Data Hub Managed Service Team

Tender description

Summary of the work To Support Data Hub Development through multidisciplinary teams, working on a Call-Off Contract basis, is required to supplement existing civil service capacity on the Department for International Trade's "Data Hub" Customer Relationship Management system. Built using Python/Django and React/Node, the system tracks how staff enable billions of pounds of international-trade-and-investment-each-year. Expected Contract Length 24 months Latest start date Tuesday 27 September 2022 Budget Range A maximum budget of £2,500,000.00 for a 24-month duration, exclusive of VAT. Why the Work is Being Done Data Hub is the tool that DIT's staff use to manage their contact with organisations worldwide. Over 200,000 interactions are logged per year and many billions of pounds of investment/export projects are managed through Data Hub. There are currently three in-house multidisciplinary teams working on this project. However, these teams consist of Civil Servants, Agency staff and staff contracted through the current call off contract. capacity building each team is flexible depending upon the roles required during each phase, some roles may be part time or shared across the three teams. Problem to Be Solved The supplier will provide agile development team members which will work within the existing codebase within existing in-house teams. Data Hub is primarily written in Django and React and runs on GOV.UK PaaS (Cloud Foundry). The supplier will be working on quarterly missions based upon business priorities within existing teams or in exception we may need to stand up temporary team for discrete areas of work This will include known goals to help give exporting/investment support as well as new strands funded by the business. The supplier will collaborate on user research and shared design, develop new mission ideas, validate business hypotheses, review, and create code, analyse metrics, contribute to continuous improvement to reduce running costs and embed itself in the DIT DDaT profession’s activities. Who Are the Users The users are UK businesses and internal Data Hub teams. The internal users of this software consist of civil servants and contracted organisations. These civil servants will include account managers in DIT HQ looking after DIT's most important companies, sector specialist teams, regional teams, staff in embassies worldwide (who may be using FCO IT), marketing, analysts, and statisticians. Non-civil servants across the UK include International Trade Advisers (increasing exports), Investment Services Team and Local Enterprise Partnerships. Early Market Engagement Not applicable Work Already Done Data Hub is a mature product. There is an existing backlog from a prior phase of the Investment project, with some designs. There are hypotheses for future missions, and many stakeholders are full of ideas - some of which the supplier will help to validate. Full details on any pre-existing work cannot be shared at this stage and will be done so once the contract has been awarded. Draft deliverables for the first SOW and any accompanying information will be shared at the shortlisting stage. Existing Team There are currently 3 multidisciplinary teams working on Data Hub. These teams consist of a product manager, delivery manager, front-end developers (React) and back-end developers (Python/Django). The successful supplier will be expected to supply all applicable DDaT roles when needed on both a temporary and longer-term basis The team will report to the Data Hub Platform Lead and will also work with the internal Data Science and Data Workspace teams. Nearly all the code is visible on github.com/UK trade. The initial stakeholders will be from Exports and investments Portfolio and the Data leadership teams. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Demonstrate experience collaborating with other development teams inside the same codebase on a complex product. (3%) • Demonstrate experience of producing a long-term development roadmap alongside shorter term sprint plans. (3%) • Demonstrate the ability to work with stakeholders to refine and validate their feature ideas. (2%) • Demonstrate the ability to achieve efficiencies and improve ways of working during a past project. (2%) • Demonstrate experience in linking multiple loosely coupled systems, with different data models and data quality, as part of a production service. (3%) • Demonstrate experience developing user centred Django/React applications in a Continuous Integration (CI) environment releasing multiple times each day. (3%) Nice to Haves • Demonstrate experience of developing digital services or staff-facing digital tools. (1%) • Demonstrate experience delivering services to the Government Digital Service Standard. (1%) • Demonstrate the ability to successfully deliver projects in a mission-led environment, using Objectives and Key Results to guide your work towards a business outcome or Key Performance Indicator improvements. (1%) • Demonstrate experience of engaging with internal users to increase awareness of product improvements. (1%) Work Location Department for International Trade Old Admiralty Building Westminster London SW1A 2BL Working Arrangments The supplier will primarily work in DIT's London offices. Currently the teams are working remotely with a requirement to attend the office as needed (4-8 days per month). This is subject to change therefore Flexible working will be discussed at the commencement of each Statement of Work. Each team will consist of Developers, a Delivery Manager, a User Researcher, and Interaction Designer. Product Management and shared Technical Leadership, along with a small amount of content design. The User Research and Design may be part time if-full-time-they-will-need-to work-with other teams. There -is-a-requirement-that-all-data-hub-staff-use DIT IT equipment-where-possible-our-preferred-method of communication-is-via-Microsoft-Teams,-SharePoint,-Jira,-confluence-and Outlook-using a.trade.gov.uk email-address-we-are-trying-to-move-away from-Google-and-Slack-as-collaboration-tools. Security Clearance SC is mandatory for all developers or other staff with access to Data Hub. Please note on-boarding of staff cannot begin until SC is complete. Additional T&Cs The Call-Off contract terms and conditions cannot be changed. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Detail how your team will successfully work on a shared codebase with other teams. (5%) • Detail how your team will work with stakeholders to validate the value and strategic intent behind their ideas and make appropriate prioritisation calls. (5%) • Detail how you will balance user insight, business needs, value, and technical complexity. (5%) • Detail how you will use different types of design and research to validate tactical ideas the team are working on and strategic ideas that may affect the wider product. (5%) • Detail your plan for on-boarding to the project and how the team will manage their work. (3%) • Detail how you will staff the team flexibly based upon each mission, including on-boarding new team members or dealing with problems. (2%) • 45 minutes - 20 minutes for presentation, 25 minutes for questions and 25 minutes for Q&A. Maximum of 4 supplier personnel. Delivered over Teams. • Presentation question: Please demonstrate how you will deliver the SOW deliverables with reference to 3 client focused case studies. (3%) • Presentation question: Please identify team members that were part of the delivery team. (3%) • Presentation question: Provide 1 example where you operated independently, and 1 example where you were part of a wider product team. (4%) • Social Value • Different-organisations-may-have-insights-into-new-ways-of-working-that-we-are-looking-to-promote. DIT-wish-to-ensure-that-its-supply-chain-includes-diverse-range-of businesses e.g., new-businesses-and-entrepreneurs, start-ups SME's,-VCSE's. Explain-how-you-will-support-this-goal. (5%) • Experience supporting in-work progression to help people, including those from disadvantaged or minority groups, to transition into or progress within DDaT roles. (5%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate how your approach to code development will minimise unnecessary conflict in a large team. (2%) • Demonstrate how you will undertake evidence-led and risk-based decision making around feature ideas and prioritisation. (3%) • Demonstrate how you will undertake a hypothesis-led approach to product development. (2%) • Demonstrate how you will ensure open and transparent working. (2%) • Demonstrate how your collaborative design and planning approach will minimise duplication. (2%) • Demonstrate what your approach to co-located teams and any remote working will be to ensure high team performance. (2%) • Demonstrate VFM - Demonstrate how your working arrangements will ensure DIT achieves the optimum value for money (2%) Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 15% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. You mention supporting largely with UCD roles, can you confirm how many of those are likely to be Developers? The roles change based on several factors we are currently utilising 6 Dev’s, 1 UR, 1 Interaction designer, 2 delivery managers, 2 Product managers and a Technical Architect across three teams. 2. Can you confirm who the incumbent is who designed and built the hub? Made Tech is the current supplier. However, they did not design or build Data Hub. 3. Is the department prepared to sponsor SC Clearance or does the resource need to hold SC for transfer? All individuals working on the contract would be expected to have SC clearance. DIT would be willing to sponsor the SC clearance process at the supplier's expense. 4. Will DIT sponsor the SC process for the selected supplier? All individuals working on the contract would be expected to have SC clearance. DIT would be willing to sponsor the SC clearance process at the supplier's expense. 5. Will TUPE be applied to this contract. TUPE does not apply. 6. Are you able to publish a draft timeline for the procurement process, i.e when will shortlists be notified / ITT release It is anticipated that suppliers shortlisted for stage 2, will be notified w/c 11th July 2022. The requirement/questions for stage 2, have been stated within the opportunity. 7. Given the worldwide nature of DIT’s organisational contacts and investment/export projects, does Data Hub already include location intelligence capabilities such as data exploration and visualisation (mapping), spatial analytics/data science and spatial data management and sharing? If not, are these future requirements for Data Hub? Data Hub currently provides data visualisation utilising various verified data sources and works closely with our data science team. The further development in this area will depend upon the user need and other priorities.