Digital Travel Diary for the National Travel Survey (NTS) - Public Beta

Tender description

Summary of the work Conduct Beta in line with GDS criteria to develop and maintain service which would enable a digital diary to collect better quality data, reduce respondent/interviewer burden and create processing efficiencies compared to the current paper diary for the National Travel Survey. Developments should be based on identified user needs. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date Wednesday 14 December 2022 Budget Range Up to £800k exclusive of VAT for public beta, including development of backlog items, new features, and ongoing maintenance. Why the Work is Being Done The National Travel Survey is one of DfT’s key data sources. It gathers data from 30,000 participants annually, via interviews and a 7-day travel diary. Data is collected continuously, using well-established and longstanding processes. This work concerns transforming the existing paper diary into a digital format. Following recommendations at Discovery, Alpha tested numerous features in a prototype digital diary. During Beta, the incumbent supplier Ghost Digital Ltd has built on this research to develop an MVP, ready for use with the survey’s participants. The service has passed Beta assessment along with all other required assurance gates. User testing with members of the public and NatCen has identified a number of further features and developments which are needed to ensure the digital diary’s successful integration into the NTS, planned for 2024. This development is expected to continue throughout the term of the contract. The overall objective will be to maintain and develop a service which is integrated with NatCen processes, collects better quality data, reduces burden and increases efficiencies compared to the paper diary. Problem to Be Solved Maintain and develop the digital travel diary service. There is a development backlog which needs to be taken forward. Engagement with NatCen identified further features necessary to ensure proper and smooth integration with their systems and to meet identified users’ needs, such as a dashboard area for survey data coders. Throughout 2023, NatCen will lead a large-scale test with up to 7,000 members of the public, meaning the diary will require routine maintenance throughout, plus any further necessary developments identified in the testing phases. It is expected that the digital diary will become a full part of the NTS from January 2024, from which point development is expected to focus on enhancements to the service (for example, pre-coding of free text boxes which capture information on journey purpose, origin and destination). Deployment of enhancements will need to be carefully managed to ensure alignment with on-going survey fieldwork and minimise impact on data consistency over time. As the service moves into collecting live data it will require routine maintenance to ensure it continues to adhere to the following standards: Technology code of practice https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-technology-code-of-practice Digital Service standard https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard Architectural principles Shared at stage 2 if shortlisted NCSC guidelines https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-minimum-cyber-security-standard/the-minimum-cyber-security-standard Accessibility https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps Who Are the Users Survey participants (30,000 per year) Need to be able to easily enter details about their travel, with minimal burden. Survey Interviewers (300) Need to be able to onboard and assist participants with filling in the diary, to be able to check and amend the data. Survey coders Need to be able to check and amend data at household level, and to assign codes to fields which require this. NatCen operational staff and analysts Need to allocate survey households to interviewers and amend their assignments, to retrieve diary data via API, to link diary data to interview responses, and integrate it with data collected on paper. Data users/analysts DfT use NTS data to inform their evidence base for transport planning and policy initiatives. The data must be of high quality and capture the same information as existing diaries. Data is also used by other public bodies and academics and they need to be confident in the data and understand similarities and differences to existing data. Early Market Engagement None. Work Already Done The Discovery and Alpha reports are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-developments-for-the-nts Please email Darren.shaddick@dft.gov.uk to request the Beta Report. Existing Team DFT will provide; - Product Manager and Service Owner, who are statisticians - Assurance from Digital Service - Hosting Environment (GCP) The supplier will provide all resource required to deliver the project. Resource for survey fieldwork (including interviewers, coders and research staff) is provided under contract to the National Centre for Social Research, who are engaged on integrating the digital diary into their processes. The supplier will be expected to liaise with Natcen staff as needed. Current Phase Beta Skills & Experience • Demonstrable evidence of successful beta phases in line with GDS standards for a government department, including passing a GDS beta service assessment. • Demonstrable evidence of successfully designing and testing digital collection methods via simple web browser with a diverse mix of users. • Demonstrable evidence delivery of secure and robust solutions using google cloud platform. • Demonstrable evidence of experience of modelling and building different data structures to meet differing data requirements. • Demonstrable evidence of experience of using data validation methods including using master and reference data to improve data quality during the process of data collection, transformation and analysis. • Demonstrable evidence of experience of processing personal data and compliance with GDPR, including having suitably trained staff and the required security and technical controls. Nice to Haves • Demonstrable evidence of experience in designing digital solutions which are transport related. • Demonstrable evidence of experience in designing digital solutions which are survey related. Work Location The majority of the work will be conducted at the supplier’s own site (or other chosen location). Meetings between the supplier and the DfT NTS team, and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen; main survey contractor) will primarily be conducted remotely. Conducting of user research and attendance of training and briefing events may require travel around the UK. No Travel rates will be incurred within the M25 corridor and for any outside M25 The Department’s Travel Rates will apply. Working Arrangments Suppliers should provide their preferred approach within their proposals; exact milestones and Statements of Work will be agreed with appointed supplier. The service will operate 24/7 and the supplier will need to respond promptly when issues occur. The supplier should provide weekly status updates to DfT. Solution to be hosted on DfT’s Google Cloud platform, needs to align to DfT’s Digital and Technology Strategy and follow Architecture Principles & Standards. Knowledge to be transferred to DfT to ensure long-term resilience. Source code to be made available via DfT’s Github. All reports for publication to be provided in accessible format. Security Clearance Security Clearance - SC Additional T&Cs N/A No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrable evidence of defining the approach/methodology to beta project planning and delivery. Identify the main stages and activities proposed at each stage (20%). • Demonstrable evidence of how the approach or solution will deliver the projects objectives (10%). • Demonstrable evidence of the Technical solution (10%). • Demonstrable evidence of how risks and dependencies have been identified and what approaches have been offered to manage and mitigate them (5%). • Detailed resource plan – demonstrating how in-house, supplier and external resource will be used and at what stage (5%). • Demonstrable evidence of implementing digital systems efficiently when building/redesigning end to end solutions in organisations of comparable scale (5%). • Demonstrable experience in designing/developing end to end solutions (including front and back end) through a range of previous work for customers on a similar scale (5%). • Demonstrable evidence of when you have implemented a digital system of comparable scale and obtained value for money outcomes for the customer (5%). Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrable evidence of experience of working as a team with central government and other suppliers to deliver a digital service (5%). • Demonstrable evidence of experience of taking responsibility for their work and resolving problems effectively (5%). Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 10% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. Suppliers, please note the following when applying for this opportunity. This will imply throughout the application process. Special characters, commas and punctuation marks must only be used in accordance with standard English.Any bidder that uses any form of non-standard English to circumnavigate word limits, shall be non-compliant and shall be excluded from further consideration.For-example-this-will-be-classed-as-non-compliant. 2. Please could you clarify the role of Ghost Digital. Are they an incumbent? If not, where does their work end and the new to-be supplier start? Does Ghost Digital have the skills and knowledge to deliver the next stage of requirements? DfT can confirm Ghost Digital are the incumbent – a handover has been factored into timelines, should a new supplier be successful. Any supplier who feels they can meet the requirements can apply. 3. In the context of “Demonstrable evidence of experience of modelling and building different data structures to meet differing data requirements.”, would it be possible to give some examples of the types of data requirements you are referring to here? In the Digital Travel Diary, we are looking to capture data at a record level capturing a variety of different variables. The data structures are complex, with a person having multiple trips and trips having multiple stages, and different household members making the same trips. The data needs to be securely and pseudonymously linked to that held on another system, combined with and comparable to data collected on paper, and interpretable to those quality assuring the data as a whole. We are looking for experience in capturing and handling data which is complex and meet the requirements of different users.