BEIS 281022AG Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) web solution

Tender description

Summary of the work The current solution used for reporting and publication of information from ESOS participants (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos#complete-an-esos-assessment) is not user friendly and requires a modern replacement. Further activity may be required to facilitate public disclosure of ESOS audits. This is for Discovery and Alpha phases of the project. Expected Contract Length 6 weeks for Discovery Phase and 8 weeks for Alpha. Latest start date Monday 5 December 2022 Budget Range The overall contract value (Discovery and Alpha) is £434,250 (ex VAT). The potential to extend the project to Alpha is dependent on the outcome of the Discovery phase . Why the Work is Being Done The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) requires large organisations to appoint an ESOS Lead Assessor to carry out a mandatory audit of their energy consumption at least every four years, to provide them with recommendations on how they can increase their energy efficiency in order to achieve carbon and cost savings. The current solution used for reporting and publication of information from ESOS participants (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos#complete-an-esos-assessment) is not user friendly and requires a modern replacement. This solution should allow, as a minimum, ESOS participants to submit compliance data and audit results and recommendations digitally and stored in an online account. This would form the basis of Phase 1 of this project. Following a public consultation, the Government set out its intention to require public disclosure of all, or part of, ESOS participants’ performance data on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and commitments to take action on ESOS recommendations. This requirement is subject to further legislation and as such would form Phase 2 of this project. This Discovery and Alpha project will test this hypothesis and establish whether a digital service would deliver on those aims. Problem to Be Solved The current solution used by ESOS participants (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos#complete-an-esos-assessment) to register their information is not user friendly and requires a modern replacement. This solution should allow ESOS participants to submit their audit results and recommendations recorded digitally and stored in an online account. This would form the basis of Phase 1 of this project. There is currently no requirement for organisations to take forward recommendations that they receive as a result of ESOS assessments. Public disclosure of information from ESOS reports is intended to encourage organisations to take action to implement recommendations, by allowing businesses to compare their performance on energy and carbon savings to that of others within their business sector in order to generate business-to-business competition, and have their performance held to account by the public, which will increase the reputational pressure to take action. We will need a team with user research and technical digital expertise to learn more about: - user context and the wider user journey - how a disclosure requirement would drive action to take forward ESOS recommendations - constraints eg due to existing processes/systems, legacy technology, or legislation - opportunities to improve eg re-use of information that is already collected Who Are the Users • As the compliance officer/ energy manager / environmental and sustainability manager etc responsible for arranging ESOS audits for my organisation, I need to upload information from ESOS reports to the scheme administrator's portal, so that some, or all, of it can be publicly disclosed. I need to be able to update published information to record progress on commitments to action made by my organisation. • As a board level director (or individual with management control) who signs off ESOS reports for my organisation, I need to allow my organisation to track its performance on ESOS and compare the information with that of other organisations. • As a citizen, I need to be able to search and access certain information from ESOS reports (in addition to compliance information) that are made publicly available, so that I can hold organisations to account on their energy and carbon performance. • As a compliance body, I need to monitor compliance and carry out enforcement activities using submitted information. • As an interested Government department, I need to use the information to assess and monitor the scheme’s effectiveness, including on contributing to UK net zero commitments, security of supply and reduction of energy demand Early Market Engagement None undertaken Work Already Done Government consultation on ESOS https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strengthening-the-energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos Existing Team The team consists of policy and analytical professionals, whose work on ESOS is project managed via an internal BEIS board. The board is attended by policy officials for other non-domestic energy and carbon saving government schemes, and by representatives from the Environment Agency, the scheme administrator for ESOS. Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Please give an example of your experience in understanding and framing the problem to be solved in Discovery. • Demonstrate, using an example your teams experience in delivering evidence-based research to inform a user-centred design in Discovery, focused on user needs and end-to-end user journeys. • Demonstrate your ability to identify and test assumptions in Alpha through prototyping and iteration. • Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey • Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey • Detail, with an example, your experience of identifying improvements in the user journey and opportunities to reuse data in Discover or Alpha. • Demonstrate your teams understanding of legal, contractual, legacy technology and process and system constraints. • Demonstrate, using an example, your teams experience in using robust metrics, analytics, search data and user feedback to audit and define key content and services • Detail your teams experience of leading a Discovery/Alpha Phase in the public sector, and working with teams with no/limited experience of Agile Nice to Haves Working with a complex Government department Work Location BEIS Offices: 1 Victoria St, London SW1H 0ET, although work will take place remotely. Working Arrangments The supplier would be able to work fully remotely. The BEIS team expects to work in the office 40 - 60% of the time, and the rest remotely. Security Clearance BPSS as a minimum Additional T&Cs None No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Describe the approach and methodology you will apply to Discovery and Alpha, including: identifying and managing risks, assumptions and dependencies; determining priorities;, presenting emerging findings, building prototypes • How the structure of ther technical skills and experience of the team will be used to deliver the requirement, i estimated resource,time allocation for each resource dedicated to the project • A project plan with proposed timelines for mobilisation and delivery, including how you will collaborate with us and develop a full discovery report • How your proposal provides value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Detail how you will proactively engage with stakeholders to progress a project and communicating in an appropriate manner for the audience • Detail how you will work with the team in a way that is open, honest, constructive and collaborative • Detail how you will manage the need of responding to change during the Discovery phase • Demonstrate how your team will work successfully with us as part of a multi-disciplinary team working remotely (and when required in the London office). • Demonstrate how your team will work with us in an open, collaborate and agile way according to the principles outlined in the Government Service Design Manual. • Explain how you will transfer technical know-how and address capability gaps in our team during the project Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Work history • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 10% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you please confirm IR35 determination for this opportunity? Off-payroll (IR35) determination Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply 2. Is there expected to be an assessment at the end of Discovery? Yes, we will need an assessment to be completed prior to the end of Discovery to allow Alpha phase to be realised. 3. Is there a break expected between Discovery and Alpha phase, if it is determined to move forward? Yes, there will be a break between Discovery & Alpha. This may discount moving to Alpha based on outcomes of Discovery. 4. Is a break expected between Discovery and Alpha phase to determine if it is to move forward? Yes, there will be a break between Discovery & Alpha. This may discount moving to Alpha based on outcomes of Discovery. 5. The start date is identified as the 5 December 2022. Will suppliers be granted access to user groups considering the festive holiday period? We expect suppliers to use the time pre-Christmas to arrange for user sessions to be planned etc for Jan 23. 6. Please can you confirm if the team will be scheduled/expected to work over the Christmas period or will the project pause? It is likely that some key BEIS stakeholders will not be available but again we would expect supplier to use the time to arrange activity to start in January 2023. The supplier will also need to consider internal and project resource and annual leave requirements. 7. Please can you provide a timeline indicating the dates on which you intend to notify suppliers they have been shortlisted, the submission deadline for Stage 2, and the date of award etc.? We intend to notify shortlisted suppliers on 16th Nov with the submission of stage 2 on 25th Nov, presentations on 30th and award a day or so later. 8. Please can you confirm whether Stage 1 scores will be carried over and used as part of the evaluation at Stage 2? No, they are separate stages and will be scored independently. 9. In Q6 you refer to “opportunities to reuse data”. Can you explain what type of data you are envisaging here – e.g. is it migration of data from legacy systems; use of historical live data to test and aid development; existing user research data; or some other? his refers to the migration of existing scheme data and also to the use of data submitted by users for other government schemes. 10. This question is repeated. Is there another question or do we answer this twice or just once? Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 11. As the following question has been posted twice, would you prefer that we use the same answer for both or put N/A for the second one? ‘Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey’ Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 12. Questions 4 and 5 are identical, and both read: “Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey”.Do we skip one, or are you expecting a longer (up to 200-word) answer using both spaces? Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 13. For Question 1: “Please give an example of your experience in understanding and framing the problem to be solved in Discovery.”Are you asking how we identified the goals that the Discovery was then to achieve?Or are you asking how the Discovery findings/result helped to define the problem that the service was trying to resolve? From your experience, show how the Discovery findings/result helped you to define the problem that the service was trying to resolve? 14. Please can you clarify what is meant by re use of data in question 5? This refers to the migration of existing scheme data and also to the use of data submitted by users for other government schemes. 15. You have duplicated:Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journeyCould you confirm if this needs to be changed or if we should insert an n/a? Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 16. Hiya, Question 4 & 5- “Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey” is same.Is that a misprint and you have another question or is it alright to respond to just one of them? Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 17. With respect to the criteria “Demonstrate, using an example, your teams experience in using robust metrics, analytics, search data and user feedback to audit and define key content and services”Can you clarify what you mean by search data, is this analytics of what users are searching for? If so where are they conducting serarches, in the current ESOS solution? To confirm, the analytics of what users are searching for. Currently, the ability to search for information is very limited and needs to be updated to modern search functionality. We also wish to increase the volume of information on the system with new datasets. The new solution should have the ability to be searched, filtered and reports generated by any interested party across all published data, most of which will reside within the new solution. 18. With respect to the criteria “Demonstrate your teams understanding of legal, contractual, legacy technology and process and system constraints.”Do you place equal weighting for all potential constraints, or do you expect one to be more dominant (e.g. system constraints)?Are you looking for an example of how we have conducted analysis to determine these constraints, or are you looking to assess our current understanding of these constraints? Provide examples on how your team identified, understood and worked with different project constraints (such as those shown) in respect of a similar project you have completed. There is no dominance on weightings and we do not expect you to assign importance to any one of the examples. We want to see your approach to how you will work with constraints in general. 19. With respect to the criteria “Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey”Is this repeated intentionally? Are you expecting 2 different examples or is it a duplicate/error? Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A 20. Is there a missing word to follow “in”, in Q4, or please clarify its meaning – “Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem in eg via consideration of the wider user journey”? This should read “Demonstrate ability to consider and solve the whole problem eg in consideration of the wider user journey”? 21. Regarding the response criteria at Stage 2, please can you confirm that the Work History, Presentation and each of the 4 points listed in the Proposal Criteria section will be equally weighted within the 50% allocated to Technical Competence within the evaluation? Correct, equal weightings will be applied across each competency. 22. Please can you provide a timeline indicating the dates on which you intend to notify suppliers they have been shortlisted, the submission deadline for Stage 2, and the date of award etc.? We intend to notify shortlisted suppliers 16th Nov with the submission of stage 2 on 25th Nov, presentations on 30th and award a day or so later. 23. Please can you confirm if suppliers are required to provide a Product Owner and/or Service Owner? Or alternatively, would this role be provided by BEIS? We expect the supplier to provide a Product Manager and Delivery Manager. BEIS will have a Service Owner/Product Owner for oversight and product vision. 24. 1. Could you please confirm which directorate/department of BEIS that this works falls under?2. Could you please confirm/explain how this opportunity relates to other recent service design opportunities published by BEIS on DOS in the Net Zero/Sustainability area? E.g. https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/18311, (CHPQA) https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/18041, (Clean Heat Market Mechanism)https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/digital-outcomes-and-specialists/opportunities/18036 (Heat Network Zoning (HNZ)) etc. Net Zero Buildings, Portfolio and Affordability Directorate.This is a discrete project not aligned at this stage with any other opportunity. 25. Could we request some information on the tech stack we will need to take into consideration for this project? Discovery should identify the tech stack for this solution. 26. Can you confirm if the supplier can work fully remotely for delivery of this contract? The statements below are somewhat ambiguous. “Address where the work will take place BEIS Offices: 1 Victoria St, London SW1H 0ET, although work will take place remotely.”“Demonstrate how your team will work successfully with us as part of a multi-disciplinary team working remotely (and when required in the London office).”“The supplier would be able to work fully remotely. The BEIS team expects to work in the office 40 – 60% of the time, and the rest remotely.” Have rewritten- “Our BEIS Office address: 1 Victoria St, London SW1H 0ET, although it is expected that the majority of the supplier's work will take place remotely.”“The supplier would be expected to work fully remotely. The internal BEIS team expects to work in the office 40 – 60% of the time, and the rest remotely. There may be occasions where we work together at our London offices and will be arranged between the parties”“Demonstrate how your team will work successfully with us as part of a multi-disciplinary team working remotely (and when required in the London office).” 27. The given budget appears to suggest a much larger project than what is detailed in the requirement, please could you clarify how the budget was calculated? This is a maximum budget based on previous projects that have a full complement of suppliers staff across the time allocated for Discovery and Alpha phases. Again, this is a maximum budget for both stages. 28. Essential criteria 4 and 5 are identical. Do you require two examples or is this an error? Q5 is a duplicate please respond with N/A. 29. Please can you confirm whether Stage 1 scores will be carried over and used as part of the evaluation at Stage 2? They are separate stages and will be scored independently with Stage 2 being weighted against the criteria listed. 30. "With respect to the criteria “Detail, with an example, your experience of identifying improvements in the user journey and opportunities to reuse data in Discover or Alpha.” What data are you referring to in this question?Is it the findings from the Discovery, expected to be carried forward into Alpha, or from Alpha into Beta?Or does this refer to live data in current systems which needs to be reused in the future solution?" This refers to the migration of existing scheme data and also to the use of data submitted by users for other government schemes.