Microsoft Power Platform Specialist Partner

Tender description

Summary of the work There is a need for a flexible supplier to respond to urgent requirements. Core capabilities for the proposed contract include but not limited to: Functional Consultant Power Platform Developer Power Platform Architect Business Analyst User Researcher Azure Architect Power BI Developer SharePoint Developer Automation Test Engineer DevOps Engineer Delivery/Programme Manager Expected Contract Length 24 months, with the option of a 12-month extension Latest start date Friday 1 April 2022 Budget Range The maximum spend under the contract will be £3 million excluding vat. There is no commitment to minimum spend over the term of the contract. Work to be issued on Statement of Work basis Why the Work is Being Done BEIS is seeking to partner with a Power Platform specialist with extensive knowledge and experience of delivering services that adhere to Government Digital Standards. The supplier is expected to be a Microsoft Silver or Gold Partner with extensive experience of Dynamics 365, Power BI, Power Automate, Azure, Azure DevOps, Power Platform services and SharePoint Online. The supplier will be able to rapidly onboard resources within 5-10 days when required Problem to Be Solved This contract will fill technical and delivery capability gaps within existing and new teams, supporting a range of projects from inception through to live and continuous improvement. This will be through the delivery of outcomes based on user needs and in line with government service standards. Who Are the Users Users will vary from project to project, but broadly fall into 3 main categories. 1) BEIS and ALB internal teams 2) Businesses 3) UK Citizens Existing Team The supplier will be working with a project team in BEIS. This may comprise of Delivery and Product Managers, Business Analysts, SRO, Service Designers, User Researchers and Development Teams. There may be other resources, both FTE and other suppliers to align with and work closely with throughout this phase.  They will also be expected to engage with other stakeholders in BEIS Digital  i.e. the Security and Architecture teams  if and when required. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Deep experience of Microsoft products/solutions in particular Dynamics 365, Power BI, Power Automate, Azure, Azure DevOps, Power Platform services and SharePoint Online. • Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status with competencies in cloud business applications • Examples of delivering services using agile teams, meeting the Service Standard and Tech Code of Practice criteria • Proven experience of providing support and maintenance of power platform solutions as a managed service • Proven experience of working through the service life-cycle of Discovery/Alpha/Beta/Live. Work Location Though the team will be working remotely, there will a be a need to travel to the 1 Victoria Street HQ in London or other government offices when required. This requirement may change depending on Government guidance. Travel expenses will not be reimbursed. Working Arrangments The supplier will be expected to be available during the typical working hours of policy teams (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm) in order to maximise collaboration and knowledge transfer. Microsoft Teams, JIRA, Azure DevOps, Mural, Microsoft Whiteboard and Office 365 will be used for collaboration. Security Clearance All team members must have BPSS as a minimum. In some cases, certain roles will require SC clearance. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Experience migrating data from legacy databases to Azure SQL or SQL Server. • Demonstrate excellent competence with designing PowerBI reports that interface with Azure Sql Databases. • Proven ability to scale up and down resources rapidly and consistently within 10 days • Provide evidence of delivering accessible and compliant power platform services that meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 • Experience of working in partnership with both in-house teams and other suppliers to achieve a shared outcome • Experience of building and maintaining automated pipelines in Azure DevOps using Selenium, C# and SpecFlow • Evidence of designing end-to-end services across a range of on-line and off-line channels for participants who are digitally excluded or have access needs. • Evidence of designing and building compliant canvas and dynamics 365 apps for government departments • Proven experience of providing SC cleared resources within 10 days of request Cultural Fit Criteria • Evidence of supporting health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the workforce • Describe your social value objectives and how you intend to deliver them, including how BEIS will be able to measure them as part of the contract • Your approach to training and mentoring internal staff • Evidence of integrating into an organisation's existing ways of working ensuring a healthy working culture Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is there an incumbent supplier? No. This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents. 2. Can you just confirm is this is outside IR35 please? Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply. 3. Does the specialist need existing SC clearance or will you sponsor it? Thanks SC clearance is required beforehand. 4. Regarding” Describe your social value objectives and 7how you intend to deliver them, including how BEIS will be able to measure them as part of the contract”, please elaborate on what areas of social values objectives are being measured ? Any pointers for guidance. BEIS will evaluate what social value objectives a supplier has. And how the supplier will measure these objectives. 5. Regarding “Your approach to training and mentoring internal staff”,please elaborate what is expected from contingent staff whom we scale up and down from the agencies ? Training and mentoring cannot be provided to contingent or offshore partner staff. This relates to upskilling BEIS Digital employees only wherever possible. 6. Regarding “Proven ability to scale up and down resources rapidly and consistently within 10 days”, which roles do you need to scale up and down in 10 days ? Is it 10 days after approval of SoW or much earlier ? All resources that are part of each SOW.Yes, it is 10 days after the raising of the SOW. 7. Under “Proposal Criteria” you require the following...**Evidence of designing and building compliant canvas and dynamics 365 apps for government departments**(with an emphasis on government departments)This seems to be a Pass / Fail requirement, can we ask why this requirement isn’t under the “Essential Skill” section?Thanks It is not a pass or fail requirement, however, if supplier can evidence this work, their response will be marked accordingly. 8. You mention Dynamics 365, is the requirement for a partner with application level knowledge, or data and integration level? Application level, data and integration level knowledge is required. 9. Regarding “Evidence of supporting health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the workforce”, please can you elaborate on what is expected from small business ? Can you please provide BEIS evidence in this regards ? BEIS is asking for knowledge of the supplier's internal policies on health and wellbeing. 10. Why do you need a Gold or Silver partner for this tender ? BEIS feels this demonstrates proven expertise validated by Microsoft. 11. Would you support offshore resources for the project ? No. Resources would need to be on-shore. 12. How flexible are you in the 2 week availability for resources and what roles are needed in 2 weeks ? This could vary and will be detailed on a SOW basis. However, the supplier should have proven capability to provide specialist resources within 10 days. 13. How many roles do you need SC clearance for ?Any specific reason why BEIS cannot provide SC clearance for the selected resources ? This will be detailed on SOW basis. However, it is estimated BEIS will require between 20-30 roles with SC clearance over the course of the contract.BEIS cannot provide SC clearance as it does not have the resources. 14. Clause on providing SC cleared resources unfairly positions small business to compete with large players..Can you please provide clarification whether you expect small business to bid for this tender ? Small businesses that meet the requirement are encouraged to apply. 15. Regarding “Proven experience of providing SC cleared resources within 10 days of request”, how can a supplier guarantee that SC resource will be available for this skillset as PowerPlatform is new in the market? Past experience in SC cleared resources in other skillet does not guarantee for all skillset...Will this impair small business from bidding for this project? BEIS' understanding of the market suggests this is viable based on past procurements. 16. Hi BEIS. – Job roles of the evaluation panel please? The evaluation panel will be assembled from BEIS digital employees and a commercial officer. 17. Hi BEIS. – Is there an incumbent? No. This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents. 18. Can you please elaborate on “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1” ? What are your requirements. on this ?Who is the incumbent supplier for the current role ? Please refer to the guidelines online.This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents. 19. What modules are yo using in ‘Dynamics 365’ ? BEIS Digital is currently using the customer services module. 20. Hi BEIS. – Is there an incumbent? No. This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents. 21. Hi BEIS. – Procurement timetable please i.e. what’s your planned procurement process and when will these events take place? Provisional timetable:Shortlisted suppliers notified to submit written proposal 08/03Shortlisted suppliers submit written proposal 14/03Supplier presentations 11/03 -14/03Anticipated contract award 02/04 22. Is there a current incumbent in place? No. This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents. 23. Hi BEIS. What’s the procurement process please i.e. timelines and activities? Provisional timetable:Shortlisted suppliers notified to submit written proposal 08/03Shortlisted suppliers submit written proposal 14/03Supplier presentations 11/03 -14/03Anticipated contract award 02/04 24. We would appreciate if BEIS could confirm if they are utilising the technology stack stated within Q1 i.e. ‘Dynamics 365, Power BI, Power Automate, Azure, Azure DevOps, Power Platform services and SharePoint Online.’ within a single engagement / service or across multiple engagements.Can the supplier use multiple evidences for this Q1? The technology stack is used across multiple services.Multiple evidences can be used. 25. Who is the incumbent supplier for this current delivery which is being supplier and how long they have been? No. This is a new requirement. However, future SOW may include taking work from incumbents 26. 36 We are a Power Platform specialist with extensive knowledge and experience of delivering services that adhere to Government Digital Standards. We have recently augmented and deployed a similar structured Power Platform team as illustrated to another organisation requiring SC clearance within two weeks so can work to your timescales. We have a proven track record for delivering other large-scale Power Platform projects in the public sector and we are working towards Gold Partnership, but do not have this accreditation as yet. This is a mandatory field when applying, is there any way around this at all? Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status is a mandatory requirement. 27. Can you please clarify whether your team has an existing pipeline of projects / services that the successful supplier is likely to support and, if so, can you please share a sample of this pipeline? The BEIS Digital pipeline of work is still being defined. 28. “Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status with competencies in cloud business applications”Are you looking for a supplier with the formal Microsoft competency “Cloud Business Applications” at Gold or Silver status? As the question is open to interpretation.If it is, is this just a pass or fail question? If not, what do you wish a supplier to demonstrate in the 100 word answer?Thanks Microsoft Silver or Gold Partner status is mandatory. If you do not have Cloud Business Applications as a competency but have other competencies, we will still consider your application, but it will be marked accordingly. 29. Can you confirm if this DoS notice is supplying relevantly skilled specialists across different projects, who have BEIS Delivery Managers responsible for delivery (“capability gaps within existing and new teams”) or if the chosen supplier will be managing the delivery of specific outcomes, back to BEIS as a managed service. (“delivery of outcomes based on user needs”)? This will depend on the SOW for each project. Both could be in scope for this procurement. 30. Can you please provide an anticipated timeline for this procurement that includes dates for:• Shortlisting Notification for Stage 2• Submission Deadline for Stage 2• Presentation• Award Notification Provisional timetable:Shortlisted suppliers notified to submit written proposal 08/03Shortlisted suppliers submit written proposal 14/03Supplier presentations 11/03 -14/03Anticipated contract award 02/04 31. Please could you clarify if for the question ‘Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status with competencies in cloud business applications’ if you looking for supplier to confirm their level of Microsoft accreditation only or also an evidence? Microsoft Silver or Gold Partner status is mandatory. If you do not have Cloud Business Applications as a competency but have other competencies, we will still consider your application, but it will be marked accordingly. 32. Please can you define your interpretation of a “manged service” in relation to the this notice please? BEIS will hand over the work to the supplier. The supplier will manage all aspects of the tasks e.g. bug fixes, enhancements and maintenance for a fixed cost. 33. Can you please clarify whether this is a staff augmentation contract or is BEIS looking for a supplier to provide teams who will be accountable for delivering outcomes? This will depend on the SOW for project. Both are in scope for this procurement. 34. There is no mention of Power Apps in the Proposal Criteria. Can you please clarify that skills and experience or using Power Apps is a requirement and what proportion of the deliverables will based on Power Apps v other? This is the main requirement for developing on the Power Platform. 35. Are you specifically looking for a partner with a Gold competence award in Cloud Business Application? Microsoft Silver or Gold Partner status is mandatory. If you do not have Cloud Business Applications as a competency but have other competencies, we will still consider your application, but it will be marked accordingly. 36. Are you specifically looking for a partner with a Gold competence award in Cloud Business Application? Microsoft Silver or Gold Partner status is mandatory. If you do not have Cloud Business Applications as a competency but have other competencies, we will still consider your application, but it will be marked accordingly. 37. With regards to the Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status with competencies in cloud business applications: in case of a consortium/partnership between organisations, if the leading applicant doesn’t hold the status, can it rely on the status of a partner organisation? If so, does the applicant need to give details of the partner organisation holding the status in the bid answer? The lead organisation will need to hold Gold or Silver Microsoft Partner status. 38. Regarding “Proven experience of providing SC cleared resources within 10 days of request (5%)”. What kind of experience is needed apart from getting the resource from open market if not available in-house?Please specify what is the requirement? Proven experience of providing SC cleared resources within 10 days of request. 39. Will all roles provided through this contract require SC Clearance? No, not all roles will require SC clearance, however, the supplier should be able to supply all roles with SC clearance within 10 days if required.