This opportunity is closed for applications

The deadline was Wednesday 20 January 2021

Hackney Council

Create a data platform team and build in-house capability so it can be self sustaining

19 Incomplete applications

16 SME, 3 large

21 Completed applications

18 SME, 3 large

• Published: Wednesday 6 January 2021
• Deadline for asking questions: Wednesday 13 January 2021 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Wednesday 20 January 2021 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Create a data platform team and build in-house capability so it can be self sustaining
• Latest start date: Monday 8 February 2021
• Expected contract length: 12 months
• Location: London
• Organisation the work is for: Hackney Council
• Budget range: This procurement is to the total value of £500,000 excluding VAT in order to ensure maximum flexibility. However, we expect to agree small statements of work for each £60-80,000 so that we can ensure we’re delivering solutions that meet users needs.

About the work

• Why the work is being done: Hackney has an opportunity to rethink how it manages its data as it recovers from a cyberattack. We need further to build our capacity to present recovered data to users so that it can drive decision making. As we recover applications, we want to rethink our data schema so that we’re capturing data once and using it many times. And where possible, reduce our reliance on proprietary databases and schema through the use of open source and open data standards. Over time we want to decrease our reliance on a partner as we increase our in-house capacity.
• Problem to be solved: We have a set of files recovered from damaged servers and want to make use of these for decision making. We currently have a manual process for doing so, dependent on a small number of experts. Our legacy applications are built to perform silo’d business processes hampering our ability to manage data strategically to better meet user needs. And our reliance on proprietary approaches reduces our capability to support and improve services. We need to learn these new approaches whilst delivering at pace for our residents.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: As a resident, I need Council staff to have access to historic data so that the Council can provide an effective service; ; As a resident I want to provide information once so that I get access to the service I need and I don’t have to repeat myself; ; As a data analyst I need a clear data schema so that I can understand and predict the demand and effectiveness of council services; ; As a DevOps engineer I need to understand the data schema of an application so that I can maintain and improve an application
• Early market engagement: N/A
• Any work that’s already been done: We already have; A process for recovering data and making it available to users via Qlik; API standards and playbook; An API platform with 35 REST APIs; Work to rearchitect housing applications, using the HACT data standard; A Citizen Index for matching people across line of business applications
• Existing team: 14x Data and insight team members; 12x .NET developers, with a focus on APIs ; Product teams designing and developing tools for residents and staff
• Current phase: Live

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: Work can take place remotely and communicated via weeknotes and show & tells
• Working arrangements: This work can be done remotely but will require fortnightly reporting (eg via show & tells) to involve key stakeholders and regular engagement with practitioners through video conferences. We will provide access to key systems to project team members where required.

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:
  • Demonstrate a track-record of user-centred design and Agile approaches to delivery
  • Experience of developing applications that have been assessed as meeting a government Service Standard
  • Experience of working collaboratively with an in-house team, building skills and capabilities to support a smooth handover
  • Have experience of working with tools associated with public cloud platforms
  • Have experience of developing ‘in the open’ - using tools such as Github
  • Experience of data transformation work (eg migrating to open source databases)
  • Have experience of designing to meet the public sector accessibility guidelines
  • Demonstrate how they have worked collaboratively in a multi-vendor environment
  • Demonstrate how they put security first in their work
  • Experience of developing open APIs
  • Experience of successful offboarding and hand-over to an in-house team
  • Experiences of building teams, including identity, processes and culture
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrate an understanding of Hackney’s approach to technology and data
  • Demonstrate how they provide opportunities for apprentices
  • Experience of Qlik
  • Experience of Python
  • Experience of one or more local government data domains

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Understanding of the brief
  • Clarity of the approach
  • Experience from a similar project
  • Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals
  • Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them
  • Blended day rates of the team
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers
  • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service
  • Hackney Council is a diverse organisation, reflecting the diversity of our borough. Describe how you would successfully work as a team with Hackney and other suppliers in a diverse environment.
• Payment approach: Time and materials
• Additional assessment methods: Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  5%

  Price

  35%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Hi – Hackney have existing Cloud technology suppliers, can you indicate if there is a predefined delivery platform – AWS, Azure, GCP – for any part of this requirement?: AWS is our primary cloud provider. We know that there may be user needs which are better met through alternative cloud platforms.
• 2. What is meant by ‘identity’ in the following question ‘Experiences of building teams, including identity, processes and culture’?: The data platform team will need to develop an inclusive identify which is mindful of its relationship to the whole Council, the IT service and the existing data & insight and development teams. In our experience, identity can be an important part of team culture and is important to get right
• 3. Who is the incumbent and how long they have been the incumbent?: There isn’t an incumbent. This is a new initiative.
• 4. Please can you confirm how the “Essential” and “Nice to Have” skills will be evaluated?: All responses are evaluated against the 0-3 point criteria. A 0 point answer for a 'nice to have skills' will not exclude a bidder from the process.
• 5. Who’s in the incumbent and how long they have been the incumbent?Who’s on the panel?: 1. There isn't one; 2. The panel will comprise a member of Hackney's data and insight team, a member of the development team and the head of digital & data.
• 6. Is their scope for suppliers to propose some of the work be delivered near-shore and/or off-shore: Yes, within the rules around data protection
• 7. Will you accept us subcontracting significant elements of work to a preferred collaborator who is not on DOS4 but will on DOS5: Yes - provided the tender response gives us sufficient clarity about the relationship between the expertise, the team, the credentials and the price
• 8. In reference to the question “Demonstrate how they provide opportunities for apprentices”, could you please clarify if the reference here is to “supplier Apprentices” or “Hackney’s Apprentices”?: We would like to understand the current track record of the supplier in providing opportunities for apprentices. Were Hackney to hire apprentices into this team this would be a separate decision as part of the knowledge transfer / offboarding strategy.
• 9. Could you please share your IT and Data strategy or equivalent?: All the information that you need about our approach is available at HackIT.org.uk