Homes England - Help to Buy Transformation

Tender description

Pre-market engagement None undertaken. Work done so far Discovery phase completed with identification of service risks and potential design approaches. Which phase the project is in Alpha Existing team • Homes England’s Help to Buy Team • Homes England’s Digital Team • Internal stakeholders including Change, Legal, Risk, and Data teams • External stakeholders (e.g. MHCLG and GDS) The supplier is expected to work within Homes England’s governance structures, using agreed collaboration tools, primarily MS Office 365. Address where the work will be done Primarily remote, with occasional onsite work at Homes England offices as required Working arrangements • Blended delivery with Homes England specialists • Onsite presence as required, but mainly remote working • Use of Homes England platforms (Teams, SharePoint) • Working in the open, regular show and tells • Regular reporting to Programme Board and stakeholders Provide more information about your security requirements: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Latest start date 2025-10-01 Enter the expected contract length: 6 months Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 750000 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 supplier will work in partnership with Homes England to: • Build upon the Discovery to further research business and user needs • Investigate options to reduce operational, data and service risks relating to Help to Buy Equity Loans • Conduct User Research, design, prototype, and test design options for a Customer Digital Interface (CDI) to resolve the issues identified in Discovery • Assess feasibility of an Integration Layer or suitable alternative between CDI and existing systems • Develop a Contact engagement and Data Improvement proposal aligned to the Homes England Data Strategy • Design a target operating model and associated commercial options • Align deliverables with the future reprocurement of the third-party Mortgage Administrator (MA) Expected Alpha Phase Outcomes: • A clear understanding of user needs, including accessibility and assisted digital requirements, supported by robust user research. • Working prototypes (non-production code) developed and tested with users to explore service design options and usability. • Key hypotheses tested and critical assumptions validated (or disproved), to reduce uncertainty ahead of Beta. • A proposed end-to-end user journey, showing how the service will interact with other relevant services (or rationale if no integration is required). • An assessment of technical feasibility, including architecture, integration points, constraints, and dependencies. • Recommendations for Private Beta, including priority features, scope, and lessons learned from Alpha. • A delivery plan for Beta, covering team structure, timelines, success criteria, and indicative costs. • Delivery of a robust, quality (HMT Green Book) Outline Business Case which includes evidence to justify progressing to Private Beta, and based on user needs, tested assumptions, technology fit, and risk reduction. • Successfully pass a Government Service Standard Alpha assessment, demonstrating how each point of the Service Standard has been met. Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Who is the organisation using the products or services Homes England Why the work is being done Discovery identified serious operational, data, and service risks within the legacy Help to Buy servicing arrangements. These include outdated manual processes, lack of system interoperability, data quality issues, and a reliance on a single third-party administrator. The Alpha phase aims to test potential solutions, validate delivery approaches, and inform a sustainable, modern service model. The business problem you need to solve • High-risk legacy service model unfit for long-term sustainability • Customer experience not meeting user needs or government standards • Urgent need to test digital service options, integration approaches, and data strategy • Inform future procurement of a replacement Mortgage Administrator First user type: • Customer (Homebuyer) First user type: • Conveyancer First user type: • Homes England Operations Team