Ingres Migration Project

Tender description

Summary of the work The Contracting Authority is seeking a partner to help the acceleration of business survey migration from legacy Ingress based solutions, to modern cloud based systems. Existing programme of work is currently under way, the successful supplier will work alongside the Contracting Authorities to deliver within a well-controlled, supplier-led agile project. Expected Contract Length 1 year Latest start date Sunday 1 January 2023 Budget Range £1.6m to £2.0m Why the Work is Being Done The Office for National Statistics (Contracting Authority) are working towards a successful migration of all existing business surveys currently run within our legacy Ingres environment, onto a new cloud-based solution - the Statistical Production Platform (SPP). The aim is to migrate the surveys such that the same outputs are delivered, to their existing level of quality, and with minimised disruption to operational staff. The Contracting authority is seeking a partner to help with acceleration of the programme, through focusing supplementary efforts and resources on clearly defined areas of delivery. The supplier will provide end-to-end delivery responsibility for the migration of individual surveys (or small families of surveys) from Ingres to SPP. Within a well-controlled, supplier-led agile project framework the supplier will be engaged with analysis, development, testing, and transition into business as usual (BAU). The first stage in these requirements is to conduct a Discovery exercise into the Ingres solution, a review of the developing SPP solution, and provide proposals for moving forwards. The outcome of this initial stage will then be used to shape subsequent packages of work with will be specified through Statements of Work (SoW). Problem to Be Solved The Contracting Authority is working towards a successful migration of all existing business surveys currently run within our legacy Ingres environment, onto new cloud-based services. The current velocity of progress shows risk around achieving the milestones set by the Authority. The Contracting authority is seeking a partner to help with acceleration of the programme, through the application of industry leading expertise and software engineering practices, and focusing supplementary efforts and resources on clearly defined areas of delivery. Who Are the Users ONS is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and is recognised as a National Statistical Institute (NSI). It is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population, and society at national, regional, and local levels. The statistical production process needs to ingest, validate and transform data from multiple sources in order to compile regular statistical outputs to inform government policy, decision making and the wider public. Early Market Engagement An early market engagement for this requirement and was carried out back in July/August 2022. All Suppliers on the DoS were issued with an email and RFI document covering off the requirement. There was an opportunity for suppliers to express an interest in the project, submit clarification questions and submit answers to the questions in the RFI document. The outcome of the engagement was very beneficial for ONS and the answers received have helped in developing the Specification of Requirements to the detail it is at now for the formal procurement process. A copy of the RFI document can be found in the ONS e-Tendering Portal https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442 Work Already Done The Customer is engaged in a programme of work to produce a new Statistical Production Platform (SPP). SPP has successfully delivered a working end-to-end capability for business survey production in the cloud and has successfully migrated one key survey (Retail Sales Index) to run live on the platform. The focus for the platform moving forwards is the expansion of capability for the platform and the migration of additional business surveys from the Ingres legacy platforms. Existing Team The Statistical Production Platform delivery is focused around four core product teams: • Data Clearing • Contributor and Workflow Management • Results Processing and Statistical Methods • Shared Services Each team consists of Delivery Manager, Product Manager, Technical Lead, Business Analysis, and 4 to 6 software engineers. Additional roles/skills are available to the teams as required e.g. Content Designers, User Researchers. In addition to the Product delivery teams, the programme is supported by a Statistical Production Service Design team which provides high level alignment of work with the wider aims of the office and setting the long term strategic roadmap. Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Experience of applying the best practice principles of the Government Service Standard on government or other comparable projects • Evidence of undertaking data engineering, including understanding techniques to optimise and transform data at scale and building data processing pipelines • Experience of developing on-line transaction systems, allowing real time clerical amendment (creation/update/deletion) of data records • Experience of understanding and applying statistical methods and algorithms as part of the solution development • Experience of delivering configurable solutions e.g. rule-based solutions • Evidence of working to understand legacy technology solutions or systems that have been subject to multiple revisions over time with incomplete documentation • Experience of developing and transitioning a solution handover to a contracting body for ongoing operational maintenance, support and continuous improvement • Experience of developing systems with security principles embedded at all levels of development, providing robust evidence of appropriate testing, and adherence to relevant security restrictions. • Evidence of an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and governance processes covering all security areas relevant and appropriate to the contracted services (e.g. security policies, access control, incident management, etc.). • Evidence of developing systems utilising modern software engineering techniques Work Location Office for National Statistics Government Buildings Cardiff Road Newport NP10 8XG Working Arrangments The Contracting Authority, requires that the project be run as a joint project team, working closely together with further details to follow in the SoW. The Contracting Authority would expect full collaboration both in person and online. Most of the development will be possible off-site with design and governance achieved through regular touch points at the Newport office. Any additional expenses must be agreed in advance on a case by case basis and adhering to ONS Travel & Subsistence policy. Security Clearance The Supplier must provide evidence of their personnel security controls, including pre-employment checks and vetting. In some cases, Supplier staff may be required to undergo Security Clearance (SC), if their role requires access to protectively marked information. Additional T&Cs The full statement of requirements can be found on the ONS e-Tendering Portal - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442 The supplier will require to register on the portal, where they will find the project. They must express an interest in the project to review the full Schedule of Requirements. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Describe how you will use User centred design to determine current and future User needs and how this will be reflected in the solution including any tools and techniques. • Describe the artefacts you will use to capture and iterate the overall system design. • Describe your approach to the SDLC (software development life cycle) within a cloud-based environment. • Based on the documentation provided, describe the initial technical challenges and what options you see to overcome these. • Describe the key considerations in relation to management of data, including versioning, archiving, audit, lineage, schema management, and optimising for processing/transformation. • Describe how you will approach delivery of non-functional requirements, for example security, scalability, and costs. • Describe how you will approach design and delivery of performance, user metrics and any other reporting needed to meet management information requirements. • SOCIAL VALUE - Demonstrate how your organisation will support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, for the workforce working as part of this contract. Cultural Fit Criteria • Outline a proposed engagement strategy with the contracting authority during the delivery phases of the project. • Describe the approach you will utilise to involve the stakeholders within the contracting authority in a transparent and collaborative decision-making process. • Describe how you will approach knowledge transfer of the solution to the contracting authority. • Describe the principles that will guide the iterative and incremental delivery of the required solution. • Describe your approach to challenging assumptions and influencing change. • Describe your approach to measuring and recognising success? Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. The project is not visible at the link provided, https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/ - Please let us know from where can we access more information about this opportunity The link detailed within the publish requirement has been checked this morning and it is still working. You are required to register on In-Tend to allow you log in and access the project.Below is the link again - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442 2. The link to the document ‘full statement of requirements’ on the the ONS e-Tendering Portal :-https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442 results in an error message – which says ‘this project is no longer visible on this website’Can you send us the file or an updated link please. The link detailed within the publish requirement has been checked this morning and it is still working. You are required to register on In-Tend to allow you log in and access the project.Below is the link again - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442 3. Please could you post an updated link to the RFI – the one you have published doesn’t seem to work? The link detailed within the publish requirement has been checked this morning and it is still working. You are required to register on In-Tend to allow you log in and access the project.Below is the link again - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442Please ensure you select, tenders and then current from the menu across the top. Followed by searching 'Ingres Migration' and select 'show all' . . . this will bring up the relevant project.Please let us know if this doesn't work. 4. We are registered and logged into the In-Tend system, and the link provided to access the full statement of requirements does not work (https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442). As at the 3rd October, we receive the following error message: “This project is no longer visible on this website. Please contact a member of the procurement department for further details.”Can you please advise how we access this documentation? Is there a different supplier-facing link? "The link detailed within the publish requirement has been checked this morning and it is still working. You are required to register on In-Tend to allow you log in and access the project.Below is the link again - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/ProjectManage/3442Please ensure you select, tenders and then current from the menu across the top. Followed by searching 'Ingres Migration' and select 'show all' . . . this will bring up the relevant project.Please let us know if this doesn't work." 5. There seems to be a number of questions being asked by Suppliers about the link for In-Tend and the additional information. If you are a Supplier who cannot get the link to work, please submit a question containing contact details, so someone can contact you to assist. 6. In-Tend Link Update for Suppliers.If there are still issues following the actions in the answer, please contact us sharing your details. The link in the published requirements on the DoS Portal has been reviewed further and it is believed to be rectified.If you click the link, it will take you through to the Project where you will be able to view details using the blue button at the page. This will take you into the Project, where at the bottom of the page there is an expression of interest button, clicking this will register your company and gain you access to the documentation. 7. Approximately how much of the time (in percentage terms) will the team be required to be in Cardiff? Please note the office location is in Newport, not Cardiff, general attendance 10-30%. The office operates a hybrid working policy. This is really about expediency. We would agree any key meetings in advance. The amount of attendance would likely depend on the role, the phase within the project, agreed ways of working and best type of interaction to complete the current task. 8. With regard to Q9 – could you please confirm how you would like suppliers to respond to this, e.g. should suppliers write about their ISMS and any relevant accreditations they have in place, or should they write about their ISMS in the context of previous experience/case studies? Both, we would like to evidence of your ISMS governance capability and examples of how this capability has been applied. 9. Can you confirm which cloud provider you are considering? Attachment 3 (Statement of Requirement) section 6.4 b provides information around the preferred cloud provider for this project. Please refer to the detail within this document. 10. Could you provide on any information about who the underlying cloud supplier is – Azure/AWS etc.? Attachment 3 (Statement of Requirement) section 6.4 b provides information around the preferred cloud provider for this project. Please refer to the detail within this document. 11. Based upon your submission date for stage 1 of 13th October and latest start date of 1st January, please could you share an indicative procurement timetable covering the second (proposal) stage, presentations and any other key milestones? This detail can be found in Attachment 1 - About the Procurement, which can be found using the In-Tend link within opportunity published on the DoS Portal. 12. The documents on the ONS e-Tendering Portal include “Attachment 2 – How to Bid V1.0” which lists the Proposal Criteria and Cultural Fit criteria questions. Are we correct in understanding that these are provided for information only at this point for stage 2, and the ask for this stage is (as per standard DOS procurement process) to respond only to the 100 word evidence response questions? Stage 1 of the process needs to be completed on the DoS portal. Stage 2 will be completed by the suppliers who are invited to this stage and will be notified when this is needed.Attachment 2 is for Stage 2 but we felt it would be beneficial to share all information available with all Suppliers at Stage 1. 13. Could you please provide an indicative timeline for the remainder of this procurement? This detail can be found in Attachment 1 - About the Procurement, which can be found using the In-Tend link within opportunity published on the DoS Portal. 14. Are you content for suppliers to use multiple examples for questions if that best demonstrates their experience? Yes, we are happy for multiple examples to be used if the word count allows on the portal. 15. Are you content for suppliers to cite private sector examples if they are relevant to the question? Yes, relevant private sector examples are fine. 16. For question “Evidence of an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and governance processes covering all security areas relevant and appropriate to the contracted services (e.g. security policies, access control, incident management, etc.).”, how would you like suppliers to evidence their ISMS? Given that during this stage we cannot attach documents, is a written confirmation sufficient perhaps with copies of Supplier ISMS documents to follow at the next stage? Written confirmation will be sufficient at this stage, if required we will request copies of any documentation at the next stage. 17. Are suppliers permitted to use multiple examples in their answers to questions? Yes, we are happy for multiple examples to be used if the word count allows on the portal. 18. Is SPP a group of people as well as a piece of software + infrastructure please? SPP refers to a platform rather than a set of people. It is a solution comprised of a set of distributed event driven services that operate within a single AWS account. These services utilise AWS native technologies and services and docker containers where applicable. To the end users SPP appears as a single website where they can perform, trigger or check status of various tasks. 19. PART 1 of 2:Is the supplier expected to pick up and extend the work already completed on the replacement (cloud based, non-INGRES) SPP, and used to successfully migrate the Retail Sales Index, or to replace it, and migrate the Retail Sales Index to a newly developed platform? PART 1 of 2:The existing product teams have developed a minimum viable platform offering (SPP) and have successfully migrated the retail sales index (RSI) statistical output into production. The principal outcome goal of the contract is for supplier to help the contracting authority accelerate migration of other statistical outputs away from legacy Ingres systems, with the current target being the SPP system. As part of this, the supplier will have the opportunity to inject new ideas and thinking into its development. 20. Part 2 of 3:Is the supplier expected to pick up and extend the work already completed on the replacement (cloud based, non-INGRES) SPP, and used to successfully migrate the Retail Sales Index, or to replace it, and migrate the Retail Sales Index to a newly developed platform? Part 2 of 3:These ideas could result in replacing or deprecating services, how services evolve or changing other aspects of architectural direction and approach to the migration. We do not anticipate a supplier having to be involved with RSI unless they change SPP in such a way that effects migrated statistical outputs within the platform. 21. Part 3 of 3:Is the supplier expected to pick up and extend the work already completed on the replacement (cloud based, non-INGRES) SPP, and used to successfully migrate the Retail Sales Index, or to replace it, and migrate the Retail Sales Index to a newly developed platform? Part 3 of 3:The initial phase of the contract will start with a discovery phase where we expect a supplier to look at the problem, the legacy Ingres platforms and SPP and evaluate work done so far and make recommendations to accelerate velocity and evolve the solution to meet organisation goals. The contracting authority where possible will provide support. 22. If the existing work on the new SPP needs to be replaced, why is it not suitable for extension to the full set of surveys currently processed through legacy platforms? What technical or architectural limitations does it have? Do these indicate that a change in architectural approach is required for success? The principal outcome goal of the contract is for supplier to help the contracting authority accelerate migration of other statistical outputs away from legacy Ingres systems, with the current target being the SPP system. As part of this, the supplier will have the opportunity to inject new ideas and thinking into its development. Any technical limitations may be identified during the Discovery phase. If a change in architectural approach is recommended based on the research and analysis it will be reviewed and an approach agreed after the Discovery phase. 23. Will the existing four product teams working on SPP continue to work on the replacement system, or is their work coming to an end with the award of this contract? The current plans of the contracting authority are for the existing 4 SPP product teams to continue working on SPP alongside any external supplier for the entire duration of the contract. 24. If the existing four product teams’ work on SPP is continuing, what will the relationship be between them and the supplier, and how will responsibilities be divided?" The exact model of ways of working of the ONS internal teams and an external supplier is still to be worked out, as this has dependencies on outputs from the discovery phase of the work and agreed actions how the platform could evolve. We aim to have a positive and collaborative relationship with the teams supporting each other. 25. Are the existing four product teams independent third party teams or ONS employees/contractors managed by ONS? The existing product teams are made up of ONS employees/contractors managed by ONS. There are no other external suppliers involved with SPP at this time.