Judicial eLinks Project

Tender description

Pre-market engagement There has been no pre-market engagement Work done so far The application is a current live service and is business critical for ongoing API data connectivity to the multiple services which use it, including eJudiciary, Judicial Intranet and the Judicial College Learning platform, more services are due to onboard in the coming months. Which phase the project is in Not applicable Existing team The development and support of eLinks is currently provided by the incumbent supplier. The Judicial Digital Services Team currently provide service support internally to downstream consumers and product teams. The supplier would be working with a Security Architect, Technical Architect, Head of Digital Services, Product and Delivery Managers with stakeholder/user engagement where identified. Address where the work will be done The work can be completed remotely with occasional visits to the Royal Courts of Justice, London, where required. Working arrangements A standard business working day, hours and working pattern as needed to deliver the programme in an efficient way (Monday to Friday). We expect to work in a hybrid manner with a mix of remote and occasional onsite work, using MSTeams as the software of choice. Expenses will not be paid by Judicial Office and all costs must include expenses. Suppliers must meet every deadline and deliver agreed works throughout the entire project. Provide more information about your security requirements: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Provide more information about your security requirements: Security Check (SC) Provide more information about your security requirements (optional): All must have BPSS as a minimum. Preference for contractors to already hold SC clearance, however we would be willing to sponsor the SC clearance process. One person in the team must have SC clearance. Latest start date 2023-12-04 Enter the expected contract length: 2 years Extension period: 1 year Special terms and conditions N/A Write the term or acronym: eLinks Write the term or acronym: JML Write the term or acronym: JOHs Write the term or acronym: GAL Write the term or acronym: JHR Write the term or acronym: eJudiciary Explain the term or acronym: middleware product Explain the term or acronym: Joiners, Movers, Leavers Explain the term or acronym: Judicial Office Holders Explain the term or acronym: Global Address List Explain the term or acronym: Judicial HR Explain the term or acronym: Judicial Office 365 / Azure tenant Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 300000 Indicative minimum: 100000 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 The Judicial Office (JO) has a requirement for the redevelopment and redesign of the current Judicial eLinks middleware service with the intention of improvements to infrastructure, code, behaviour, UI and functionality. The middleware is currently a bespoke application owned by the Judicial Office but developed an supported by the incumbent supplier. The solution proposed by the successful supplier can be a redesign of a current middleware or a brand new product to achieve the functional and non-functional requirements of the project. Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Why the work is being done eLinks is a bespoke middleware application built on a PostgreSQL database using Ruby as the code base. The PaaS is provided by Heroku using a Private Space. eLinks ingests a limited data set of JML data from the Judicial HR application (also built on Ruby/Rails) and pushes data via several APIs to downstream consumers, including Azure AD for the creation and revocation of judicial email addresses. The new service needs to be live by 30th April 2024. The business problem you need to solve Judicial HR data is complex. There are multiple appointments across the Courts and Tribunals judiciary which a JOH can hold simultaneously. The middleware needs to ensure synchronicity with the appointments and their hierarchy for JML automated account creation and update processes. The middleware has evolved to have a more complex UI than originally built, moving from a transitional application to more admin involvement to fix automation issues and data changes. The introduction of a new Judicial HR system away from a SaaS HR system has seen improvements to the API and data set. However further improvements and a different approach is required to bring the system back to the original vision of real time and accurate data which is transitional versus a full cached database with developed UI. There is an increase from areas of the JO and HMCTS for write capability to Judicial HR. Currently eLinks only puts the Object ID and eJudiciary address back via eLInks. There are currently 3 applications queued for writing fuller data sets back into JHR; a solution for this as part of the overall requirements will solve the issue of putting data back into JHR either via or outside of eLinks The goal is to remove as much human interaction and risk as possible via a secure and accurate JML automated process from start to finish with the downstream applications using a solution which meets the functional and non functional requirements. The service needs to connect to all current downstream and upstream applications/consumers by 30th April 2024 using all the Judicial HR data required by businesses and users at launch. First user type: Users Enter more details about this user type: There are currently 30 Admin users of the service with varying permissions. These are the supplier of the service, Judicial Digital Services admin users and Azure AD admin users. The future solution may not need this number of users dependent on the outcome of tender. All users are internal security cleared MOJ staff. Questions and Clarifications 1. You describe a Q&A session on the 12/9 which will be in response to supplier clarification questions submitted on the 8/9. Could you please provide more detail, i.e. will it be virtual or onsite, will all suppliers be invited, will there be a written response to all clarifications in addition to the Q&A? If you do intend to hold a meeting, could you please provide joining instructions etc? The Q&A session will be a virtual session on Tuesday 12th September at 10am. All suppliers are invited to attend. The session will be recorded for those who are unable to attend. Judicial Office will provide the overview of the requirement (no new information will be provided) and will answer all clarification questions. The answers to the questions will also be published via DOS6 portal before 5pm on 12th September 2023. Please use https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTIwMmFmODAtMmNjMS00NzFkLWE4NWYtMWMzMGNhMWE1Y2Nh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22c6874728-71e6-41fe-a9e1-2e8c36776ad8%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2295e0ba83-068e-4e4c-87cc-b39aa194ff44%22%7d to join the Q&A session. Meeting ID: 358 911 696 879 Passcode: XJ6hHk If you are experiencing issued joining the session, please email Ewelina Waskiewicz at ewelina.waskiewicz@justice.gov.uk Last Updated: 8 September 2023, 13:17 2. Could you please share recording of the Q&A session from 12th September 2023. The Q&A session recording can be accessed using below link. Please note this recording should not be shared with anyone outside your organisation and all information shared in the view are for the tender purpose only and should not be shared with anyone outside your organisation. The HD version of the recording will be ready by 14/09/23 and you will be able to access it using the same link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5q6FqvIB0 Last Updated: 13 September 2023, 15:56 3. Are question responses limited to 750 character count (including spaces) Phase 1 Guidance has been included in the attachments. The guidance is: Phase 1 Guidance (Responses to Essential and Nice-to-have skills) 1. Responses must be made in English. 2. Each response must not exceed 750 characters excluding spaces. 3. If you exceed the 750-character count in any response your application will be considered non-compliant and the any characters exceeding the maximum count will be disregarded by the evaluation panel. 4. You must be able to respond to all Essential skills and experience for your application to be considered. Last Updated: 12 September 2023, 12:03 4. MoSCoW values are missing from 'eLinks Functional Requirements v0.5' spreadsheet This will be re distributed with MoSCoW values- the FRs are all Must Haves Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:19 5. Can you please confirm if the proposed budget includes two years of managed service support as well as the development, or if there is a separate budget for support? Could you please provide a breakdown of the expected budget for development and managed support? 2 year contract covers build and live service support up to £300k Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:19 6. FRE.0411 What are the correlation reports? How are we determining whether the eLinks data is healthy or not? This a requirement and will be dependent on the solution.Correlation reports are reports to correlate data from multiple sources with a view to ascertaining its cross-system accuracy. The method of determining the health of the solution will be determined by the solution proposed. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:18 7. FRE.0185 Open question - Register JOH mover against appropriate publications (perhaps not necessary as dealt with under mover requirements) FRE.0185 and its children define the requirement. The mover flow indicates when it is called. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:17 8. FRE.0305/FRE.0306 Can you please shed some light on the record level & attribute level constraints in the People API? How are they correlated? More information will be provided during Q&A session on 12th September 2023. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:17 9. FRE.0038 We assume the following would be an additional scope outside of the current list of requirements: "There are potential future requirements to write further data upstream from eLinks to JHR. There should be scalability to do that on further discovery." Yes, we require the system to be flexible enough to accommodate change easily . Supplier will be expected to collaborate with Judical HR and other suppliers as needed. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:16 10. Why is there a difference In leaver processes for Mags and Fee Paid? What is the Leaver process for a Salaried JOH? Main difference is due to eJudiciary data retention policy and access to licenses and emails at different stages after they leave. Currently there is no automated leaver process for salaried JOH due to longer eJudiciary data retention policy. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:15 11. In the Enterprise Definitions, Leavers are mentioned for both the Appointment & for a JOH (more common). Can you please clarify this? An Appointment can be leavered. If JOH no longer has an active appointment they may also be leavered. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:14 12. Is there salaried to fee-paid transition/mover workflow? There is a requirement for this, we will need work with the supplier to scope this out. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:14 13. Is there any difference between Authorisation and Current office holder? Both have the same definitions in Enterprise Definitions? The definitions, as included in the Enterprise Definitions pdf are as follows:A Current Office Holder is a Judicial Office Holder that holds at least one Active appointment. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:11 14. Could you shed some light on how GOVdelivery, ej,jhr,jds,elinks interact in the enterprise? Where do they sit ? More information will be provided during Q&A session on 12th September 2023. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:10 15. FRE.0018 Can the authority provide any additional details on the GOVdelivery process that is followed in Judicial Office? Refer to the JML process flows at this stage. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:09 16. LGR-03 What is the scope of cryptographic controls? The scope is any cryptography used in the solution, or for communication to or from the solution, if applicable. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:04 17. SEC-11 What are the utility programs needs to be updated? Dependent on the solution that is proposed. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:04 18. What is JDS in JML process? Judicial Digital Services Team. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:04 19. What is eJ? Does this stand for ejudiciary? Where is this data hosted and/or if this is just a UI connecting to Azure AD? eJ stands for eJudiciary. It is an Azure Active Directory instance. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:03 20. BCK-07 What is ‘past expiry’ data? Past-expiry data is data that is past its expiry date. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:03 21. FRE.0038 What is Granicus GovDelivery API used for? Maintaining subscriptions to email/newsletters on behalf of the JOHs. It is a judicial communications tool. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 15:02 22. What is eJ? Does this stand for ejudiciary? Where is this data hosted and/or if this is just a UI connecting to Azure AD? eJ stands for eJudiciary. It is an Azure Active Directory instance. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:49 23. FRE.0038 What is Granicus GovDelivery API used for? Maintaining subscriptions to email/newsletters on behalf of the JOHs. It is a judicial communications tool. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:48 24. FRE.0142 What is the GAL format for JOH? Global Address List - the formatting of the JOHs name (and location) in eJ. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:48 25. In the response document, in the 'Nice to have' section, question 2: Please can you provide more detail about the infrastructure we need to integrate with and how much control/access we will have to do the integration work? Details will be provided during Q&A session on 12th September. The session will be recorded and shared with all suppliers afterwards. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:47 26. Question 4 of the response document, is this question correctly worded “Proven experience of building custom data requirements for complex data sets.” Or does this mean more “building custom solutions/features for complex data sets”? Yes Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:46 27. Question 5 of the response document, do you have any set quality criteria? Please provide examples where you have met this. Credit will be given on complexity and budget. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:46 28. Are questions 1 & 2 of the response document YES or NO answers only? We will accept Yes or No to FRs and NFRs at this stage. Fuller response will be requested further down the process. Points breakdown: 3 - exceeds the requirements - supplier answered yes to all must have requirements and all should have requirements 2 - meets the requirements - supplier answered yes to all must have requirement but may not have met all or some should have requirements 1 - partly meets the requirements - supplier answered no to one or more must have requirements Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:46 29. Who currently provides the Judicial HR system? Softwire Technology Limited Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:45 30. What are your transition expectations for this service? Will there be dual running required for this system? Who would be responsible for the current service during the transition? Our expectation is that running will be cut over. However, if you are proposing dual running we would like to understand why and how. The incumbent supplier is responsible for providing the service. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:44 31. We note that you were unable to realise real time and accurate data from the new Judicial HR system - could you share the issues that were encountered? There is a new Judicial HR system, we are improving data integration between eLinks and Judicial HR. Judical joiners, movers and leavers process is complex as it does not follow traditional HR structure. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:43 32. We are also struggling to identify any real time data requirements in the Requirements. Are the Requirements from your current provider? Do the Functional and Non-Functional Requirements fully align to your vision for the Judicial eLinks project? eJudiciary integration and Granicus integration must be in real-time. The requirements are from Judicial Office and fully align to the JO vision for eLinks project. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:43 33. What is the definition of done for this work? Live, migrated, all FRs and NFRs delivered. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:42 34. Can Must have Functional and Non-Functional requirements applicable to the initial development scope be clearly identified (some of them would seem to apply to a run/operate scope)? These are the requirements, there will be a Q&A session on the 12th of September to clarify. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:41 35. Will there be a separate tender for the run phase – what is the likely period and budget for that? No, initial contract will be for 2 Years and up to 1 Year extension Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:41 36. Is there a period of running the service expected in the defined budget – if so, what is the period and what is the service scope? Yes- Live Service Support required for 11 months from 1st of May 2024- 31st March 2025 Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:40 37. Does the budget include the cloud costs to run the environment – a number of the NFRs discuss the “supplier” providing environments? Yes Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:39 38. What level of detail are you expecting for Questions 1 & 2 in the "Must Have" section, as a response could be as brief as a yes/no answer? Does writing Yes score maximum points? Does this include Should requirements or just Must? We will accept Yes or No to FRs and NFRs at this stage. Fuller response will be requested further down the process. Points breakdown: 3 - exceeds the requirements - supplier answered yes to all must have requirements and all should have requirements 2 - meets the requirements - supplier answered yes to all must have requirement but may not have met all or some should have requirements 1 - partly meets the requirements - supplier answered no to one or more must have requirements Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:38 39. We intend to respond to each question individually with clear labelling linking your question to our response. Are you happy with this approach as it may amend the format you provided which was a table row where suppliers answer all questions within the one row? Keep the format- Yes or No at this stage. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:38 40. What event is driving a go-live date of the 30th April 2024 (in section "Why the work is being done")? Whilst this date presents no issues, we would be interested in understanding the imperatives to make sure they are recognised, considered and addressed appropriately. The current contract expires 30th April 2024. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:36 41. What is meant by fee-paid in the functional requirements section? Are you looking for an integration product to replace elinks? or open to solutions that best fit the requirement including the replacement? Is there any diagram representing the current integrations enabled by elinks? Is there a specific requirement which led to developing a bespoke middleware solution? Fee-paid is a type of contract, in opposition to Salaried, and indicates that a JOH is paid for individual sessions, rather than receiving a salary. The intention is not to specifically favour an integration product above any other solution; any solution which meets the Functional and Non-Functional requirements will be considered. A diagram regarding the current integrations will be made available shortly. The requirement for the current solution was as a result of a combination of a need to present data in a more bespoke manner, the use of SaaS solutions in various parts of the overall landscape in a manner that prevented fulfilment of orchestration functionality and decoupling of data-consuming applications and integration points from the data sources. Last Updated: 11 September 2023, 14:35