PS/22/89 Provision of Software Engineering 2022

Tender description

Summary of the work DVLA requires a supplier to provide a supply of highly skilled engineering developers/support resource to aid in the design, development, and support of the department’s ambitious IT Transformation programme. The programme broadly looks to re-architect and re-engineer all IT systems onto new, open-source, cloud-hosted commodity IT platforms. Expected Contract Length 2 years (with option to extend by 25%) Latest start date Monday 30 January 2023 Budget Range Estimated contract value of £14 million. The total value of all Statements of Work commissioned under the proposed call-off agreement will not exceed £14 million. Why the Work is Being Done DVLA is building new services and moving away from its legacy technology onto new, cloud-based platforms utilising modern technologies like containers and serverless and is seeking a supplier to provide expertise and specialism to boost capacity and enhance capability in order to meet the outcomes of this requirement. We require a supplier who is able to help us to uplift our internal capability with a range of skills, whilst providing a short-term uplift in capacity to assist in the delivery of a number of technical deliverables. DVLA will take the lead responsibility for delivery of programmes. The supplier will work as part of DVLA as blended teams or through discrete/distinct delivery outcomes (work will be agreed via individual Statements of Work (SOWs)). We are therefore looking for a supplier who will be able to provide these capabilities in one contract. This service provision needs to be able to provide technically skilled, experienced resource to deliver the technical solutions to meet DVLAs ambitious IT transformation programme. Problem to Be Solved DVLA requires a supplier to provide a flexible delivery of highly skilled Engineering developers/support services to aid in the design, development, and support of transformation solutions, working closely with our Development Teams and be able to solve complex problems, via a call off agreement to: • Deliver migration of legacy services to cloud-based environments; • Develop new internal and external facing services; • Support DVLAs digital strategy by creating online services and digital channels to improve overall customer service. Capability provided under SOWs will need to work closely with the current DVLA product teams. The supplier will also be required to support the components developed under the transformation programme of work. This would cover 4th line support (primarily investigation and code changes) in-hours (between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday) with potential for out-of-hours Deliverables must be in line with DVLA solutions. The appointed supplier shall have the ability to deliver a mix of engineering services in line with outcome-based deliverables, as set out in the individual Statements of Work as well as having the ability to interact and give guidance on best practice and react to technical challenges. DVLA is responsible for the overall business requirements and solution architecture. Who Are the Users DVLA Business transformation projects, Information Assurance Group, Cyber Security, existing business areas (e.g., Human Resources, Finance, Estates), General Public, Other government departments. Mixture of internal and external facing systems: Internal – transactional processing, data sharing, reporting and MI. External – Public facing applications and enquiries Early Market Engagement There has been no early market engagement. Work Already Done The five-year transformation programme has established a successful platform established and delivered key strategic outcomes including, completion of a Tachograph driver card service to full public beta and end to end migration off the legacy estate, building a strategic enquiries platform and the migration of the Drivers First Provisional service to public beta with new signature and photo upload. In this second phase, the Programme will continue transforming the digital experience for our customers including fully introducing the customer account and delivering a range of benefits including new and re-designed customer centric services. Existing Team DVLA has in place a number of digital development teams working across a range of products, projects and business as usual activities using Agile methodology. The existing Product teams in DVLA includes Technical Product Managers, Agile Delivery Managers, Delivery Managers, Business Analysts, Software Engineers, Infrastructure Engineers and Testers, Cloud Engineers, Platform Engineers and Solution Architects. The product teams are blended squads and work closely with business Service Designers and UX / UI. A typical DVLA squad consists of Software Engineers, BA, Architect, an Agile Delivery Manager, Product Owner, and SDET. There is an incumbent Supplier. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Provide two-examples of comparable scale demonstrating experience of supplying an Engineering squad-based service to an enterprise-sized environment and multi-vendor landscape enforcing best practice delivery/support processes in-line with buyers coding standards • Provide two examples of comparable scale demonstrating experience of working in a successful agile delivery environment, including through blended customer / supplier implementations • Provide two examples of comparable scale of delivering enterprise scale integration solutions detailing the number of integration points and technologies used • Provide two examples of comparable scale of experience in delivering to a public cloud of enterprise scale complexity including AWS and Microsoft Azure/365 specifying details of responsibilities and services used • Criteria set for the Essential and Nice to Have Skills and Experience will be weighted at 20% of the overall 60% technical competence weighting Nice to Haves • Provide demonstrable evidence and experience delivering solutions using Java, REST API, OpenAPI specs • Provide demonstrable evidence and experience of test automation authored in Ruby and Cucumber. • Provide demonstrable evidence and experience of serverless technologies such as NodeJS on AWS Lambda, or Azure functions and associated managed cloud services Work Location The work will take place in DVLA offices in Swansea (DVLA, Morriston, Swansea & DVLA, RLDC, Swansea), and the supplier resource will work both remotely (within the UK) and with requirement to attend site. This will be agreed with the DVLA Delivery Manager within Statement of Work iterations. Working Arrangments Full Time, 5 days a week The charging mechanism in place for the Call-Off Contract and any agreed Statements of Work will be Time & Materials. Suppliers shall provide transparency to the Buyer on the rates paid to resources & any third parties in the supply-chain on request. Rates should be inclusive of T&S. Statements of Work will be issued to define the deliverables. The supplier’s team will need to work effectively with existing and future teams (both civil servants & other suppliers). Security Clearance DBS - BPSS with Basic Disclosure(issued by Disclosure&Barring Service) SC will be required for Support work and can be sponsored by DVLA if necessary. All resource will be required to achieve three months residency in the UK in addition to BPSS prior to working with or on behalf of DVLA. Additional T&Cs Suppliers must be able to provide resources within a 2-week notice period with the necessary skills to minimise impact on delivery. Supply of resource: the off-payroll rules will apply to any workers engaged through a qualifying intermediary, such as their own limited company. The supplier may also be required to support the components developed. This would include problem investigation-and-development changes in-hours(between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday), out-of-hours. SC-level clearance would be required for any direct Production activity. DVLA is responsible for the overall business requirements and solution architecture but supplier may be required to contribute by adding their expertise. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 10 Proposal Criteria • Criteria set for the proposal elements will be weighted at 40% of the overall 60% technical competence weighting. • Describe how you’ll ensure DVLA is supplied with high quality/appropriately skilled resources and how you commit to DVLA's continuous need for Development/engineering squads, mobilised within the specified timescale of 2-weeks • Describe your overall Engineering Approach along with Delivery and support Methodology and how this can be utilised to support DVLA’s objectives. • Provide three client focused examples where your organisation has provided the desired service capability, including evidence of integrating into and improving client culture and capability Cultural Fit Criteria • Criteria set for the Cultural Fit (including Social Value) elements will be weighted at 20%. • Cultural Fit - Provide demonstrable evidence of a clear process for transferring knowledge to permanent staff within a client organisation • Cultural Fit - Provide demonstrable evidence of being able to work as part of an integrated, effective, and efficient delivery team, integrating into, and improving client culture and capability. • Social Value - criteria drawn from Procurement Policy Note 06/20 Taking Account of Social Value in the Award of Central Government Contracts: • Social Value Theme 2 ‘Tackling economic inequality’- MAC 2.3 - MAC 2.3 Create new businesses, new jobs and new skills; and • Social Value Theme 5 ‘Wellbeing’ – MAC 8.2 Improve community integration Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. The 5th Essential Question is a criteria weighting statement. Can DVLA remove this from the portal or should suppliers respond to this with a N/A? This paragraph is for information only, please add N/A 2. Can you confirm if 2 examples are definitely required per question as this only allows suppliers 50 words per example. 50 words is not enough to provide any level of detail with which to effectively evaluate against: what the situation was what the team did what the results were Please provide 2 examples per question as required. 3. Who is the incumbent supplier? Please click on the link below for details of the incumbent supplier as details are held on Contract Finder.https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/649edd85-2753-45c7-9a93-26a31e19c5b4?origin=SearchResults&p=10 4. With regards to the following:“Criteria set for the Essential and Nice to Have Skills and Experience will be weighted at 20% of the overall 60% technical competence weighting ” – are you happy to put “N/A” as a response? This paragraph is for information only, please add N/A 5. Can DVLA provide more information to help suppliers determine the comparable scale to ensure the correct demonstrable example is used? Is scale in this context referring to the number of Projects,Skilled/level of skilled resources, Scrum Teams,Applications/Systems or something else? The scale of digital transformation, technologies, integration points and the level of resourcing to deliver. 6. Would it be possible to provide a rough indication of DVLA’s remote vs onsite working expectations? We appreciate this will vary project by project, but this will help us understand and shape our teaming requirements. The work will take place in DVLA offices in Swansea (DVLA, Morriston, Swansea & DVLA, RLDC, Swansea). In line with current hybrid working arrangements the expectation is that 40% of time will be worked onsite at the DVLA offices in Swansea, managed under the direction of the DVLA Technical Product Manager (TPM). 7. Given the recent announcement re. repealing Off-payroll legislation, could you please confirm if the following will apply for this contract? “The off-payroll rules will apply to any workers engaged through a qualifying intermediary, such as their own limited company.” The off pay-roll legislations will apply from April 2023, the original rules will remain until this date. 8. Given that there are incumbent(s) in place, and in the spirit of ensuring that this is a fair competition, can you please advise if any ethical walls are being put in place for the existing incumbent(s)? Yes an ethical walls agreement has been agreed and put in place with the incumbent supplier 9. The IR35 determination specifies the off-payroll rules will apply to any workers engaged through a qualifying intermediary. Is that because the authority intends to provide supervision, direction or control over the work? Yes, DVLA will be responsible for the overall business requirements. 10. In the first bullet of essential skills and experience you ask about ‘examples of comparable scale demonstrating experience of supplying an Engineering squad-based service to an enterprise-sized environment and multi-vendor landscape enforcing best practice delivery/support processes in-line with buyers coding standards’.Would authority be able to share the coding standards that are referenced in the question? All engineering outputs and branching strategy must follow DVLA best practice and standards as referenced in the technical reference microsite. The winning Supplier will have access to the technical reference microsite once they on-board. 11. We note the requirements state supplier resource will need to work both remotely and on-site. Do you anticipate resource being required full-time on site at any point throughout the duration of the contract? Or will suppliers be able to work via a hybrid or remote model? The work will take place in DVLA offices in Swansea (DVLA, Morriston, Swansea & DVLA, RLDC, Swansea). In line with current hybrid working arrangements the expectation is that 40% of time will be worked onsite at the DVLA offices in Swansea, managed under the direction of the DVLA Technical Product Manager (TPM). 12. Would the client accept a hybrid mix of onshore and offshore support? Only onshore support is required. 13. “Provide two examples of comparable scale of experience in delivering to a public cloud of enterprise scale complexity including AWS and Microsoft Azure/365 specifying details of responsibilities and services used”Do you require our examples to demonstrate both AWS and MS Azure/365 capabilities in each example, or would one example using AWS and the other example being MS Azure/365 suffice? There is no need to evidence both within the same example. 14. Please could the authority confirm whether where “two examples” are requested, if this refers to projects or government departments, i.e would two projects within a single department count as 1 or 2 examples ? Yes, where advised please submit 2 examples. 15. Please could the buyer confirm whether a single, multi-cloud (including both Azure and AWS), example is permissible for “Provide two examples of comparable scale of experience in delivering to a public cloud of enterprise scale complexity including AWS and Microsoft Azure/365 specifying details of responsibilities and services used”? Two examples are required to be provided. 16. We are assuming that for ‘Provide two examples of comparable scale of experience in delivering to a public cloud of enterprise scale complexity including AWS and Microsoft Azure/365 specifying details of responsibilities and services used’ that 1 example each for AWS and Azure is sufficient, and not 2 examples for each Cloud provider. Could the authority confirm whether this is correct That is correct. 17. Please could the buyer confirm the number of integration points in scope of this service / tender? Software applications will be required to integrate with multiple systems including modern DVLA cloud based services such as identity, addressing, notifications and legacy systems across a range of technologies including HTTP APIs, SOAP and message queues. 18. Please could the authority confirm whether they have an existing set of delivery/support processes and coding standards currently in place, for suppliers to enforce? All engineering outputs and branching strategy must follow DVLA best practice and standards as referenced in the technical reference microsite. The winning Supplier will have access to the technical reference microsite once they on-board. 19. Has the initial migration as part of the 5 years programme already been done in its entirety? E.g. the scope of the ask here is to support Phase 2 only? The scope of this contract is for Phase 2 20. Can more details be given about what comprises the ‘legacy technology’? E.g. technical stack, scope/volume of systems Legacy systems include a range of technologies including Java, AIX, Oracle, Natural and Adabas. These systems have a scope that covers the majority of UK driving licence functionality, handle millions of records and a high volume of daily transactions. 21. Please can you provide the throughput scale of transactions processed and numbers of users for the digital applications? See annual report https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1090804/DVLA_annual_report_and_accounts_2021_to_2022.pdf 22. As part of the evaluation criteria, there is 20% against pricing. Do you have a specific rate card template that you would like us to use or should we provide our own? Would you like to see the rate card just for the roles you have provided as a typical DVLA squad or the full breathe of what we can provide? A pricing schedule will be submitted at the 2nd stage of evaluation where the supplier will provide their own day rates based on a typical DVLA squad. 23. Is there an estimate on the number of roles the DVLA might need across the contract length? This will vary based on delivery priorities, but could be up to 60 roles concurrently. 24. Is there an intent to co-source with multiple suppliers? Not for this contract, although there may be interactions with suppliers through other contracts in place within DVLA. 25. What Cloud Technology are you currently using? DVLA is currently using both AWS and Azure. Application development primarily uses AWS as a cloud provider. 26. Are you currently looking at the full spectrum DDaT See CTO blog https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2022/08/03/dvlas-it-transformation-our-story-so-far/ 27. Are you currently looking at the full spectrum DDaT Yes 28. Can DVLA share their IT Transformation Strategy? See CTO blog https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2022/08/03/dvlas-it-transformation-our-story-so-far/ 29. Can DVLA share their high-level target architecture for vehicles/drivers and core? The architecture model focuses on developing loosely coupled services that are API enabled and cloud- first provisioned, moving away from monolithic systems, by developing services that are smaller and modular that can be deployed and scaled independently and exposed through well-defined open APIs. 30. Can DVLA share their digital strategy? See CTO blog https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2022/08/03/dvlas-it-transformation-our-story-so-far/ 31. Does DVLA have a defined set of user personas the transformation programme utilises, if so could these be shared? The winning supplier will have access to this information through technical reference microsite once they on-board. 32. Can DVLA share any process maps or user journeys for the upcoming projects? The winning supplier will have access to this information through technical reference microsite once they on-board. 33. What architecture principles/standards do DVLA follow? The architecture model focuses on developing loosely coupled services that are API enabled and cloud- first provisioned, moving away from monolithic systems, by developing services that are smaller and modular that can be deployed and scaled independently and exposed through well-defined open APIs. 34. What programmes/projects for vehicles, drivers and core are likely to be dominant across the transformation programme over the next 2 years? See CTO blog https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2022/08/03/dvlas-it-transformation-our-story-so-far/ 35. Are there specific elements of delivery currently in alpha or beta, if so what are these? See CTO blog https://dvladigital.blog.gov.uk/2022/08/03/dvlas-it-transformation-our-story-so-far/