Awarded to SPIKA Limited

Start date: Tuesday 1 October 2109
Value: £139,400
Company size: SME

BRITISH ARMY

DInfoCom/0074 - PROVISION OF REVISED TICKETING SERVICE FOR THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY PARADE

7 Incomplete applications

5 SME, 2 large

4 Completed applications

4 SME, 0 large

• Published: Friday 12 July 2019
• Deadline for asking questions: Friday 19 July 2019 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 26 July 2019 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: A secure online electronic ticketing system to facilitate all ticket applications for The Queen's Birthday Parade, Colonel's Review and Major General's Review. This system is to be secure web-based that is backed up to at least one server located in the UK.; A COPY OF THE STATEMENT OBTAIN FROM: pauline.hewish662@mod.gov.uk
• Latest start date: Monday 16 September 2019
• Expected contract length: 2-years
• Location: No specific location, eg they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: BRITISH ARMY

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The Queen's Birthday Parade (QBP) is the major annual State Ceremonial event in June for which tickets are allocated both to the Permanent Allocation List (PAL) and the general public. The PAL consists of Royal Palaces, Other Government Departments (OGDs) including the Prime Minister's Office, embassies and UK military formation HQs. On the two weekends prior to the QBP, full dress rehearsal parades are undertaken (Reviews) for which similar ticketing arrangements are made, these are known as the Colonel's Review and the Major General's Review. The seating capacity for each event is 6500, split between the public allocation and PAL.
• Problem to be solved: A secure on-line electronic system in order for Permanent Allocation List (PAL) and the general public to buy tickets for the QBP, the Colonel's Review and the Major General's Review. The supplier is required to hold Cyber Essentials and comply with General Data Protection Regulations.; All monies received from the sale of the tickets are to be held securely and paid back to the Authority within 10 days after the conclusion of the QBP.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: London District and Army HQ.
• Existing team: London District have a team working within the Household Division who will work with the supplier
• Current phase: Live

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: Off-site and on-site. When on-site Horse Guards, London District
• Working arrangements: The Supplier shall not be supervised, directed or controlled regarding how the services are delivered. The Supplier shall use its own equipment where security requirements permit and is expected to provide the services on such hours/days as required to meet any deadlines, as agreed between the Supplier and the Authority. The Supplier shall provide the necessary resources to support the Services which shall include one or more specialists in the delivery of digital outcomes. The Supplier must have the necessary office facilities to support their own off-site working.
• Security clearance: Majority of the work will be completed off-site therefore no SC will be required for those personnel, however all work completed on-site will be completed at the OFFICIAL classification level. Security Clearance (SC) will be required for each worker for the duration of the contract who is to work on-site.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: DEFCON 5J (Edn 18/11/16) Unique Identifiers, DEFCON 76 (Edn 12/06) Contractors on site, DEFCON 129J (Edn 18/11/16) Electronic business Delivery Form, DEFCON 513 (Edn 11/16) Value Added Tax, DEFCON 516 (Edn 04/12) Equality, DEFCON 518 (Edn 02/17) Transfer, DEFCON 531 (Edn 11/14) Disclosure of Information, DEFCON 534 (Edn 06/17) Subcontracting/Prompt Payment, DEFCON 537 (Edn 06/02) Rights of Third Parties, DEFCON 550 (Edn 02/14) Child Labour/Employment Law, ; DEFCON 566 (Edn 12/18) Change of control of contractor, DEFCON 642 (Edn 06/14) Progress meetings, DEFCON 658 (Edn 10/17) Cyber (if over Not Applicable), DEFCON 694 (Edn 07/18) Accounting for Property of the Authority

Skills and experience

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

• Essential skills and experience:
  • Experience of delivering against the Digital Service Standard
  • Provision/management of website for overall ticketing process whereby Public applications can be registered, information and guidance can be provided
  • The website shall have the facility to be linked to the official Army webpage
  • Booking facility within which the successful applicants and PAL persons can choose and pay for their seats online
  • Requirement to make changes to accommodate additional PAL and/or public tickets at short notice. In the event of surplus tickets becoming available, previously unsuccessful applicants should be offered them
  • The provider should have extensive, tried and tested experience in operating such services for large high profile events similar to the requirement
  • Retained data to be secured and kept in a safe environment as well as be made available to the poc for the Household Div on request
  • Cyber Essential certified
  • Must be a facility for Civilian staff from HQ HDiv to access the site (Admin site) to enable and action queries from the Public and PAL
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Dedicated operator(s) to enable applicants to purchase tickets by phone - preferred operating times 1400hrs - 1600hrs
  • Limit ticket purchases from same IP address to one transaction for the QBP only
  • Enable applicants to register via phone
  • Applicants details stored via phone
  • Facility for ticket collection
  • ISO 27001 certification

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 4
• Proposal criteria:
  • Experience of providing a broad range of similar resources (based on the various role types required)
  • Approach and methodology to ensure appropriately skilled resources are provided in a timely manner
  • Approach and methodology in planning and managing the delivery of the various work packages
  • Flexibility/Interoperability during the planning stages of the event and be able to adjust to any emerging demands, with the supplier being close at hand
  • Value for Money
  • Case Study to be provided detailing similar work undertaken
  • Detail how you would register applications, run ballot and communicate results with both successful and unsuccessful applicants (QBP only), along with offering seats to other events to unsuccessful applicants
  • Explain how you would ensure PAL list have a limited time to procure tickets after which (e.g. 30 days before the event) they will go on sale to the public
  • Provide details of how Ticket dispatch process either by electronic PDF tickets or post for Souvenir hard copies (options to be understood and considered) will be undertaken
  • Provide details whereby successful applicants/PAL list can be allocated a seat e.g. a code. All PAL applicants will also be given a code to purchase their individual tickets
  • Requirement to make changes to accommodate additional PAL and/or public tickets at short notice. In the event of surplus tickets becoming available, previously unsuccessful applicants should be offered them
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Ability to work with MOD and understanding the constraints within current working environments
  • High degree of adaptability to ensure that the product is delivered in a timely manner but with the understanding of the nature of the personalities
  • Transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • Has a no-blame culture and encourages people to learn from their mistakes
  • Ability to demonstrate transparency with the poc for the Household Div
  • Willingness to share technical knowledge/experience with the organisation
  • No commercial allegiance to any technology vendor
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Will you support the SC process?: If this means Security Clearance for access to the Building then Yes our SO2 Security will clear this
• 2. Can you confirm the budget please?: The Authority has a confirmed budget, but to ensure that we obtain Value for Money, we are not in a position to divulge any figures
• 3. We would be very happy to be involved in performance testing the ticketing service. We have done this for Royal Historic Palaces for the high demand of tickets at Tower Bridge for the Poppies display, and for the Tate Museum. This is to ensure the web application can cope with the peak demand without crashing: Going off previous years and Google Analytics our site saw:; 95,775 users visited the site; From a total of 160 countries; Majority (80%) from the UK; 70% of users used a mobile device or tablet; Average session duration of 3 mins; Nearly 50% of users used an iOS device, followed by 23% using a windows device, then 21% using an android device
• 4. ISO27001 - We currently are not certified but are in the process of being certified with the aim to be completed in September. Can we answer 'yes' to this question if we can provide evidence from the accrediting body that we are undertaking ISO27002 certification: As it is a nice-to-have skills and experience, we would accept confirmation that you are working towards your certification, but you must be accredited upon contract award or shortly after.
• 5. Please can you give an indication of the budget that has been allocated to this project?: The Authority has a confirmed budget, but to ensure that we obtain Value for Money, we are not in a position to divulge any figures
• 6. Are you looking for a bespoke solution or would an off-the-shelf ticketing platform be acceptable?: The system must be bespoke in order to facilitate the structure of the stands and the Permanent Allocation List which can change at short notice
• 7. Is there a preference/requirement for e-tickets or physical tickets to be issued. If physical, will the tickets be sent out by MoD staff or is it expected the supplier will undertake this responsibility?: There is a requirement for e-tickets, but the customer may request a physical ticket as a souvenir. The tickets are to be bar-coded so they can be scanned at the entrance gate. The supplier will be responsible for issuing the physical tickets (if requested by customer).
• 8. As a follow up to the response for clarification 7, which mentions that the physical tickets will be scanned at the entrance gate.Are you expecting the solution to provide this function and have the ability scan tickets or is there already a ticket scanning solution in place which we will need to interface (providing details of the ticket(s) barcode and other pertinent data)?: Yes, scanners are to be provided by the supplier. There must be the ability to scan all tickets and cross reference onto the database to prevent tickets being reproduced. The pdf tickets and souvenir hard tickets are all to be bar-coded and scanned at any of the 4 entry points.