Request for Information - How It Looks to Me - Application development

Tender description

How It Looks To Me Application Development Description of procurement Our organisation The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) was established on 1st April 2001 as part of the government commitment to supporting children and families. It brought together the services previously provided by the Family Court Welfare Service, the Guardian ad Litem services, and the Children’s division of the Official Solicitor’s Office. Cafcass is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and is a non-departmental public body. Cafcass is independent of the courts, social services, education and health. Our remit Cafcass operate within the law set by Parliament (Criminal Justice and Court Services Act, 2000) and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Their role is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system by understanding their experiences and speaking up for them when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures. Family Court Advisors may be asked by the courts to work with children and families then advise the court on what we consider to be in the best interests of children in 3 main areas • divorce and separation sometimes called ‘private law’, where parents or carers are unable to agree on arrangements for their children • care proceeding sometimes called ‘public law’ where children’s services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child • adoption, which can be either private or public law Our requirement Cafcass intends to seek a specialist provider to re-build/recompile, enhance, support, and commercialise its ‘How It Looks to Me’ application. The application is an interactive tool that Cafcass practitioners use to help communicate with children and young people. The tool has a number of interactive screens which help to capture the thoughts and feelings of children and young people, producing a report once the information is collected. The tool assists practitioners in gaining information about what is important to the child/young person, their family, what they enjoy, what they fear, as well as capturing feedback and anything they would like to communicate to the Judge involved in their case. Lot 1: How It Looks To Me Application Development Description of procurement Our organisation The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) was established on 1st April 2001 as part of the government commitment to supporting children and families. It brought together the services previously provided by the Family Court Welfare Service, the Guardian ad Litem services, and the Children’s division of the Official Solicitor’s Office. Cafcass is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and is a non-departmental public body. Cafcass is independent of the courts, social services, education, and health. Our remit Cafcass operate within the law set by Parliament (Criminal Justice and Court Services Act, 2000) and under the rules and directions of the family courts. Their role is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system by understanding their experiences and speaking up for them when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures. Family Court Advisors may be asked by the courts to work with children and families then advise the court on what we consider to be in the best interests of children in 3 primary areas • divorce and separation sometimes called ‘private law’, where parents or carers are unable to agree on arrangements for their children • care proceeding sometimes called ‘public law’ where children’s services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child • adoption, which can be either private or public law Our requirement Cafcass intends to seek a specialist provider to re-build/recompile, enhance, support, and commercialise its ‘How It Looks to Me’ application. The application is an interactive tool that Cafcass practitioners use to help communicate with children and young people. The tool has a number of interactive screens which help to capture the thoughts and feelings of children and young people, producing a report once the information is collected. The tool assists practitioners in gaining information about what is important to the child/young person, their family, what they enjoy, what they fear, as well as capturing feedback and anything they would like to communicate to the Judge involved in their case. The ‘How It Looks to Me’ application has been developed using PixiJS and compiled into a UWP project. As UWP is no longer an actively supported technology the new supplier will be required to cross compile into a modern supported platform or to re-build the existing solution (whichever is the most cost-effective way to achieve our goals), ensure the app is stable performance, and add several enhancements. Since being initially deployed the How it Looks to Me application has generated interest from a number of other children’s services related organisations. In addition to the development element Cafcass is therefore also looking for a partner who has the experience and capability to develop and support a commercial model that would allow other organisations to acquire the application and become part of a broader user community. This notice is for prior information only and is intended as pre-market engagement. We are requesting interested suppliers complete a Request for Information to be returned by 16:00 15th September 2023. Further details regarding this can be viewed here https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=ecee7628-0540-ee11-8124-005056b64545