Awarded to VALCON GROUP UK LIMITED

Start date: Saturday 29 February 2020
Value: £4,400,000
Company size: SME
Home Office

C17164 – DSA 001 - Data Matching provision

7 Incomplete applications

6 SME, 1 large

1 Completed application

1 SME, 0 large

Important dates

Published
Thursday 21 November 2019
Deadline for asking questions
Thursday 28 November 2019 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Thursday 5 December 2019 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work
To provide skilled, data matching team to enable:

• Support and enhancement of existing IBM Big Match implementation to enable near to real-time matching.

• Expansion of data matching customer base, to match at scale and across multiple entity types.

• Continuous improvement of matching, including match accuracy, monitoring, reporting.
Latest start date
Friday 31 January 2020
Expected contract length
2 Years
Location
London
Organisation the work is for
Home Office
Budget range
• Any day-rates within the contract must not exceed £1000 (exc VAT)

•The Buyer does not anticipate SFIA level 6 or level 7 resources to be used for the delivery of this contract. Should the parties exceptionally agree any SFIA level 6 or level 7 resources for limited use (e.g. client workshops), the day-rates for such resources will remain under the cap of £1000 (exc VAT).

About the work

Why the work is being done
Data Services & Analytics (DSA) is a centralised service within DDaT’s Enterprise Services and has been at the forefront of efforts to re-imagine the department’s relationship with data. It has led the way in professionalising our approach to the acquisition and analysis of data, promoting dynamic insight-led and evidence-based decision-making tools and techniques. The Home Office Data Matching provision is fundamental to the DSA data platform and delivers on DSA’s vision to be at the leading edge of use of data analytics in Government.
Problem to be solved
The Data Matching services deal with a significant amount of data from a variety of sources which require ongoing support. The Home Office is looking for a partner supplier with specialist knowledge and experience of delivering data matching solutions in IBM Big Match. The Home Office has determined that it requires a supplier to provide this service with a view to bringing this in-house in the future.
Who the users are and what they need to do
Users are one of:

• Data Scientists and Data Analysts within the Home Office, who explore and use matched datasets to provide analysis, insight, reporting and data products for their customers, to support business operations, policy making and decision making.

• Users of the Enrichment Product, which integrates with the Matching Product.

• End business users, who use DSA data products to access the persisted matched data.
Early market engagement
None
Any work that’s already been done
The data matching provision has been running for over four years and has recently transitioned from an on-premise platform to cloud hosting of MDM Big Match. The supports;

• Bulk Cross Match – match/re-match all of the data held in the Person, Object, Location, Event database (POLE) and persist results into POLE

• Delta Match – the deltas against the matched entities in POLE and persist results into POLE.

• Wash – search for or “wash” entities against the matched data to return results without persisting in POLE

The entity types being processed span entities from Person, Object and Location.
Existing team
Existing team is composed of Product Manager and a specialist group of contract resource. The team run and monitor matching jobs, fix problems, and develop new matching components for around 30-40 data sets. The supplier is expected to stand up a team made of up of the specialist skills required to deliver the outcomes.

The incumbent service provider will continue to support the Data Matching service during a transition period. There is expected to be a one-month overlap with existing contract, which will allow handover and smooth transition from one contract arrangement to the new.
Current phase
Beta

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
Work will be carried out from a Home Office location primarily in Croydon. Occasional working from home may be permitted with agreement from Matching Product Manager and in line with Home Office policy.
Working arrangements
The supplier is expected to provide a team of specialists to deliver the outcomes. The supplier must be flexible and make working with a mixed team across multiple sites effective. Typically, we expect resources to be on site 5 days a week.

• Resources cannot charge more than 100 working days in any consecutive 6 months or more than 200 days in a year. Working patterns to be agreed by the buyer with the Supplier.

Travel to regional sites may be required, expenses incurred from travel outside of the M25/Greater London will be subject to HO Travel and Subsistence Policy.
Security clearance
All staff must hold or be prepared to undergo SC Security Clearance to operate on this project, (with willingness to acquire resources with NPPV3 and DV clearance)

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions
• The work will be progressed by a number of Statements of Work which may be fixed priced, T&M or Capped T&M as appropriate.

• Standard DOS framework and call-off terms & conditions.

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
  • Capable of analysing complex data, developing recommendations and presenting this back in a clear, concise convincing form to senior stakeholders.
  • Expertise in managing, configuring and improving IBM Big
  • Experience of working with sensitive data.
  • Experience of working with matching large-scale data in a cloud-hosted Production environment
  • Expertise of matching data across multiple data sources
  • Successful delivery of a data matching provision, including monitoring and reporting (evidenced with examples of complexity where appropriate).
  • Ability to manage and drive value for money of the existing service
  • Demonstrate a deep knowledge and understanding of the technology stack including: Java, Python, SAMZA, KAFKA, HBase & SQL
  • Experience of design/assurance of high-level and low-level designs for data matching.
  • Experience of working with sensitive data, classified as OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
  • Expertise in working with data based on the POLE model
Nice-to-have skills and experience
  • IBM Accredited
  • Experience of operating data matching in a cloud-hosted environment for similar organisations
  • Knowledge of legal and regulatory requirements relating to data matching in the public sector
  • Experience of Configuration of IBM Big Match on other accredited environments
  • Expertise in optimising a data matching service and responding to user feedback, with an emphasis on Analytical Quality Assurance

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

How many suppliers to evaluate
4
Proposal criteria
  • Approach and methodology
  • Approach and methodology
  • Service model
  • Mobilisation plan
  • A plan for optimising resources
  • Identification of risks and dependencies
Cultural fit criteria
  • Work collaboratively with all teams in Data Services and Analytics to ensure smooth handoffs in an environment of continuous improvements and changes
  • Ability to function effectively and collaborate in a multi-supplier environment
  • Working successfully in complex public sector organisations
  • Approach to proactive issue management, problem resolution and improving ways of working
Payment approach
Capped time and materials
Additional assessment methods
  • Work history
  • Presentation
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

5%

Price

35%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Advert clarifications
The following errors have been identified;

1. Essential Skills and Experience, suppliers are expected to have expertise in managing, configuring and improving IBM Big Match.
2. Nice-to-have skills and experience, the requirement SC clearance already in place was missed from the advert.
3. Proposal criteria. Suppliers will be evaluated using the following criterion;
• Approach and methodology
• Technical skills and experience
• Service model
• Mobilisation plan
• A plan for optimising resources
• Identification of risks and dependencies