AI & Data Service for Apprenticeship

Tender description

Summary of the work We require AI & Data specialists to support continued development of data systems and processes, artificial intelligence, and performance analysis across multi-disciplinary teams within the Digital Apprenticeship Service. This includes improving in-house capability and supporting knowledge transfer activity. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date Tuesday 7 March 2023 Budget Range These capability services are to be delivered over a contract period of 2 years and with an indicative contract value of approximately £4,600,000 (inc VAT) for the full 2-year service delivery. Why the Work is Being Done The Government has committed to increasing the quality and quantity of apprenticeships in England. To support the delivery of this ambition we will continue to ensure our services are scalable, cloud-based and meet Government Digital Service standards; so that they meet user needs and ensure a great apprenticeship experience. High quality analysis to holistically understand and respond to policy challenges and user needs are core to successfully meeting this ambition. Problem to Be Solved Transforming the way in which the English apprenticeship system works - a significant ambition with multiple policy, operational and delivery challenges. Ensuring the significant and multi-faceted needs of users in the apprenticeship market place are met with the aims of raising the quality and quantity of successful apprenticeships, and promoting social mobility, thereby adding to the country's economic performance. Outcomes delivered through building and live running of existing services, with new features and capabilities to be added into the multi-dimensional delivery model to meet ambitious programme objectives. In a large scale government programme and a complex environment this involves, co-design with policy across government, clear understanding of various user and stakeholder needs and an evidence based direction to drive value in response to these . Who Are the Users Our users are both external (employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations and apprentices) and government, for example: As a student I need to easily access impartial information to understand and access apprenticeships, and to receive timely information on how I progress with my apprenticeship. As a non-levy employer I need to understand the funding for hiring an apprentice, find and recruit the right apprentice As a training provider I need to understand how I receive funding for apprenticeships from government As an end-point assessment organisation I need to understand the registration process for operating in the marketplace As DfE I need to oversee effective delivery of Apprenticeships, including sharing information with stakeholders, directly managing the issue of certificates. Early Market Engagement N/A Work Already Done A minimum viable service was introduced in 2017 and we continue to develop significant capability as we move towards the agreed vision whereby all employers take greater control of apprenticeship funding to drive up quality in the market place. Since that time we have continued to add new services/capabilities as we build out towards a great end to end experience for our users. These capabilities are connected through a personalised user-outcome, AI based, real time data model. Existing Team Our build-test-run delivery model is underpinned by an agile at scale build capability. Existing teams are comprised of multi-disciplinary agile delivery skills. These teams are involved in service development for providing brand new digital services, going through the standard GDS phases. Typical team size is up to 10 with a skills mix such as product/service managers, delivery managers, business analysts, user research and design professionals, developers and testers. Teams are co-located in Coventry and comprise of managed service suppliers and permanent staff. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Evidence of successful delivery within the last two years working on a large-scale transformative digital-programmes with significant complexity in terms of user-needs, policy constraints, business rules & process enhancements. • Demonstrable evidence of designing, conducting and delivering high quality analysis that builds trust in the use of data and analytics; from articulating problem statements to evidence-based recommendations and insights • Demonstrable experience of using data and analytics to inform a strategic view of cause and effect at a systems level leading to improved organisational performance. • Demonstrable evidence of working with multi-disciplinary teams to create an environment where high quality data is used to drive analysis of data in support of organisational goals • Proven experience of supporting customers (stakeholders) to build in-house analysis capabilities, setting out the strategy for capability development, knowledge management, data management and data governance. • Demonstrable evidence of driving impact at scale utilising advanced analytics, including automation, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities. • Track record of performance analysis capability including defining outcomes and KPIs with analysis at levels of granularity to support insights, automated reporting solutions, data integration and high impact visualisation. • Demonstrable evidence of working within and parallel to multi-disciplinary teams to develop solutions which consider all relevant considerations, including policy, compliance, regulations, and assurance Nice to Haves • Demonstrable evidence of maturing an organisation’s approach to management and exploitation of data capability through implementation of data strategies, including evidence of changing business operating models • Demonstrable experience of working successfully with senior decision makers based on continual assessment of problems to agree improvement options and build momentum towards agreed vision. • Demonstrable experience of developing of an operating model that drives a continuous improvement culture, delivering iterative service improvements by working closely with product managers and product teams. Work Location Cheylesmore House, Quinton Road, Coventry, CV1 2WT and remote working / supplier site working Occasional travel to the DfE/ESFA site in London along with travel across England for user research may be required. The primary location will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW) and expenses will not form part of the cost unless the supplier is asked to work from a secondary location during the execution of the work e.g. If SoW primary base is in Coventry , then no expenses will be paid for Coventry. Working Arrangments This will be a 5 day per week (Monday to Friday) commitment and detailed working arrangements, including team location, size and make-up, will be contained within each statement of work. Day to day delivery will be governed by standard agile delivery techniques. These could be either a Kanban or a scrum approach (depending on the work) but the standard agile ceremonies appropriate to those will be undertaken. These will be monitored by the Delivery Manager and the Product Owner will be responsible for prioritising backlogs in refinement sessions. Security Clearance Enhanced DBS and BPSS checks required Successful supplier must be able to demonstrate that proposed team members have been subject to Baseline Personnel Security Standards checks. Suppliers will also be required to complete a supplier security assurance form to ensure they meet the required standard for DfE e.g. Cyber Essentials Additional T&Cs Standard Framework and Call Off Terms and Conditions. Expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with DfE Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy. Any expenses shall be submitted in line with DfE standard T&S policy. Primary work locations stated in SoW will not attract expenses. No parking is available on site. Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR in line with Procurement Policy Note 03/17 Changes to Data Protection Legislation & General Data Protection Regulation No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Ability to successfully drive innovative change in a large-scale digital programme • Evidence of building a trust-based environment so that stakeholders feel confident in the quality of the data and analysis • Evidence of being able to take a system-wide perspective to identify cause and effect loops which has been used to inform scenario planning or options • Evidence of KPI setting and quality analysis that has led to evidence-based solutions and outcomes for users • Ability to develop successful solutions to problems that impact a wide range of business factors e.g. compliance, regulations, assurance • Evidence of successfully building in-house capability, including knowledge transfer and skill development, specifically linked to data • Evidence of using AI and Machine Learning on complex and large sets of data that has enabled better decision making and identified new business opportunities • Technical competence in data analysis, data modelling and data visualisation using Azure SQL, Python, Power BI and Google analytics • Evidence of improving business adoption of data governance best practices, that have resulted in better quality of data and its management • Ability to successfully and promptly mobilise expertise to scale up team and flex resource when needed and to respond to changing business priorities • Demonstrate how you as a supplier have successfully adhered to a buyers’ code of practice or adopted their organisational behaviours to ensure cultural fit • Evidence of successful continual assessment of problems and agreement to improvement options to build momentum towards agreed vision Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate how you as a supplier have successfully adhered to a buyers’ code of practice or adopted their organisational behaviours to ensure cultural fit • Demonstrate successfully operating a no-blame culture, encouraging people to learn from their mistakes • Participate in community of practice and demonstrate knowledge sharing • Working with different suppliers and buyers staff in a collaborative way to deliver common goals • How will your organisation support educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications (e.g. , Apprenticeships, Industry placements, Traineeships) (5%) • Describe how your organisation encourages diverse representation of under-represented groups in the workforce, e.g. Women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, Disabled, LGBTQ+ and how you monitor and measure this (5%) Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 55% Cultural fit 15% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. 1. Are you content for suppliers to cite multiple examples for questions where their experience is best represented by more than one project? 1. Yes 2. 2. Are you content for suppliers to cite private sector examples where they are relevant to the question being posed? 2. Yes 3. 3. For question “Demonstrable evidence of driving impact at scale utilising advanced analytics, including automation, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities.” please could you elaborate on what you mean by impact? 3. Evidence of how the use of advanced analytics techniques, including automation, AI and ML has contributed directly to a measurable impact on the achievement of organisation objectives. 4. Have you been engaged with one / a number of suppliers during the minimal viable service stage since 2017 in the continued development of data systems and processes, AI, etc. Can you please provide the suppliers you have worked with to date? 4. ATOS IT Services UK Limited Farsight Consulting Ltd 5. Who is the incumbent supplier? 5. Farsight Consulting Ltd 6. Are you content for the supplier’s team to include team members from outside the UK, subject still to BPSS clearance? We’re a global organisation and would like to ensure we can tap into the full breadth and depth of our expertise. We’ve successfully worked in this way with a number of central government organisations. 6. No – DfE do not allow this 7. Should bidders provide just one example per each 100 word response? 7. Bidders choice. 8. For question “Demonstrable experience of using data and analytics to inform a strategic view of cause and effect at a systems level leading to improved organisational performance”, please could you confirm what you mean by a “at a systems level”? 8. A ‘systems level’ approach will involve consideration of the relationships between a set of interconnected elements that are organised in way that achieves a purpose. 9. For question “Demonstrable experience of using data and analytics to inform a strategic view of cause and effect at a systems level leading to improved organisational performance”, please could you share an example of what this might look like in practice in your ecosystem to provide some context and assist suppliers in selecting a relevant example project to cite? The apprenticeship system involves the orchestration of the demand and supply of high quality apprenticeship vacancies, training and assessment, to deliver successful outcomes. The participants in the ecosystem include employers, apprentices, training and assessment bodies and the DfE. Examples of techniques that could be used to develop a strategic level view of the system include: systems mapping, causal loop diagrams, systems dynamics and theory of change maps. 10. Could you please provide an estimate on how much work will need to be carried out at the Coventry site and how much work can be done remotely? 10. Following contract award, we will work with the winning supplier to agree a requirement that will be included within the SOW.DfE currently have a policy of permanent staff attending offices for 60% of the time, we will work with the successful supplier to agree office attendance, however we do require some office working from managed services 11. You reference an AI based, real-time data model – could you please expand on this, providing further detail on the model, specifically relating to AI, and what your aspirations are to continue in the development of this model. Also, could you provide details of the supplier who worked with you on the existing model? 11. There is no intention to focus on single use case AI model, instead we want to concentrate on expanding the scope and building new AI models as and when needed. Current areas where AI has the potential to add value, are: financial and demand forecasting, fraud detection, and pattern identification. Our first AI model was a result of short-term project with one of our existing suppliers (name will not be disclosed), maintenance and further enhancements post project end-date have been done in-house. 12. Demonstrable evidence of working with multi-disciplinary teams to create an environment where high quality data is used to drive analysis of data in support of organisational goals” – please could you clarify the meaning of ‘environment’ in this context? Environment’ refers to the culture / attitudes within and across the Apprenticeship Service teams. 13. Track record of performance analysis capability including defining outcomes and KPIs with analysis at levels of granularity to support insights, automated reporting solutions, data integration and high impact visualisation.” Please could you define what will be considered a ‘track record’ of performance analysis capability, for example does this mean multiple examples of delivery? Yes, we expect to see multiple proven examples of where the supplier’s performance analysis capability has been successful in achieving similar data outcomes to those specified 14. Given you outline there is an incumbent supplier, please can you detail the driver for this procurement. What are your expectations regarding the team being ‘on-site’ versus remote working for the delivery of this project? The incumbent supplier current contract is due to end Feb 2023 so this is a brand new procurement to ensure continuity of the AI & Data is the Apprenticeship Service. DfE currently have a policy of permanent staff attending offices for 60% of the time, we will work with the successful supplier to agree office attendance, however we do require some office working from managed services 15. Following submission 1st stage responses on 16th December, please can you confirm an indicative forward timeline? In particular, for stage 2 shortlisting, stage 2 deadline and presentations? Current timelines are: Stage 2 shortlisting: W/C 16/01/2023 Stage 2 written proposal deadline: around 23/01/2023 Stage 2 presentations: Around 30/31st January 2023