Office for Nuclear Regulation

Technical review

13
Incomplete applications
9 SME, 4 large
24
Completed applications
21 SME, 3 large
Published Monday 18 May 2020
Deadline for asking questions Wednesday 20 May 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications Monday 25 May 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Specialist role Technical Architect
Summary of the work 1. Validate the suppliers’ Technical Review which focuses on internal performance of database queries and assess the results presented by suppliers.
2. Assist ONR in assessing the adequacy of system stability & resilience and suggest appropriate systemised solutions that can be implemented such as error handling, state/transaction management, data/DB design.
Latest start date Monday 25 May 2020
Expected contract length 6 weeks or less
Location No specific location, eg they can work remotely
Organisation the work is for Office for Nuclear Regulation
Maximum day rate

About the work

Early market engagement Client is also trawling the market via other CCS frameworks. No ideally qualified candidate available at short notice for this short term engagement has been identified so far.
Who the specialist will work with Responsible to delivery lead in client organization, working with client side IT and use management colleagues and suppliers providing 1st and 2nd/3rd level maintenance and support to the application and its hosted infrastructure.
What the specialist will work on Provide independent advice to sponsor regarding technical review of existing nuclear material accounting system. The system is Web based, developed on the Microsoft software stack and is hosted in the UK at secure sites. Some unplanned outages have occurred. System was built on a core product, adapted at speed to meet ONR requirements to increased levels of volume/complexity significantly in excess of that foreseen by the core product. Technical review is being conducted with the suppliers working jointly with ONR, aimed at securing resilience of the system.

Work setup

Address where the work will take place Remotely from home due to Covid restrictions.
Working arrangements Provide between 10 and 15 days of technical expert advice on a time and materials basis, starting 25th May latest and completion by 29th June 2020. Working 100% from home with remote access to client and supplier systems (logistics to be determined).
Security clearance SC required

Additional information

Additional terms and 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
  • System Architecture design review
  • Code review and best practice assessment
  • Review application, data design & database queries for performance
  • Knowledge of Root Cause Analysis
  • Target interventions for system Reliability and Resilience
  • Sensitive assessment of supplier resource capability and quality development & control methods
  • Be able to make constructive and pragmatic consultancy interactions with senior ONR and supplier stakeholders
  • Microsoft technology software stack (SQL Enterprise Server)
Nice-to-have skills and experience

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a work history.
How many specialists to evaluate 3
Cultural fit criteria
  • Work as a team with our organisation and our suppliers
  • Be capable of working with a client with limited IT expertise in house
  • Capable of mastering detail quickly
  • Excellent communicator able to work remotely
Additional assessment methods
  • Reference
  • Interview
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

75%

Cultural fit

5%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Would you be prepared to support SC Clearance. I assume I know the answer but thought I should check. Given the very short timescale for this requirement, ideally we need evidence of existing SC clearance. While a person with only Basic Check could undertake the review, lack of access to sensitive data would impede the effectiveness of the work. If your best technical candidate has only Basic Check you can put them forward and we will consider such a proposal if no suitable SC cleared candidate is put forward.
2. How can the closing date for applications and the latest start date both be May 25th 2020? The aim is to start this work as soon as possible next week. Proposed resource should be available for an immediate start.
3. Is there a current incumbent? No. This is a one-off requirement for a digital specialist to provide independent advice to the technical review of the system. It is a short term need only.
4. Are there RCA documents available documenting the outages as part of the documentation or do you wish to conduct e2e review without that evidence? This requirement can only be met we think by document review and discussion. We would make extensive documentation available, including the Root Cause Analysis documentation, details of incident records, system documentation, etc.
5. Is the SC clearance an absolute necessity? Would you consider someone who has previously been SC cleared but it has now lapsed? Please see the answer to Supplier Question 1.
6. Is this role inside or outside IR35? Outside IR35.
7. What version of SQL Server Ent ONR is used? For example 2012, 2016 or any other version. 2016.