Awarded to Alpine Resourcing Limited

Start date: Monday 11 May 2020
Value: £5,350
Company size: SME

Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Government Major Project Reviewer with Extensive experience of Recommendation Categorisation

12 Incomplete applications

11 SME, 1 large

36 Completed applications

32 SME, 4 large

• Published: Friday 24 April 2020
• Deadline for asking questions: Tuesday 28 April 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 1 May 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Specialist role: Performance analyst
• Summary of the work: An Experienced Major Government Project Reviewer with Experience of using the IPA (Infrastructure and Project Authority) Review Recommendation Classification system is required. The task is to study and classify approximately 1,000 review recommendations accurately categorising them for analysis by the IPA to support it's work in improving government project delivery.
• Latest start date: Monday 4 May 2020
• Expected contract length: 6 weeks
• Location: No specific location, for example they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: Infrastructure and Projects Authority

About the work

• Who the specialist will work with: You will be working with the Analysis and Insight Unit and Assurance Review teams in the IPA. Most closely with a data specialist who will supply and quality check material to the successful tender. You will not be working in the offices of IPA as currently Coronavirus lockdown measures are in effect
• What the specialist will work on: To study and classify major project review reports and their recommendations using the IPA Recommendation classification system. The system has a two tier level of categorisation required. Experience of performing Major Project Reviews is essential as is experience of using the classification system employed by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. The work will be on approximately 1,000 recommendations.

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: You will work either at home or in an office workplace. Public areas are not to be used due to the sensitivity of the Review Report material
• Working arrangements: All work will be done at distance. Communication through email, IM or video conferencing. Currently no offices are open. Work materials will be provided in electronic formats (Word Doc or PDF ) and supplied via secure email or access to shared storage. There are no specific hours of the day to work so can be a flexible as you wish.
• Security clearance: You will need a minimum of SC - security cleared status

Additional information

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:
  • Have extensive experience reviewing major government projects
  • Have experience of using and applying the IPA Review Recommendation methods and practices
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • A grasp of analytics and the importance of well formed data
  • Have experience directly in project delivery and project assurance outside the role of a reviewer

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a work history.

• How many specialists to evaluate: 3
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Take responsibility for their work
  • Be comfortable standing up for their discipline
  • Adhere strictly to the criteria provided for the task
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  75%

  Cultural fit

  5%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Is there a current incumbent?: The task is a continuation of work undertaken in the last financial year which was performed by a single contractor. So in that sense yes but that was under a contract that has now expired
• 2. What is the maximum budget for this task?: While there is an upper limit to the budget for this work we won't be sharing it lest it adveresley affect the range of bids we receive to undertake the task.
• 3. is this role inside or outside ir35: Outside IR35
• 4. Do you have a budget for this role?: There is but it will not be published
• 5. Is there a current incumbent?: The same work was undertaken by a previous contractor on a contract which has now expired
• 6. Could you please advise the day rate and if this will fall without of outside of IR35?: It can fall outside IR 35. There is no day rate as such without an agreement as to the amount of work there is to be cleared but billing can be on an agreed daily rate AFTER contract award
• 7. Could you confirm if there is a possibility of this contract lasting longer than 6 weeks?: There is a possibility of extension or re-contract if further work becomes available and it is decided to maintain the current system of classification. It subject to this and other practices which are under review and of course the current, extraordinary circumstances we are in
• 8. Is the specialist expected to have experience as IPA initiated PAR reviewer or can be PVR/Gate reviewer commissioned by SRO?: The greater the experience the better but it is not essential to be an IPA Review Team Leader. Though experience of IPA reviews is advantageous as is experience of the classification system employed.
• 9. May I know if all 1,000 review recommendations are for PAR or includes others like PVR, Gate reviews etc.?: The recommendations come from ALL types of reviews so PAR, PVR and all Gates will be included as well as some other less used ones like Critical Friend Review
• 10. With respect to experience related to 1) reviewing projects and 2) project delivery & assurance – Is there any specific size of the project expected? like £10m+ or £100m+: No there is not a size limit minimum or maximum. A knowledge of a range of project types is advantageous as is experience of reviews of GMPP projects and experience of the Recommendation classification system employed by IPA and some departments
• 11. Can you confirm if an incumbent is play for this?: Assume you mean is the contractor whom previously undertook the work applying for this time?; Yes I believe they are.
• 12. Is there a maximum day rate set, and if so what is it please?: There is no day rate as such but the successful bidder can charge as a day rate once an average daily target has been agreed that clears the work available. But the tender is to assess and accurately categorise 1,000 Review Recommendations.
• 13. Hi – can we clarify if you are seeking for 3 experts and we are to submit 3 individuals? Thanks: There is no number of individuals required. However there is no reason why the task could not be performed by two, three or more suitable individuals. However the bid only need be for one.
• 14. We note the requirements for remote working and SC clearance. Are there any specific requirements for the remote handling and storage of data that bidders need to be aware of?: Providing the organisation is security accredited / cleared as a supplier it can use it's own IT equipment OR are already in possession of suitable IT equipment issued by a government department. This should include email systems for movement of electronic documents. At the moment in the lockdown it is extremely difficult to get such IT to those who do not have access to such due to the need for collection.
• 15. Hi – if we had 2 (or more) candidates for the role – how do we submit another response? or are we limited to one person? Many thanks.: You can either submit them separately or as a team.
• 16. Is this a stage process as per standard DOS and if so how will the 4th May date be met?: A successful bidder will be chosen from the submitted bids and then the work should commence as soon as possible thereafter but the 04/05/2020 is not a do or die date. As long as the work can commence within a reasonable time thereafter it will not adversely affect a bid.
• 17. Will a proposal template and or/a work history template be issued to successful suppliers?: The successful supplier will be provided with material and instructed as to how they record the results of their assessments which is on basic Excel template.
• 18. Is the output effectively the 'Consolidated Data and Narrative' MS Excel produced in previous years to support the IPA Annual Report?: No. The narratives, recommendations and other pertinent data are extracted and then the Recommendations classified / categorised as per the IPA Review Recommendation System. The data is then added to a database for reporting and analysis.
• 19. Can we clarify if this is a 6 weeks work for one person or shared between 2 - 3 people?: 6 weeks should easily be enough time to complete the work for one person. However that is not a bar to more than one person being employed on the task.
• 20. Should only SC cleared candidates apply or you are open to sponsoring the candidate for clearance?: Excellent Question!; We have found this week
• 21. Should only SC cleared candidates apply or you are open to sponsoring the candidate for clearance?: Excellent Question; We have found this week that due to the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis that it is taking many weeks to attempt to security clear any candidates for employment, interns or academic cooperative efforts like Project X. So existing security clearance is all but a must and extremely advantageous
• 22. What budget have you set for this opportunity?: We will not be disclosing available budget lest it prejudice the tenders received
• 23. Can you please clarify the dates for the shortlisting stage and actual start date: If there is an obvious winning tender then the award will be made immediately so 01/05 or shortly thereafter. If not the shortlisted suppliers will be contacted with further questions and a decision made shortly thereafter. Not later than 06/05/2020
• 24. A question under the Essential is asking for examples in the plural (projects), can we provide more than one example when answering the questions? Thanks: Yes more than one example is fine but additional examples should demonstrate different aspects of suitable experience e.g. a wide range of project types worked on e.g. IT. Transformation, Infrastructure, Military etc.
• 25. Will you sponsor the Security Clearance process ? Thanks: It is unlikely. Due to the Covid-19 Crisis it is all but impossible to get Security Clearance in a reasonable time frame - currently non urgent applications are taking weeks / months to process making it impracticable.
• 26. Revised answer to 15 "Hi – if we had 2 (or more) candidates for the role – how do we submit another response? or are we limited to one person? Many thanks.": Your tender can be for one or more persons to undertake the work - not multiple tenders as I previously intimated. My Apologies.