Awarded to Basis

Start date: Wednesday 27 January 2021
Value: £50,000
Company size: SME
Caerphilly County Borough Council

Exploring the needs for digital skills, knowledge and equipment to address digital exclusion

8 Incomplete applications

7 SME, 1 large

15 Completed applications

15 SME, 0 large

Important dates

Published
Tuesday 15 December 2020
Deadline for asking questions
Thursday 17 December 2020 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Tuesday 22 December 2020 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Specialist role
User researcher
Summary of the work
Based on feedback from the public and tutors, many residents don’t have access to suitable devices or connectivity or know how to use it.  Our hypothesis is that with appropriate access to devices, connectivity and support, it is possible to reduce the number of individuals who are digitally excluded
Latest start date
Monday 18 January 2021
Expected contract length
Final research report subumitted no later 19 March 2021, The contract will be for up to 4 months.
Location
Wales
Organisation the work is for
Caerphilly County Borough Council
Maximum day rate
£625.00

About the work

Early market engagement
None
Who the specialist will work with
Adult Education Workers, Adult Education team members, 18+members of the public
What the specialist will work on
Based on recent experiences/feedback from the general public/tutors many residents do not have access to a suitable digital device, many do not have suitable/any connectivity and many do not know how to use it. They are not digitally literate. Our hypothesis is that with appropriate access to devices, connectivity and support, it is possible to overcome these barriers and reduce the number of individuals who are digitally excluded. This discovery covers residents in six local authority (named below).
You will be working with Adult Education teams, who are new to user research, to support their work and uncover user needs.

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
A mixture of remote and across partner councils (Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan)
Working arrangements
Work will be done remotely/in person as Covid restrictions allow.
Security clearance
The Provider shall ensure that all staff involved in this contract shall have a valid enhanced disclosure check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions
The successful provider must agree to sign the Councils data processing agreement. A copy will be shared with shortlisted suppliers.

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
  • - Extensive experience of conducting user research (e.g. guerrilla/pop-up testing, interviewing, and focus groups)
  • Extensive experience in working with those new to user research
  • Evidenced ability to present research findings in a creative and compelling way
  • Understanding and demonstrable experience of research methodologies.
  • Strong analytical skills and the ability to quickly develop recommendations based on quantitative and qualitative evidence.
  • Ability to work with users and stakeholders at all levels.
Nice-to-have skills and experience
  • previous experience doing UR on digital inclusion/exclusion projects
  • experience in UR in local government
  • experience of working in Welsh public sector

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a work history.

How many specialists to evaluate
4
Cultural fit criteria
  • Be self-motivated, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
  • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • Share your work frequently, openly, honestly and constructively challenging preconceptions
Additional assessment methods
  • Reference
  • Interview
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

20%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. What are the Procurement timelines:
Shortlisting: 5 January
Interviews: 7 January
Providers will need to be available for the 07 January 2020 for the interviews conducted via Teams
2. Is the role anticipated to be full time for the 4 month duration?
The final report is to be submitted by the 19 March 2021, however the 4 month window is to ensure that if there are questions around the submitted report, the winning provider must be available to answer any queries.
3. Please let us know if you have Incumbent for this role ?
No there is no incumbent, this is a new requirement
4. In your answer to the question “Is the role anticipated to be full time for the 4 month duration?” you mentioned that the candidate will need to be available to answer any queries about the report, but it is unclear if the successful candidate will be paid/working full time or part time. What do you expect the setup to be?
We anticipate the successful supplier to work with us to establish the correct working pattern for the project requirements. This may be up to 5 days a week until the report is finished. Further follow up may be required after the report has been submitted. All days worked will be paid monthly in arrears.
5. Please could you confirm the IR35 status for this role?
This role is outside of IR35. The framework clearly states that roles via Digital Outcomes and Specialists are all outside of IR35.
6. can you confirm what rate can you offer?
The providers are to offer rates in line with the specification
7. Given that to we will need to engage with people with limited ability to connect with others digitally; and given we are in a pandemic which makes non-digital communication (pop up interviewing for example) challenging – have you given any thought to how we might source and engage with research participants?
The Council is open to suggestions from providers in how they will propose to undertake the digital research
8. Will you be paying travel expenses on top of the daily rate or would you want this included in any rate submitted by the supplier?
Any travel expenses will need to be incorporated into the daily rate, however we don’t foresee providers traveling considerably under this contract
9. Will the researched be integrated into an existing cross authority team for this work?
Links with a lead member of staff have already been made across all Local Authorities and contact details will be provided to the successful research candidate. The Centre for Digital Public Services will also support this project.