Future of UK Freight, Department for Transport

Freight Mapping Tool Discovery

14 Incomplete applications

12 SME, 2 large

38 Completed applications

23 SME, 15 large

Published: Tuesday 21 January 2020
Deadline for asking questions: Tuesday 28 January 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications: Tuesday 4 February 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work: The winning supplier will be required to:
Deliver a Discovery report and presentation with analysis and supporting evidence
Deliver clear recommendations within the Discovery, and a plan for how to proceed with the recommendations
Pass the relevant internal and GDS assurance assessments relevant for a discovery phase project
Latest start date: Monday 2 March 2020
Expected contract length: 8-10 weeks
Location: London
Organisation the work is for: Future of UK Freight, Department for Transport
Budget range: £100-£150k excluding VAT

About the work

Why the work is being done: The UK freight sector operates very efficiently and has little direct government intervention. Action is needed to enable the UK’s freight networks to meet growing demands for fast deliveries while also reducing its impact on congestion and the environment. However, the lack of shared or open data on operational freight activity makes it difficult to formulate actions and/or policy changes.
Problem to be solved: • Scope user journeys and requirements for a freight data hub and freight mapping tool.
• How DfT freight strategy and policy decisions could be better driven by increased data availability, visibility and wider maturity.
• How the freight and logistics sector could benefit from more access to shared data.
• To review the data required, and its availability, and to outline proposals to make this data available to DfT and sector operators (and how barriers to access could be addressed).
• Scope for improvements to freight modelling and forecasting from increased availability of data.
• International comparisons (e.g. Australia’s National Freight Data Hub).
Who the users are and what they need to do: Primary users for the discovery in DFT will be Future of UK Freight (FoUKF) and the DfT Analytics and Data Division. In the Freight sector, there will be a range of users such as industry bodies and hauliers. Across government, there will be users such as the Department for International Trade and HMRC.

Ultimate users of the freight data hub and mapping tool would be central government departments and local/regional government to support government freight activity, based on an enhanced evidence base, as well as potentially the freight sector itself for opportunities for collaboration and greater operational efficiencies.
Early market engagement: N/A
Any work that’s already been done: An initial data/evidence gap analysis has been undertaken internally within DfT, along with a number of engagement sessions with industry stakeholders.
Existing team: A small, core Future of UK Freight team has been created with dedicated support from a data lead in the Analysis and Data Division and a dedicated freight analytical project manager. There are also cross-departmental virtual policy and analytical teams to bring together the freight policy and analysis relating to the various modes of transport.
Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

Address where the work will take place: Preference for co-location for at least part of the time, either in Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR or another DfT central London property, or with the provider. It’s likely that a number of interviews with DfT staff and possibly other bodies will be needed, which we will try to host at Great Minster House but the work may involve travelling to meet users, at locations convenient to them, within the UK. NB T & S will only be paid outside of the M25 and only at DFT T & S Rates.
Working arrangements: Suppliers to provide preferred approach. The exact milestones will be agreed with the supplier when appointed. Expected to be an agile approach with minimum of:

Weekly status updates (combination of email/telephone/in person) detailing achievements of key milestones and issues that may impact timescales and cost should be provided.

Show and tell sessions for senior stakeholders

Open to project manager/data lead attending more frequent daily stands up as and when needed.

Expenses will be paid in line with DFT policy.

Discovery should be completed in line with the GDS Service Manual: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual.
Security clearance: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) to be current at the commencement date evidence will be sought at Stage 2

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions: CVs will be required at Stage 2 Evaluation

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: Demonstrable evidence of delivering a discovery in line with GDS guidelines for a government department

Demonstrable evidence of investigating and understanding potential user journeys through a data hub, both from a content uploading and content consumption side

Experience of gathering evidence where stakeholders may have commercial concerns with being fully open in their responses

Evidence of technical understanding of different methods of data warehousing, dissemination and secure sharing

Provide experience of researching relevant digital technologies that are anticipated to be needed to meet user needs
Nice-to-have skills and experience: Demonstrable experience of freight or wider transport industry engagement

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

How many suppliers to evaluate

Proposal criteria

Demonstrable evidence of the approach and methodology to the discovery project planning and delivery, identifying the main stages and activities proposed at each stage (20%)
Clear demonstration of how the approach or solution meets user needs (20%)
Describe how risks and dependencies have been identified and what approaches have been offered to manage and mitigate them (20%)
Estimated timeframes for the work (10%)

Cultural fit criteria

Demonstrable evidence of experience of working as a team with similar organisation and other suppliers and openly sharing approach/knowledge/skills (5%)
Demonstrable evidence of experience of taking responsibility for their work and resolving problems effectively (5%)

Payment approach

Fixed price

Additional assessment methods

Case study
Presentation

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

70%

Cultural fit

10%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Can you expand on what you mean by: "gathering evidence where stakeholders may have commercial concerns with being fully open in their responses": Experience in a real-world, commercial setting where stakeholders have a variety of competing interests and are not able to be as forthcoming and open in their responses as would be ideal
2. In order to compare suppliers like for like, how will price be evaluated: will you be evaluating by the total price, rate card or both? How do you ensure that you are completing a genuine value for money comparison rather than just a rate card comparison?: We have asked for a fixed price to deliver this Discovery as such we would expect the supplier, as part of their proposal to suggest a team they feel capable of delivering our solution. How they resource this is their call.
3. Will the scores from the evidencing round be taken through to final evaluation? Or will they only be used for the purposes of shortlisting suppliers?: Stage 1 evaluation scores are only used to shortlist suppliers as per the Digital Outcomes and Specialist Framework Guidance.
4. Will your Product Owner be allocated full time to this project?: The Product Owner will not be allocated to this project full time but will have a significant portion of time dedicated to this project
5. Are you able to recruit and provide access to users for the purpose of user research?: We will provide access to DfT users and will also make introductions to industry stakeholders. We anticipate that some additional user research will need to be done by the contracted party
6. Has work has been fully defined, bounded and prioritised?: It is anticipated that part of the Discovery output will be to better determine the bounds and scope of the Freight Mapping Tool. As such, the work has not been fully defined in the Discovery.
7. Will you be able to organise access to stakeholders throughout the project?: We will provide access to DfT users and will also make introductions to industry stakeholders. We anticipate that some additional user research will need to be done by the contracted party
8. For the first evaluation round (evidence), what would you expect to see from an answer for it to be deemed 'exceeding' and score 3 marks?: DfT follow the Digital Outcomes and Specialist scoring guidance as follows:
Score Description
0 Not met or no evidence
1 Partially met
2 Met
3 Exceeded

We are unable to provide you with more detailed information as we expect bidders to demonstrate and evidence their knowledge and experience as noted within the evaluation criteria set out within the advert.
9. Do you have any preference between public sector or private sector examples? Or will both be treated equally as long as they are relevant to the question?: Government Department” here refers to a Central Government Department (the Crown) and its agencies (namely executive agencies and other bodies that don’t have a separate legal personality). Any ALBs that have a separate legal personality are not covered by the definition of Government Department because they are not part of the Crown for contractual purposes. Provided the agency or NDPB does not have a separate legal personality then the experience you refer to would be deemed relevant
10. Do you require one example per question to be cited, or is it acceptable to include multiple examples for a single question? Some of the questions, in particular “Demonstrable experience of freight or wider transport industry engagement”, would require more than one example to demonstrate (in this case) breadth.: It is acceptable to provide more than one example but please be mindful of the maximum work count for each question
11. Please can you share a procurement timeline outlining steps (which would typically include evidence response evaluation on 4th February, shortlisting of suppliers for next stage, preparation of supplier proposals, evaluation of supplier proposals, announcement of successful supplier, contract completion, contract signatures, commence work on 2nd March)?: Estimated Timeline and subject to change
Stage 1 Isolated Evaluations 05/02/2020--10/02/2020
Stage 1 Moderation 11/02/2020

Stage 2
Invite suppliers to stage 2 and send out declines to unsuccessful bidders 12/02/2020
Supplier clarification ends 14/02/2020 @ 14:00 hours
Submission of proposals deadline 10:00 hours 19/02/2020
Stage 2 isolated Evaluations 19/02/2020 – 24/02/2020
Stage 2 Moderation –25/02/2020
Draft Call off and commercial documentation –24/02/2020-02/03/2020
Finalise and award contract- on or before 02/03/2020
12. On question “Demonstrable evidence of delivering a discovery in line with GDS guidelines for a government department”, please could you clarify if you are specifically seeking a government department, or would an agency or non-departmental public body be equally acceptable?: Government Department” here refers to a Central Government Department (the Crown) and its agencies (namely executive agencies and other bodies that don’t have a separate legal personality). Any ALBs that have a separate legal personality are not covered by the definition of Government Department because they are not part of the Crown for contractual purposes. Provided the agency or NDPB does not have a separate legal personality then the experience you refer to would be deemed relevant
13. On question “Provide experience of researching relevant digital technologies that are anticipated to be needed to meet user needs”, please could you define the scope of what you consider to be “digital technologies” in this context?: Part of the Discovery process will be to identify relevant technologies. But some of those likely to be involved include data warehousing, cloud storage, cloud computing and data engineering.
14. Which tools or technologies are currently being used to: Manage content information? Manage Operational Data? Manage Process Mapping? Create MI Reports?: Part of the Discovery work will be to scope out current working practices among stakeholders.
15. For the essential skills and experience: ""Provide experience of researching relevant digital technologies that are anticipated to be needed to meet user needs"": Is this question looking to demonstrate experience related to researching digital technologies that are specific for the study domain or is it more about demonstrating experience in carrying out a process to research any type of digital technology (that might not necessarily be a digital technology which could be used for this specific study)?: It is looking to demonstrate experience of researching digital technologies which you anticipate to be relevant to meet the user needs for this piece of work.
16. Will you be providing access to stakeholders and users or will you expect the winning supplier to source participants?: We will provide access to DfT users and will also make introductions to industry stakeholders. We anticipate that some additional user research will need to be done by the contracted party
17. Are you making a final decision via written proposal or is there an additional presentation stage to the process? If so, how many suppliers will be invited to present?: We will decide if presentations are necessary following moderation of the proposals
18. Have you been working with an external supplier on this area of work previously and you expecting them to bid for this Discovery?: We have not worked with an external supplier on this work.
19. Can you please share your indicative high-level timetable for shortlisting, proposal submission, presentations (if happening) and contracting?: Estimated Timeline and may be subject to change
Stage 1 Isolated Evaluations 05/02/2020--10/02/2020
Stage 1 Moderation 11/02/2020

Stage 2
Invite suppliers to stage 2 and send out declines to unsuccessful bidders 12/02/2020
Supplier clarification ends 14/02/2020 @ 14:00 hours
Submission of proposals deadline 10:00 hours 19/02/2020 Stage 2 isolated Evaluations 19/02/2020 – 24/02/2020
Stage 2 Moderation –25/02/2020
Draft Call off and commercial documentation –24/02/2020-02/03/2020
Finalise and award contract- on or before 02/03/2020
20. Can you share a copy of the initial data/evidence gap analysis please? If so, what is the mechanism for requesting a copy?: The initial data/evidence gap analysis will be shared with the winning bidder
21. Are there any particular platforms or technologies you are considering that you would want to see assessed as part of this Discovery?: We have not specified any particular platforms or technologies to assess.
22. Can you clarify how you will score the pricing criteria?: We have asked for a fixed price to deliver this Discovery as such we would expect the supplier, as part of their proposal to suggest a team they feel capable of delivering our solution. How you resource this is your call.
23. Does the total fixed price need to include expenses or are these rechargeable on top of the fixed price for services?: Prices should include expenses based on outside M25 and at DFT Travel and Subsistence rates
24. Which specific stakeholders do you expect us to engage and where are they located geographically?: There are a number of central Government users who will mostly be based in London. There are also expected to be industry stakeholders who will be located across the UK.
25. What roles are you expecting suppliers to provide? In addition, are you expecting all roles to have the ability to be full time?: Bidders should follow the GDS guidance found on the link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-sell-your-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-services#how-to-provide-services

In relation to how the proposed team is made up to deliver the requirement this will be up to the bidder to decide.
26. Hi, Will the initial data/evidence gap analysis referred to be made available to potential suppliers prior to the Stage 2 Evaluation?: The initial data/evidence gap analysis will be shared with the winning bidder
27. Are there any suppliers who you are already working who have the skills to deliver this discovery and if so have they been asked to bid?: At this stage of the process we have no visibility of who is interested in bidding for this opportunity. It is up to those suppliers listed on the Framework to consider opportunities and decide if they wish to bid and we also confirm no suppliers have been asked to bid for this opportunity.
28. Are you open to partnership bids? We would very much like to collaborate with a team of specialists in data analytics on this discovery: www.hmcm.co.uk/what-we-do/: We are happy to consider bidders partnering and this should be reflected within their submission. However, it will be the evidence provided within bidder responses to criteria that will be evaluated.
29. Will the supplier be expected to manage the recruitment of research participants from the public?: It is not anticipated that the recruitment of research participants from the public will be required
30. Which specific stakeholders do you expect us to engage and where are they located geographically?: There are a number of central Government users who will mostly be based in London. There are also expected to be industry stakeholders who will be located across the UK.

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