Learner Data Service – Delivery Resource

Tender description

Summary of the work DfE Data Directorate are looking for a supplier who will provide delivery capabilities on the Learner Data Service data and technology projects as part of our Data Transformation Portfolio. You will provide expertise and specialism to boost capacity and enhance capability, working alongside our in-house data teams supporting delivery. Expected Contract Length 1 year Latest start date Wednesday 1 March 2023 Budget Range These capability services are to be delivered over a contract period of 1 year and with an indicative contract value of approximately £2,600,000 (incl. VAT) for the full 1-year service delivery. Why the Work is Being Done The Department has a cross cutting priority to embed data and digital throughout our work starting with improving data access, transparency, and quality to inform policy, operational delivery, and analytical activity. To support delivery of this priority we need to implement a ‘single thread’ approach for supply of data and that there are set patterns and approaches for managing operational and analytical data in relation to the education sector. Problem to Be Solved Establishing the core capabilities for operational and analytical data management and production. Heading up the definition of requirements and delivery of the core capabilities utilising the Department’s annual process for collecting, matching, processing, validating, and checking the Department’s business critical datasets on learner participation and achievement, children, and early years as a use case. Who Are the Users As an analyst, I need data that details learners and their attainment so that I can evaluate a school or colleges performance and assess their learners’ achievements. As the head of data ownership and sharing, I need to limit the sharing and visibility of personal identifiable data so that we protect learners’ identities and only share when there is a permitted purpose. As a data operations engineer, I need access to data that shows where a learner is registered for education, and their characteristics so that I can undertake further data production activities to enable the calculation of funding for schools and colleges at the provider, and learner level (e.g. pupil premium and national funding formula). As a data operations engineer, I need to ensure the National Pupil Database is maintained so that we can share data within the department, across government, the sector and to the wider public domain. Work Already Done Work is currently underway to establish and implement 4 assets by March 2023 – an operational data store, a matching service, a reference data store, and an analytical data store. These are being developed for the scope of primary education level learner and achievement and attainment data. Following this activity, we will continue to iterate on these assets and ensure the inclusion of secondary, 16-18- and 16–24-year-old learner and achievement and attainment data. Existing Team Our build-test-deploy 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 new and legacy replacement data services. There are 10 teams with a typical team size is up to 10 with a skill mix such as product managers, delivery managers, scrum masters, business analysts, design professionals (data analysts and data modellers), data engineers, and test engineers. Solutions and data architects support cross programme delivery through setting strategic design direction as well as supporting build team decision making. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Has previously undertaken requirements definition and delivery / scrum management for learner data services and/or products in the Department including the National Pupil Data Achievement and Attainment Data Tables (NPDAAT). • Over the last three years have experience of agile delivery management in a multi digital, data and technology driven environment, delivering data products/services • Over the last three years have demonstrable experience in managing delivery focused user centred design services that meet specific quality standards (e.g. GDS standards and ITIL) through the delivery lifecycle • Proven experience of Agile delivery methodologies, delivering at pace and experience in creating robust user stories for development teams in support of behaviour driven development • Experience in delivery management and technical business analysis for delivering new data platforms on cloud, covering ingestion, transformation, validation, cleansing, matching and storage in a complex data environment; • Proven experience of delivering into an immature data development lifecycle and working collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team of architects and engineers to accelerate rapid delivery without creating technical debt • Experience in providing resourcing for Agile teams delivering Data projects at pace and reactive to changing demand able to work to short lead times in filling roles • Evidence of the placement of skilled resources to the standard required by the roles, who are able to meet the planned deliverables and contractual obligations • Demonstrate where you have undertaken data delivery for learner data services and/or products in the Department including the National Pupil Data Achievement and Attainment Data Tables (NPDAAT). • Experience of creating appropriate service operating models to enable successful live running Nice to Haves • Experience and understanding of educational datasets and digital services • Experience and understanding of data delivery tools e.g. Azure Dev Ops, Lucid, Visio Work Location Sheffield, Leeds, Darlington, London, Coventry, Nottingham 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 will be via the scrum approach and the standard agile ceremonies will be undertaken. These will be monitored by the Delivery Manager and the Product Owner will be responsible for prioritising backlogs in refinement sessions. Peer reviews by technical leads will also occur regularly to ensure fit to best practice and engineering standards. Security Clearance The successful supplier must be able to demonstrate that all 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 • Over the last three years have experience in end-to-end design, development, and agile delivery of data products/services to high quality standards (in a digital, data and technology driven environment). • Over the last three years have experience in delivery of new data platforms and data migration projects in a complex data environment. • Over the last three years have demonstrable experience in user centred design services (user research, content design and interaction design, business analysis and service operating model design) • Proven experience of using a range of agile tools e.g. Azure Dev Ops and techniques including scrum, working in multi-team agile programmes • Over the last three years experience of delivery management, business analysis, user research, user experience designer, content and service design to deliver new analytical data platforms, data pipelines and visualisation • Manage the full product lifecycles including business analysis, user research, design, delivery, and continuous improvement of one or more transactional services or platforms including rapid prototyping and delivering at pace • Evidence of demonstrable experience within the last three years in working on high profile complex, multi-stakeholder digital, data and technology programmes • Experience of working with multi-vendor teams across multiple projects • Experience of working with an organisation at the beginning of an agile culture change • Experience of transferring knowledge to permanent staff within a client organisation Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate ability to work as a team and collaborate effectively with our organisation and other suppliers. • Demonstrate approach to knowledge and skills transfer to build in-house capabilities and ensure effective knowledge management and transfer within agreed timescales. • 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%) • How does your organisation encourage 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. Is there an incumbent supplier? If so, who is it? Is this contract meant to pick up from the incumbent has left or is the new supplier meant to be working alongside the incumbent and other resources? Yes, there is an incumbent supplier. This contract is to pick up from the incumbent supplier. 2. Clarification on question “Demonstrate where you have undertaken data delivery for learner data services and/or products in the Department including the National Pupil Data Achievement and Attainment Data Tables (NPDAAT).”This implies a supplier must have previous DfE experience, please clarify if previous DfE experience as a supplier is mandatory. Yes, Department for Education experience is mandatory. 3. Can you give an idea of approximate number of resources required for the this work. We estimate the need for around 30 to 40 resources are required for this week. This is a mixture of delivery management, user research, business analysis, service design and scrum masters.