Awarded to Warner McCall Ltd

Start date: Wednesday 1 July 2020
Value: £2,812,921
Company size: SME

Ministry Of Defence - Strategic Command

Information Advantage Change Campaign

12 Incomplete applications

8 SME, 4 large

15 Completed applications

11 SME, 4 large

• Published: Monday 18 May 2020
• Deadline for asking questions: Monday 25 May 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Monday 1 June 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: The MOD require aPartner for technical service and contractor support to work alongside pre-established military staff and continue Defence’s IACC. The purpose of the IACC is to put Defence on the right footing to be able to achieve Information Advantage.
• Latest start date: Wednesday 1 July 2020
• Expected contract length: 21 Months (9 Months + 12 Months)
• Location: London
• Organisation the work is for: Ministry Of Defence - Strategic Command
• Budget range: Maximum spend on this contract will be up to £1.48M in FY 20/21 and £1.84M in FY 21/22. Work will be costed and approved via individual Statements of Work (SOW). Each SOW will follow internal approval policy. Joint Warfare does not commit to the maximum spend identified in this section. We expect SOW's to be agreed on a fixed price basis.

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The IACC is a Vice Chief of Defence Staff directed activity that was initiated in late 2018, with the aim of ‘enabling Defence to compete in the Information Age’. ; ; The framework for the IACC is established and a long-term Campaign Plan has been developed. To drive momentum over the next two years, 10 near-term Accelerator projects have been established. The Campaign is at a critical juncture. The delivery of the 10 Accelerator projects over the next 12 to 24 months is essential for success.
• Problem to be solved: With the requirement, provenance and governance now established, it is essential for the campaign to maintain momentum if the change activity is to be successful. The IACC must conceive, manage and undertake the cohering activity necessary to create irreversible conditions across Defence for Info Adv. ; ; Due to the broad nature of the campaign, there is a requirement for the supplier to provide significant expertise and experience of complex change both conceptually and practically.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: The MOD require a Strategic Partner for technical service and contractor support to work alongside pre-established military staff and continue Defence’s Information Advantage Change Campaign (IACC). The purpose of the IACC is to put Defence on the right footing to be able to achieve Information Advantage.; ; The strategic partner will be utilised to increase the capacity and technical expertise of Joint Warfare.
• Any work that’s already been done: Technical services support for the Information Advantage Change Campaign is in place but there is a requirement to change commercial frameworks.
• Existing team: The IACC is already established with a joint MOD / technical service team delivering to an established campaign plan. It is critical that no drop-in output occurs.
• Current phase: Live

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: Including but not limited to:; ; • Northwood HQ, Sandy lane, Northwood, HA6 3HP; • MOD MB, Horse Guards Av, London, SW1A 2HB; • RAF High Wycombe, Naphill, High Wycombe HP14 4UE; • HMS Nelson, Queen Street, Portsmouth, PO1 3HH; • Army HQ, Marlborough Lines, Andover, SP11 8HJ; • Defence Academy, Shrivenham, Swindon, SN6 8LA
• Working arrangements: Individuals must be available to travel at short notice to the accelerator POCs across various locations. Daily work will be conducted from Northwood HQ using MOD infrastructure and equipment support. The supplier is responsible for finding and paying for their own accommodation, food and travel costs.
• Security clearance: All staff require a minimum of SC clearance. Due to the connection between Information Advantage, the cyber domain, Special Forces and Capability it is essential that no less than 30% of the consultancy team are DV (+STRAP) cleared.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: A contract is required from 1 Jul 20 - 31 Mar 22. ; The contract will be established for 9 + 12 months, allowing for a breakpoint should it become clear that either the IACC has achieved its objectives early or is unlikely to realise the benefits in the timeframe envisaged.

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:
  • Change Campaign leadership.
  • Change management SME and mentoring.
  • Change coherence, planning and monitoring.
  • Campaign/programme analysis.
  • Stakeholder engagement.
  • Stakeholder engagement management.
  • Short term accelerator project coherence
  • Short term accelerator project technical and delivery support.
  • Short term accelerator project validation.
  • Communications management & material development
  • Information management.
  • Quality management and assurance
  • Risk opportunities management.
  • Issues management
  • Dependencies management.
  • Governance support.
  • (External) Coherence Management.
  • evidence of the technical knowledge of operating in the information environment, campaign design experience, established relationships across Defence and the necessary above secret security access.
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Mentoring, Coaching and workshop facilitation skills.
  • Excellent presentational skills; self-motivated, able to work with minimal supervision yet drive and cohere work to meet desired outcomes in a timely fashion.
  • Experience of briefing and working directly to 1* and 2* MOD Officer
  • The ability to demonstrate a detailed understanding of the Defence Operating Model and evolving/standing Defence Transformation programmes.

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Provide evidence that you have the ability and/or experience to deliver the 18 functions listed as essential skills. (15%)
  • Describe the team structure (CV's, clearances, availability) , the number and experience of resources you intend to supply and where their expertise would aid the IACC. (15%)
  • Detail your previous experience and approach to delivering projects relating to: Operating in the information environment, Information Advantage, Defence Transformation programmes. (20%)
  • Explain how you will undertake knowledge transfer to Defence and evidence of previously doing so. (5%)
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Describe your experience in delivering Change across Defence and how you engage and communicate change with desk-level accelerator leads and key Defence Senior Leaders. (5%)
  • Provide evidence of working as part of a joint Military team on/delivering projects in the Joint environment, especially working with UK Strategic Command and Head Office. (5%)
  • Provide examples of your ability to be flexible in your ways of working. The ability to work from MOD locations as required, remote working and workshop facilitation. (5%)
• Payment approach: Fixed price
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  55%

  Cultural fit

  15%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Is there an incumbent already undertaking this opportunity if so – can you say who it is?: The current work on Information Advantage is as part of another larger contract and was subcontracted to another firm. This new contract will be a dedicated contract for the IACC
• 2. Has a potential suppler already been identified for this opportunity?: No. And hence the reason we are competing
• 3. Is DV clearance required at commencement of this engagement, or can a supplier start with SC and obtain DV clearance during the project?: We would need 30% of the team to be DV cleared at present. The rest of the team can be SC cleared
• 4. Can you explain what is meant by "Campaign/programme analysis" in the context of the IACC requirement?: There is a requirement to conduct analysis of campaign data and reporting to inform decision making
• 5. Who is the subcontractor looking after Information Advantage within the current requirement?: The current supplier is Warner McCall Ltd
• 6. Do you have a preference for working with the same company that has been involved with the Information Advantage work so far?: We are competing this and are looking to award the contract to the most suitable supplier for the requirement.
• 7. Please could you clarify what the term "coherence" means in this context, it is mentioned several times in the Essential skills and experience (change coherence, project coherence, external coherence management).: Change coherence: Ensure that a broad and very diverse stakeholder group delivers coherently and with synergy across all the wider business activity. ; Accelerator project coherence: Ensure that a niche and very diverse stakeholder group delivers coherently and with synergy across short term, high impact projects.; ; External Coherence Management: Ensure that activity is coherent with wider transformation programmes and vice versa.
• 8. Are any particular methodologies being used in the short term accelerator projects e.g. waterfall, Agile, Scrum?: There is no single specific methodology being used across all 10 accelerators. They are reporting to a process of: Understand, Design, Deliver, Test, Learn, Exploit.
• 9. There is some overlap in the Essential Skills and Experience criteria listed for response. We would like to confirm if the authority is looking for different examples against each criteria, or if the same example can be referenced against a number of similar requirements (e.g. ‘Stakeholder engagement’ and ‘Stakeholder engagement management’).: As Per the DOS guidance, suppliers can reuse examples across different skills and experience requirements.
• 10. Is there an expectation or requirement for the successful bidder to work with other external suppliers to deliver the IACC outcomes?: Yes. The IACC engages and works with external suppliers (MOD and Civ) across both the Campaign and 10 Short Term Accelerators.
• 11. What does 'external' refer to in Q17? Is this external to Joint Warfare, or MOD?: External Coherence Management: Ensure that activity is coherent with wider MOD transformation programmes and with external pan-government organisations/programmes when required.
• 12. Is a supplier presentation planned as part of the Stage 2 evaluation process?: No. The Stage 2 Evaluation will be a written proposal based upon a template to be issued post down select.
• 13. Please can the authority confirm how the pricing evaluation will work? It is noted that a fixed price is requested, but the advert also states that 'Work will be costed and approved via individual Statements of Work (SOW).' Will evaluation be on the basis of a fixed price for a specified set of deliverables / outcomes provided to those successful at Stage 1, or a rate card, or another approach?: We are looking for single prices to be provided for:; ; a) The first 9 months of the project ; ; b) The subsequent 12 months of the project. ; ; The price will be evaluated as per the framework guidelines.