £30,000 Why the Work is Being Done BPDTS Ltd is a digital technology company set up to provide specialist digital technology services to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The services BPDTS and DWP provide are transforming digital experiences of millions of people as they look for work, deal with illness or disability, support children after separation, or plan for retirement. DWP advocates Agile and Lean as it's preferred ways of delivering digital services and change in DWP. DWP acknowledge the delivery and quality gains, as well as risk mitigation, from using these techniques. For service assurance, BPDTS want to have all of its Delivery Management DDAT professionals in the practice trained in a range of skills. Problem to Be Solved Delivery Management knowledge and skills is variable and many BPDTS Delivery Management Practice employees are being asked to work in ways which they have had no formal training or on the job experience. The risk of not training our people is that we will reduce the pace and quality of the work, increasing delivery and service continuity risks and ultimately reducing value for tax payers' money. Who Are the Users As a Delivery Manager I need to be able to understand and be skilled in Kanban methods so that I am able to support the best delivery approach to deliver services and change for DWP Digital group. Existing Team The supplier will be working with the BPDTS Ltd Delivery Management Practice to ensure each member of the practice has the right baseline set of skills. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Have significant experience of delivering group training • Have significant experience and examples of real world Kanban implementation • Have significant real world agile delivery implementation experience • Have experience of using tooling to realise benefits of Kanban for the team • Have experience of using metrics in real world delivery and improvements • Experience of delivering in a way that can easily be taken into everyday practice and can be built upon after the course within a practice model of community learning Nice to Haves • Understand and has experience of the relationship between Scrum and Kanban and how to select and use appropriate methods to support and improve delivery • Demonstrate relevant and detailed Kanban method course content • Demonstrate ability to provide high quality training materials Work Location Manchester Hub, St Peters Square, Longbenton Park view, Newcastle, and Peel Park, Blackpool. BPDTS will source and provide the venues. Working Arrangments The supplier will provide a two day course on site for each attendee in a group of no more than 12 - this is face to face classroom training Security Clearance Baseline Personal Security Standard clearance required (BPSS) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Value for money • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets user needs • Estimated timeframes for the work Cultural Fit Criteria • Understand and align with organisations values and culture and reflects this in training materials and training approach • Understand and align with the organisations model of learning Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 30% Cultural fit 20% Price 50% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is the budget mentioned exclusive of VAT? The budget of £30k is inclusive of VAT. 2. The budget is exceptionally challenging, particularly if a creditable candidate is envisaged. Would you consider classes of hosting 2 classes of approximately 23 students? This is within norms and would not impact quality. We will consider proposals of larger group settings if suppliers demonstrate that quality and learning outcomes can be maintained. 3. Given there is 3 locations and 45 people to be trained, would it be acceptable to hold 3 courses with 15 at each location?If not, and the maximum course size must be 12, i.e., 4 courses, which location would need 2 courses? If cohort size is to be increased then suppliers must demonstrate how quality can be maintained at that increased size. Training providers must ensure learning outcomes are delivered and that attendees are able to pass relevant certification without the need for additional resource. 4. Do you have any preference between PMK1 or PSK1 ? We have stated either course. We are interested in overall value and the best learning outcomes rather than the specific course. If as a provider you are able to provide either, please provide us with both options to allow us to evaluate their relative merit. 5. What do you refer to when you say "PMK1 or PSK1" ? By way of example, please find links to the courses below.PMK1 https://edu.leankanban.com/certified-trainingPSK1https://www.scrum.org/professional-scrum-with-kanban-certification 6. Certification. Please can you confirm whether or not you require the trainer(s) to be accredited with LKU (PMK1) or Scrum.org (PSK1) and for the cost to include all LKU/Scrum.org exam and certification fees. We would expect trainers to be accredited and for attendees to receive relevant certification for the course as part of the package. We are aware that PMK1 doesn’t have an exam, but a certificate of attendance. 7. The total number of days of training expected please? The courses traditionally last 2 days i.e. 2 days per course for the attendee. The number of days supplied is dependent on cohort size, which in turn is dependent on such things as number of trainers or facilitators in the room, materials, learning methods, etc. 8. What are the deliverables expected, in addition to the training days please? The deliverables expected are:a. Engaging interactive lessonsb. Teaching products – i.e. record of lessons/exercises and course body of knowledge for referencec. Certification of attendance or certification of qualification post exam (whichever is relevant for the course you wish to supply) 9. Is it a must for the trainer to be certified on PMK1 or PSK1?Or you are open to consider trainers who are certified Lean/Six Sigma trainers with extensive experience bringing Kanban and related learning together? We would expect trainers to be accredited and for attendees to receive relevant certification for the course as part of the package. If suppliers wish to propose an alternative they must demonstrate that quality would be equivalent to or better than a trained and accredited profession and how they are able to teach a certified course in Kanban. 10. Could you advise the number of people to be trained at each location (split among the total 45 mentioned) please? In approximate numbers there are 19 people in Manchester, 18 in Newcastle and 8 in Blackpool. These figures are indicative as not all people may attend the training. 11. For the "PMK1" course, are you meaning the 2-day Kanban System Design (KMP1) course – https://leankanban.com/kmp-i ? Yes apologies. Thank you for spotting the typo we mean the KMP 1 2-day Kanban System Design course. 12. Can you let us know which of the assessment methods will be used on this opportunity? Presentations will be held for the 3 suppliers to be evaluated. These will be held in Manchester on the 10th February. The presentations will give the suppliers the opportunity to present their proposal and for BPDTS to clarify areas with the supplier.BPDTS reserves the right to use the additional assessment methods of Case study, work history and references too. 13. Are you able to give an indication of the timescales for this opportunity? As the training must be completed by 31st March 2020 the (indicative)timetable is extremely tight.Upon receipt of the supplier applications (24 January 11:59pm), BPDTS will evaluate and emails will be sent to the unsuccessful and successful suppliers on the 30 January. The successful suppliers will be invited to complete a Request for Proposal. The RfP will have to be returned by close of play 3 Feb. Presentations will be on the 10 February with a view to commencing the contract no later than 17 February. 14. KMP1 and PSK1 courses are quite different courses. Have BPDTS considered this? Yes, we acknowledge the course contents are different. Our aim is to broaden the toolkit of our employees in scrum / Kanban. We appreciate we may need to deliver one of the courses now and the other at a future date. 15. You have stated that you have employees in three different locations (Manchester, Newcastle and Blackpool) that require the training. Is your intention to run the same course in all three locations or a mix of the courses across the three areas? On this occasion, we imagine from a value for money / economies of scale point of view the same course will be delivered in the three locations. 16. What level of training have the 45 cohort of employees had? The level of training for the 45 is very varied. Some have undertaken some scrum training but not Kanban. Others have had no formal training but have years of practical experience. For some, the course will be in respect of attaining certification of the level that they are currently at. 17. If shortlisted, would it be possible to do the supplier presentation as a remote session? Our preference is for these presentations to be face to face however we are willing to have a conversation with the successful suppliers, to discuss their reasoning if a remote session is needed.