Refer and Monitor

Tender description

Summary of the work To design and build out the ability to enrol and manage people on Accredited Programmes in prison and community. This work will involve working with an existing HMPPS digital team to extend the digital service Refer and Monitor to meet the needs of new users in prison and community. Expected Contract Length 2 Years Latest start date Friday 18 November 2022 Budget Range The budget will range between £2.8m to £3.7m. Why the Work is Being Done Programmes of activity to support the development of people on probation to meet their objectives and address risks, criminiogenic needs and also strengths are a key pillar of the probation and prison service at HMPPS. We have built a service, Refer and Monitor an Intervention, that currently supports one type of programme (commissioned rehabilitative services) which are delivered by commercial providers under the Dynamic Framework. This service is in Beta. The next phase of work for the service is to broaden the scope to include Accredited Programmes which are delivered by internal Interventions Teams. Accredited Programmes are the cornerstone of HMPPS and are evaluated for accredited status. Key to the offer is to: find a programme, check eligibility and suitability, enrol a person on probation to a programme, schedule their attendance onto specific events as part of a programme, and provide a means to record attendance, behaviour and progress against objectives. The managed service team would form part of a blended team with existing civil servants and contractors to work to the outcome of delivering Accredited Programmes through the Refer and Monitor Service, firstly in a prison environment and then in a community setting. Problem to Be Solved Some findings from research undertaken in late 2021, which will need to be validated: Prison People in prison are often not able to be enrolled onto a suitable accredited programme due to a lack of relevant information Much duplication, re-keying etc as the process is localised using spreadsheets Fragmented communication - transferring people from prison to prison means sharing data through an inefficient process Missing data - incomplete and inaccurate information on referrals make it difficult to target improvements Community Scheduling people on probation onto programmes effectively involves manual effort, spreadsheets etc Understanding the progress of someone on a programme is not easy to discern due to data being held across multiple systems The digital service will need to be built in line with MOJ’s technology standards: front-end server-side applications in Typescript/Node.js using the GOV.UK Design System back-end services in kotlin/java (integrated with authority systems via existing internal APIs) Use of AWS service i.e RDS (postgres), S3 and SQS Github to store and manage our code and CircleCI to build our software Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services hosted in MoJ Cloud platform (built on AWS). Who Are the Users Court staff need to find suitable programmes to recommend people to be referred onto so that sentence recommendations can be made. Community probation practitioners and prison offender managers need to be able to find suitable programmes and enrol someone so that they can meet their sentence plan objectives. Community probation practitioners and prison offender managers need to be able to monitor the progress of people on probation against their sentence plan objectives so that action can be taken to enforce the sentence, and support the user to change behaviour. Interventions team users need to be able to assess someones suitability and eligibility so that they can accept the person onto a programme. Interventions team users need to schedule the person on probation onto programme events so that they can ensure optimal number of people. Interventions team users need to be able to record the attendance and behaviour of people on probation so responsible officers can track the progress they make. Policy makers need to know how effective programmes are so that they can make improvements to the design of programmes. Work Already Done There is an existing service which is technically in private beta (full beta assessment in late 2022), built in-house and which manages one type of programme currently (commissioned rehabilitative services). Existing Team The Refer and Monitor an Intervention team are in place and the supplier will be working with this digital team. The supplier will be expected to work with these team members as part of a blended team working to shared objectives as part of agile delivery. Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Proven track record of designing and developing beta services that meet both user needs and strategic business objectives and adhere to the Digital Service Standard. • Demonstrate and evidence an ability and capability to successfully deliver outcomes using agile methodology in environments where digital maturity varies. • Proven experience of collaborating and knowledge sharing across teams and taking ownership for a product where the design and development was commenced by a different team. • Demonstrate an ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders, managing expectations and conflicting views, recognising where the approach needs to be adapted. • Evidence ability to promptly scale up and down resource to respond to fluctuating needs and requirements. Nice to Haves • Experience with the probation and prison environment • Experience of designing, developing, and delivering referral, assessment and booking management solutions. Work Location Working remotely although occasional travel may be required to either: - MoJ Digital Studio, 32 Scotland Street, Sheffield, S3 7BS - MoJ, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ On average travel is likely to be once a month. However, some members of the team will need to travel for some field work for research purposes. Please note travel expenses will not be covered by MOJ. This should be built in as part of the proposal. Working Arrangments The majority of work can be completed remotely i.e. homeworking. However there may be a requirement to work with MoJ Digital or business stakeholders who are predominantly based in London and Sheffield or to visit users at HMPPS locations. Security Clearance A minimum of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) is required. Where access to live production data is necessary, Security Check (SC) clearance is also required. Additional T&Cs The format of the supplier presentations will be a 20 minute presentation to provide relevant examples of work followed by an evaluator Q&A. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Describe your approach and methodology for taking the beta and delivering support for Accredited Programmes service within the timescales, referencing your previous experience and how this adds value. (15%) • Provide a proposed team structure including skills, experience, responsibilities and relevance of individuals, and explain how you will ensure the team successfully delivers the required outcomes. (15%) • Provide examples of how you have identified and taken ownership of risks, issues, and dependencies and how you have managed their mitigation and resolution. (10%) • Explain how you’ll ensure collaboration at all levels of the project between users, stakeholders, digital in-house and managed service teams. Give examples of where you have successfully applied this approach(5%) • Demonstrate how you will deliver value for money throughout this contract. (10%) • Explain your exit strategy to successfully handover to an internal team at the end of the contract. (5%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate open and collaborative approach to making decisions. (5%) • Proven experience of championing knowledge sharing within and outside of the team. (5%) • (Social Value) Demonstrate action to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce. (10%) Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is there scope to introduce a new cloud solution (i.e. Azure) or would it have to be delivered on the existing platform? MoJ has an existing technology stack based on AWS cloud computing. Application development is expected to be based on our existing architecture and core technologies. 2. Could you provide some guidance on the question “Proven track record of designing and developing beta services that meet both user needs and strategic business objectives and adhere to the Digital Service Standard.”Are you looking for:• Multiple examples?• Quantitative information on the number of services we have delivered that Digital Service Standard?• One example that shows our deep understanding of understanding user needs and the Digital Service Standard? One or more examples would be sufficient. Key is to communicate your understanding and appreciation of what is involved and, ideally, evidence of having met that standard. 3. Could you provide some guidance on the following question “Demonstrate and evidence an ability and capability to successfully deliver outcomes using agile methodology in environments where digital maturity varies”.Are you looking for:• A breadth of experience evidenced by multiple examples• A single example describing where we evidence delivering using agile methodology Key is to evidence how you have managed to deliver in situations where agile maturity is relatively low, that is where the organisation hasn't widely adopted digital first ways of working. How you chose to communicate your experience is down to you. 4. Could you provide some guidance on the following question “Demonstrate and evidence an ability and capability to successfully deliver outcomes using agile methodology in environments where digital maturity varies”.Can you provide clarity on the meaning of “in environments where digital maturity varies” is this within a single client/organisation or examples in multiple clients with varying maturity?• A breadth of experience evidenced by multiple examples• A single example describing where we evidence delivering using agile methodology A single client could be sufficient. We're looking for you to show how you've adapted to deliver effectively in organisations that have relatively low digital maturity. 5. Could you provide clarity on the following question “Evidence ability to promptly scale up and down resource to respond to fluctuating needs and requirements”. What in MoJ’s environment is “prompt” in hours, days, weeks? What magnitude of fluctuation is MoJ looking for evidence? Days and weeks. As the team moves from research to testing and building there will inevitably be demands for capabilities that need to change too. Some of this can be planned well in advance, and some will be in response to new learning. It is the latter we would expect the supplier to support - with appropriate additional capabilities if needed e.g. user research, software engineering, analyst, interaction design etc. 6. Is there an incumbent supplier involved with this project, and if so, who? No incumbent supplier, just an internal team you'd be working with 7. Is there an incumbent supplier, and if so is there a set budget (time and money) for supplier handover? No incumbent supplier, just an internal team you'd be working with 8. To help us propose the right mix of skills, what is the current composition of the Refer & Monitor Intervention team that we will be working with? This includes: Delivery ManagerProduct ManagerSoftware Engineers (2)Technical ArchitectContent DesignerInteraction DesignerService DesignerUser ResearcherBusiness Analyst 9. Is there an incumbent supplier ? No incumbent supplier, just an internal team you'd be working with 10. Who did Discovery/Alpha? Internal team or external supplier? If external, please provide the name! The Discovery and Alpha was undertaken with a blended team of MoJ staff and contractors working alongside a supplier 11. Why is this opportunity inside IR35. Do you have an expectation to directly manage and direct the teams? Yes, we envisage the supplier working closely alongide the MoJ delivery team and direction being provided at times, by the Service Owner. 12. Is there any requirement to pass Beta assessment? It is envisaged that the Beta assessment will have been taken prior to the supplier coming in, however, if not then the supplier may be expected to be *part* of the team taking the service assessment. 13. Did the service pass Alpha assessment? Yes 14. Can you please clarify your statement in Essential Question 2 “environments where digital maturity varies.” Does this refer to the maturity of the users or the systems/technology environment? This refers mainly to wider organisational practices and a lack of understanding of agile, although we have incumbent legacy technologies that we are needing to work with (and we have an integrations team to help with support and development of relevant APIs) 15. Demonstrate and evidence an ability and capability to successfully deliver outcomes using agile methodology in environments where digital maturity varies.Please can you clarify if this criteria refers to the end users No, it does not. However, we do expect the supplier to be able to support the delivery of usable and accessible digital services in line with the law and with GOV service standards. 16. What is the current Agile delivery methodology used? At the moment we use scrum methodology in the Interventions team. The team often review and reflect on their ways of working and are able to flex the methodology to the needs of the team and the work at hand to be efficient. 17. To aid planning, are you able to publish the expected procurement timelines? (E.g. Phase 2 submission, presentations, Contract Award, kickoff ) Phase 2 proposal criteria shared with shortlisted suppliers 5th - 9th September. Shortlisted suppliers prepare Phase Two responses 12th-16th September 2022. Presentation provisional date 22nd September. Contract award notification 12th October followed by standstill period. The latest period of contract kickoff as it stands is mid-November. But this may be sooner subject to other governance process being undertaken promptly. 18. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? This is likely to come from Product, Design and Technology roles. 19. Could the Authority please share the anticipated timeline for this procurement that include dates for: 1) Shortlisting Notification for Stage 2 2) Submission Deadline for Stage 2 3) Presentation 4) Evaluation period 5) Award Notification Phase 2 proposal criteria shared with shortlisted suppliers 5th - 9th September. Shortlisted suppliers prepare Phase Two responses. 12th-16th September 2022. Presentation provisional date 22nd September. Phase 2 evaluation 23rd September - 29th September. Award notification 12th October followed by standstill period.