Supporting residents in, and managing properties for temporary accommodation

Tender description

Summary of the work Developing components to support residents moving into, living and leaving temporary accommodation; and the management of those properties Expected Contract Length 6-9 months Latest start date Monday 25 October 2021 Budget Range This procurement is to the total value of £310,000 excluding VAT Why the Work is Being Done The Council is developing bespoke solutions to support people experiencing the housing crisis, and to manage its housing stock. We believe that open source tools, loosely coupled by APIs, designed around user needs help reduce cost and produce better outcomes. As part of a larger programme of work we are designing tools to support tenants and leaseholders living in our housing stock. This project will build on that so that residents living in temporary accommodation (including in properties that we don't own) can be supported from finding a place that meets their needs, living in their home and paying rent and then leaving their temporary home. Problem to Be Solved Our experience of managing the temporary accommodation service by using COTS built for housing management is that: - The service relied on multiple systems to record and retrieve data about tenants and properties, meaning staff don’t have a complete picture of a tenant and their situation in one place - Tenants don’t understand their rights and responsibilities or know what to expect, which generates failure demand - Without a clear picture of who needs moving on and by when, the service struggle to be proactive, which means only the most vocal tenants get moved - When people don’t know how long they’ll expect to be somewhere, they try to make the best of a bad situation -- that means trying to get things fixed, increasing the workload for the council to respond to repairs and complaints We believe that lightweight tools designed around user needs will enable us to provide better outcomes for people seeking settled accommodation at lower cost. Who Are the Users At a high level we expect this work to develop tools to enable us to: - Capture details from a resident about their requirements (some residents may be able to self-serve but this is more likely to be a 'supported digital' experience) - Add a property to a database (when that property isn't within Hackney's existing housing stock) - Search for properties according to the needs of someone eligible for temporary accommodation - Create a tenancy agreement - Create the payment file for a landlord (which can be ingested by the finance management system, Cedar) Work Already Done We have done a number of projects to support the redesign of our benefits and housing needs programme. An earlier discovery project, led by FutureGov, is available https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14DPSx-D_4y7a5aCNYtpBLsRwDHHrAJdGS7dM1eWGIyQ/edit#slide=id.g415242cf84_1_4 At a high level we are pursuing the options on slides 40-44. The work will work alongside the other tools developed to support residents through the service, outlined here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TwGsXofH8RYurdO2QiB_MIdJycDvyoGSXGANBACEz8g/edit#slide=id.g921e93d86e_3_238 Existing Team The team would need to be largely self-supported. We would expect to provide: - knowledge of reusable components - solution architecture and security advice and sign-off - assistance with recruiting user research specialists - an SME/product owner Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Demonstrate an understanding of the user needs associated with the management of social housing • Demonstrate a track-record of user-centred design and Agile approaches to delivery • Experience of developing applications to meet a government Service Standard • Have experience of working with .NET core, React, AWS and Terraform • Have experience of developing ‘in the open’ - using tools such as Github • Have experience of designing and developing minimum viable solutions • Have experience of designing to meet the public sector accessibility guidelines • Demonstrate how they have worked collaboratively in a multi-vendor environment Nice to Haves • Demonstrate an understanding of Hackney’s approach to technology and data (described on playbook.hackney.gov.uk) • Demonstrate how they provide opportunities for apprentices Work Location the work will be largely remote but attendance at Hackney Council offices in Mare Street, E8 and around the Borough for user research will be required Working Arrangments This work can be done remotely but will require fortnightly reporting (eg via show & tells) to involve key stakeholders and regular engagement with practitioners through video conferences. We will provide access to key systems to project team members where required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Understanding of the brief • Clarity of the approach • Experience from a similar project • Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals • Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them • Blended day rates of the team Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service • Hackney Council is a diverse organisation, reflecting the diversity of our borough. Describe how you would successfully work as a team with Hackney and other suppliers in a diverse environment. Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 5% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers 1. Regarding Nice to have skills, Can an SME with financial services e prouder can bid for the project ?If no please specify the reason. Please rephrase the question to help us understand 2. Regarding essential skills, can you please state if SME suppliers with no prior experience in housing projects and GDS can fairly bid for the project ? We expect there to be SMEs with experience of housing projects and the government service standard. It may be that members of a team have domain knowledge from other, previous projects.There is no requirement to have worked for the Government Digital Service. 3. Regarding Nice to have skills, Can an SME with financial services experience bid for the project ?a) If no please specify the reason.b) Please specify how the description in the Nice-to-have-skills help new SME bid fairly against the incumbents. YesWe don't see the nice to have skills as a barrier to new suppliers. Over the last four years, we have worked with a number of suppliers for the first time. We document our approaches openly and believe them to be in keeping with how many modern technology organisations work. There is not an incumbent for this piece of work, but four different agencies that are working on adjacent projects (of which two have only begun working with Hackney recently). 4. The following link doesn’t work, have requested access but not received permission.An earlier discovery project, led by FutureGov, is available https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14DPSx-D_4y7a5aCNYtpBLsRwDHHrAJdGS7dM1eWGIyQ/edit#slide=id.g415242cf84_1_4 We have created an alternative link which is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a5NDppLe2RUZF7_1YRS1u57KP7Y3cmmh/view?usp=drivesdk 5. Regarding closing date for applications on 1st October, please can you outline the timeline and stages from close of 1st October to the start date Bids will be reviewed on 1 October and shortlisted suppliers invited to provide a detailed response by 11 October. Should presentations be required, (in the event of 2 bids being closely scored) these will be organised at the end of that week, depending on availability on all sides.