DDaT22085 - BEIS – Simple Energy Advice Beta

Tender description

Summary of the work Beta is focused on testing and refining the prototype for the new user journey identified in Alpha and launching the new construction of SEA to the public. By end of Beta, there will be an end-to-end service, with complete security and accessibility testing, and handover for the live service team. Expected Contract Length 12 weeks: 8 weeks private Beta, 4 weeks public Beta Latest start date Tuesday 19 April 2022 Budget Range £ 341,875.00 excluding VAT Why the Work is Being Done The Simple Energy Advice (SEA) website, designed to provide bespoke advice to the public on improving home energy efficiency, will be achieved on the recommendation of the Central Digital and Data Office (formerly Government Digital Services). An improved service will be developed on GOV.UK, in accordance with the GOV.UK proposition. Thus far, a discovery has been completed and this identified the user need for the service to transition to GOV.UK and opportunities for improvement to the existing content. In January 2022, the Alpha stage commenced, focusing on identifying the user journey for the new service on GOV.UK, creating a prototype, and establishing how the existing SEA content will be transitioned across to fit within the new user journey. The Beta phase is the next necessary stage in transitioning SEA to GOV.UK. It will focus on testing and refining the prototype developed in Alpha and launching the new construction of SEA to the Public. Problem to Be Solved SEA must transition to GOV.UK due to the removal of the Central Digital and Data Office (formerly Government Digital Services) GOV.UK exemption. The Beta is a necessary stage in this transition. The key objectives of the Beta are: 1. Test and refine the prototype for the new user journey identified in Alpha. 2. Launch the new construction of SEA to the public. The key outcomes from the Beta include: 1. A full end-to-end service 2. Testing for accessibility and security complete 3. Assisted digital support implemented 4. An understanding of future resources required for the service 5. A continuous improvement plan established (based on factors such as KPIs and user feedback) 6. Documentation and handover for the live service team Who Are the Users Homeowners – need recommendations to improve the energy performance of their home, access to tradespeople and information on Government support schemes to reduce their energy bills. Landlords – need recommendations to improve the energy performance of their property to ensure compliance with Energy Efficiency Standards, access to tradespeople and information on Government support schemes to reduce tenants’ energy bills. Tenant – needs to know their rights regarding the energy performance of the property they rent and know actions they can take to improve energy performance to reduce their energy bills. Early Market Engagement Not applicable Work Already Done A discovery has been completed which identified user-need for the service to transition-to GOV.UK/opportunities for improvement to the existing content. The Alpha-project will focus on identifying the user-journey for the new service on GOV.UK/how the existing SEA content will be transitioned across to fit within the new user-journey. The 10-week Alpha-phase commenced January 2022, to conclude on March 25th 2022. The key objectives of-the Alpha are identifying the set-up of the new-website on GOV.UK/creating-the prototype for the new user journey that combines the existing SEA-content. Outputs will be made available when complete. Previous-outputs/backlogs/etc. will be shared with all shortlisted suppliers. Existing Team The supplier will predominantly be working with: The Energy Efficiency & Local team in BEIS, in particular the Home Energy Retrofit Consumer Advice and Information Team (5 key staff members) Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Demonstrate your experience of identifying users who require assisted digital services, including vulnerable consumers, and their respective needs and usage patterns. (4%) • Demonstrate experience with following cloud first-principles of Software-as-a-Service (SAAS),Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) as well as experience with the main cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP). (4%) • Demonstrate your teams-experience of building-easy-to-use consumer-facing web-based applications that will run on different sized devices. Provide URL example (Please-note-the-URL-will-not-be-evaluated-against-and- is-for-information-only - the 100 word answer will be evaluated against) (4%) • Proven track record of delivering complex, public-facing software projects in the UK government sector in line with the CDDO and GOV.UK-Service-Standards, as well as Technology-code-of-practice and NCSC guidelines. (4%) • Demonstrate your team’s experience of rapidly developing and iterating prototypes based on user-testing, findings-from-discovery and policy-context, and developing prototypes into functional beta sites suitable for public-use, including assisted-digital. (4%) • Demonstrate your teams experience of communicating complex issues using clear and concise language in both written and verbal ways to a variety of audiences and expertise levels. (2%) • Provide evidence of prior IDAM (Identity and access Management) experience and of working with CMS (Content Management Service) Forms, Webinars etc. (2%) • Demonstrate your team’s experience of conducting and documenting user research and using findings to iterate project work and software development. (2%) Nice to Haves • Demonstrate your knowledge of the issues surrounding domestic energy efficiency, particularly in respect of consumer advice and consumer energy usage. (1%) • Detail your familiarity with the principles of behavioural insight and behavioural change. Experience of applying these principles to consumer-facing services, particularly online. (1%) • Experience of working across multiple government departments, including data-sharing protocol. (1%) • Detail, with an example, your team’s experience of researching, designing or building digital services in the energy or net zero space. (1%) Work Location With the team working remotely, it is expected the supplier will do the same. However, if the need arises, the supplier’s team may need to travel to the 1 Victoria Street HQ in London for a meeting/workshop(s). Working Arrangments The supplier staff will be expected to be available during the typical working hours of the policy team (Monday to Friday 9:30am-5pm) in order to maximise knowledge transfer. We require the supplier to hold agile ceremonies as well as weekly updates. ‘show and tell’ sessions for BEIS stakeholders, taking place over MS Teams. Other tools such as JIRA, Azure DevOps, Mural, Microsoft Whiteboard and Office 365 can/may be used for collaboration too. Security Clearance All individuals must have BPSS as a minimum. Additional T&Cs Not applicable No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Describe the approach and methodology you will apply to Beta, including how priorities will be determined and emerging findings presented (5%) • Describe how the approach will achieve the objectives and intended outcomes (5%) • How the structure of the team and how their technical-skills and experience will be used to deliver-the-need, including estimated-resource dedicated to the project linked to the overall cost (5%) • A project plan with proposed timelines for mobilisation and delivery (5%) • Identify the risks and dependencies you associate with the project and provide mitigation actions to manage them (5%) • Value for money, including how you will take previous learning to deliver better value for this project (5%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Detail how you will proactively engage with stakeholders to progress the project and communicate in an appropriate manner to the audience (3%) • Detail how you will ensure you work in a way that is that is open, honest, and constructive (2%) • Detail how you will work successfully with the team collaboratively considering it is a multidisciplinary agile team (3%) • Detail how your team will work in a user driven approach, using research and evidence to challenge underlying assumptions and present findings in a way decision makers can easily-digest (3%) • Detail how your team will respond to change throughout the project. (2%) • Detail your plan for taking ownership of the requirement. (2%) Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 15% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. 1. Procurement Timeframe The anticipated procurement timeframes are as follows:21st March 2022 - Notification of shortlisting outcome28th March 2022 - Written Proposal Deadline31st March - 1st April 2022 - Presentations7th April 2022 - Notification of award outcome 2. Scoring The requirement will be scored on the 0-3 scoring methodology:-0 - Not met or no evidence1 - Partially met2 - Met3 - Exceeded 3. Non-Disclosure Agreement Please note that a non-disclosure agreement will be required to be signed upon contract award 4. Will the Alpha supplier be applying to tender for the Beta phase? This opportunity is open to anyone who is registered as a supplier on the DOS 5 framework to submit a bid. 5. Could you please advise who conducted the Discovery work? The Discovery phase was completed by a supplier called Thoughtworks 6. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? Four assessors will score applications for this opportunity. 1x Product Manager and Policy Advisor, 1x Policy Advisor, 1x Policy Manager, 1x Digital Technical Architect. 7. Can you please provide an anticipated timeline for this procurement that includes dates for: 1) Shortlisting Notification for Stage 2 2) Submission Deadline for Stage 2 3) Presentation 4) Evaluation period 5) Award Notification As per timescales within the DOS advert these are the following timescales 1) 21st March 2022 2) 28th March 2022 3) 31st March - 1st April 2022 4) 2nd April - 6th April 2022 5) 7th April 2022 8. Can you confirm if shortlisted suppliers will have the opportunity to present? As per DOS advert all shortlisted suppliers will be invited to provide a presentation against the cultural fit elements 9. Has any external supplier been involved in the initial scoping work? If so, who? Besides ThoughtWorks and Softwire for the Discovery and ongoing Alpha work respectively, no external supplier has been involved in the initial scoping work 10. Who was the supplier incumbent(s) for discovery and alpha phases? The Discovery phase was completed by Thoughtworks and the Alpha is being completed by Softwire. 11. Could you tell us who is working on the alpha please? The supplier who is currently working on the Alpha phase is Softwire. 12. Which supplier completed Discovery and Alpha for this project? The Discovery phase was completed by Thoughtworks and the Alpha is being completed by Softwire. 13. Please clarify what is meant by “applications that will run on different sized devices”. Does this mean, user interfaces that are fluid and will resize according to the screen size and resolution? This is correct - we expect the website to be accessed on both computers and mobiles. Therefore, the interface will need to be fluid ad resize according to the screen size and resolution. 14. Can you please tell us which supplier/s worked on the discovery and alpha for this project? The Discovery phase was completed by Thoughtworks and the Alpha is being completed by Softwire. 15. Previous experience in ‘the UK government sector ‘ is non-compliant as per DOS guidelines. What is it about the public sector that requires specific skills or experience? Please note that the following question under Essential Skills has been modified from "Proven track record of delivering complex, public-facing software projects in the UK government sector in line with the CDDO and GOV.UK-Service-Standards, as well as Technology-code-of-practice and NCSC guidelines" to "Proven track record of delivering complex, public-facing software projects in line with the CDDO and GOV.UK-Service-Standards, as well as Technology-code-of-practice and NCSC guidelines". 16. Please can you clarify what you mean by CMS forms, webinars, etc? A content management system (CMS) allows for optimisation of a consumers’ digital experience by allowing the consumer to collaborate in the creation or editing of digital content subsequently produced or viewed. We are seeking to understand experience suppliers have of creating and/or working with such systems.