RM1043.8-1- MINISTRY OF DEFENCE - Defence Digital - PS244_NGCN Technical Transition and Exit Services

Tender description

Pre-market engagement None. Work done so far Minimal internal scoping work. Which phase the project is in Discovery Existing team There is currently a programme team that is in the process of scaling up in preparation for the go to market face with a fully resourced team of 80 people planned. The team covers the normal roles and responsibilities of an infrastructure outsourcing and transformation programme including: delivery, service architecture, programme management office, commercial, communications and change and finance. The programme currently has limited resources and capability in the technical, transition and exit function and this competition will address this capability gap. Address where the work will be done MOD Corsham, Westwells Road, Corsham, SN13 9NR and remote working. Working arrangements Hybrid of home / external office or MOD Corsham. Travel to Corsham should be included in the bid. Any T&S external to Corsham needs to be agreed in advance by the Authority prior to committing. External travel shall be minimal. Provide more information about your security requirements: Security Check (SC) Provide more information about your security requirements: Developed Vetting (DV) Provide more information about your security requirements (optional): SC Minimum, DV preferred. Note: Technical Architect required to be DV Access to MoDNet Official and MoDNet Secret shall be required. Clearances will not be sponsored by the Authority. Latest start date 2023-08-14 Enter the expected contract length: 10 months and 14 days Special terms and conditions DEFFORM 94 - Non Disclosure Agreement Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 3368380 Provide further information: Maximum Budget is £3,368,380.00 Ex VAT (Subject to Financial Approval). Included in the budget outlined above there is a Travel & Subsistence Limit of liability of £10,000.00 Ex VAT. Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Summary of work There is a requirement to provide a small, independent team to produce and support technical, transition and exit planning, evidence gathering and documentation production for a major Defence Change programme. Where the supplied staff will work South West England Why the work is being done The work is being done to to support the scoping, development and production of key artefacts to support the commercial process of a major Defence Digital procurement activity and change programme. The business problem you need to solve Technical support, transition & exit resources are required to bolster the existing team to gather existing artefacts and produce where not available, developing high level strategies, plans and competition documentation for competitive tender. These documents will consist of all critical technical, transition and exit artefacts required to produce contractual schedules as deliverables, to enable the change programme to go to Market. First user type: There will be a mix of expertise required to support the development of the Transition for the major change Programme, being a mix of Portfolio, Programme and Project Management (P3M), Technical and supporting functions. Enter more details about this user type: The Next Generation Communication Network NGCN Programme will deliver a new fixed core network replacing the existing capabilities and infrastructure provided by the Global Connectivity (GC) and Defence Fixed Telecommunication Services (DFTS) contracts. Questions and Clarifications 1. Does participating in this opportunity preclude someone from participating in other supply side work in the future? The MOD is obliged to give a supplier the opportunity to demonstrate how it can operate on both the client and supply side, in the same area of MOD acquisition, without gaining an unfair competitive advantage. The Ministry of Defence will allow suppliers to operate on both the client and supply side providing an actual, potential or perceived Conflict of Interest (COI) can be satisfactorily managed to avoid any unfair distortion in competition. Last Updated: 16 June 2023, 13:11 2. Apologies we have had technical issues in trying to log in. Could the authority kindly confirm whether bidding for the Technical Transition and Exit Services contract would restrict bidding for future BNS, RNS and NSI procurement, or would this be acceptable providing appropriate ethical walls were in place? We recognise the technical issues in the platform and have escalated these issues to CCS (as we have also faced issued accessing the platform). Please accept our apologies in this. Once the BNS, RNS and NSI procurements are live, the Authority will conduct appropriate Conflict of Interest Risk Assessments, to identify if there are any suppliers that could be working on both the 'client-side' and 'supply-side'. These risk assessments will be followed by asking suppliers to submit their compliance regime, to determine if there are appropriate mitigation measures in place to facilitate a fair competition. The MOD is obliged to give a supplier the opportunity to demonstrate how it can operate on both the client and supply side, in the same area of MOD acquisition, without gaining an unfair competitive advantage. The MOD will allow suppliers to operate on both the client and supply side providing an actual, potential or perceived Conflict of Interest (COI) can be satisfactorily managed to avoid any unfair distortion in competition. Last Updated: 16 June 2023, 13:10 3. 1. For the Stage 1 response, please can you confirm that the character count does not include spaces? 2. For the Stage 2 response, please could you confirm what equation is being used to calculate the score that will be given for the 'fixed price'? 3. For the Stage 2 response, are there any constraints on the use of diagrams or pictures? 4. For the Stage 2 response, how will Essential Skills and Experience and Nice to Have Skills and Experience be evaluated under the advised Technical Competence weighting? Please confirm that we won’t have to re-state our Skills and Experience as part of our Stage 2 response and that the scores from Stage 1 will be carried forward to form part of the final technical score? 5. Will there be an opportunity to ask further clarification questions following the publication of further assessment documents? 1. This does not include spaces (i.e. 750 characters, excluding spaces). 2. Price, in this competition, is given a 30% weighting overall. Each Supplier's proposal price is given a score out of 30. The cheapest price is given the full 30 points, and then other Suppliers are given a score relative to how they compared to the cheapest price. This is calculated by (lowest price/supplier's price) x Weighting. For example, if Supplier A priced the lowest at £10 and price was weighted 30 %, Supplier A would score 30 points. Supplier B Priced £12.50, they would score 24. Supplier C Priced £16 they would score 18.75. 3. Further details will be provided for stage 2 responses to suppliers who are successful at stage 1. However, we will allow diagrams and pictures. 4. The scores will be carried forward for the 'Essential Skills and Experience and Nice to Have Skills and Experience', with Supplier's given a chance to improve their scores in the second stage of the competition, if there are relevant areas for this to be done (i.e. work histories). 5. Yes, there will be an opportunity for additional CQs to be asked at the second stage. Please note, due to issues on the platform (as per a previous CQ), we are considering moving the second stage of the procurement to a 'manual' method (i.e. conducted via emails), to avoid any delays with potential platform issues. This will be communicated with all successful suppliers at stage 1. Last Updated: 16 June 2023, 13:09 4. Could let us know the team size and make up you are expecting for this project? Additional details regarding the statement of requirement, which will provide insights into team-size, will be provided to successful suppliers after stage 1 of the competition. Last Updated: 16 June 2023, 13:06 5. Does participation in this competition mean the winning bidder, the partners and/or associates they use to conduct the work cannot participate in the NSI, BNS and RNS competitions that the authority intend to run? Once the BNS, RNS and NSI procurements are live, the Authority will conduct appropriate Conflict of Interest Risk Assessments, to identify if there are any suppliers that could be working on both the 'client-side' and 'supply-side'. These risk assessments will be followed by asking suppliers to submit their compliance regime, to determine if there are appropriate mitigation measures in place to facilitate a fair competition. The MOD is obliged to give a supplier the opportunity to demonstrate how it can operate on both the client and supply side, in the same area of MOD acquisition, without gaining an unfair competitive advantage. The MOD will allow suppliers to operate on both the client and supply side providing an actual, potential or perceived Conflict of Interest (COI) can be satisfactorily managed to avoid any unfair distortion in competition. Last Updated: 16 June 2023, 13:05