Awarded to Glue Reply (a trading division of Reply Ltd.)

Start date: Monday 12 April 2021
Value: £49,725
Company size: SME

Greater London Authority

City Data Sharing Platform - Discovery Phase

16 Incomplete applications

11 SME, 5 large

29 Completed applications

24 SME, 5 large

• Published: Monday 11 January 2021
• Deadline for asking questions: Monday 18 January 2021 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Monday 25 January 2021 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: The Greater London Authority (GLA) is looking to conduct a discovery exercise to help us develop our new city data sharing platform.
• Latest start date: Monday 15 March 2021
• Expected contract length: 3 months
• Location: London
• Organisation the work is for: Greater London Authority
• Budget range: Up to £50,000

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The GLA’s current data sharing platform, the London Datastore, is being used to meet user needs outside of its original scope. We are looking to redevelop the website to reflect this fact and better meet the needs of our users.
• Problem to be solved: We have already undertaken an initial “high-level” discovery exercise to help us establish our vision for the website and how it fits in to our wider ambitions for data sharing in London. We are now looking to develop the outputs of this work into a set of user stories that can be translated into a development backlog and roadmap ahead of an alpha phase. We require all of this to be presented alongside recommendations on technology solutions and the skills and resources needed to develop the platform.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: Users of the Datastore can be split into two broad groups:; • Data Users need to discover and gain access to data for a broad range of uses, such as to more effectively deliver public services or undertake academic research.; • Data Publishers need to share data either publicly or privately in order to collaborate with partner organisations or fulfil transparency commitments.
• Any work that’s already been done: The GLA have managed the London Datastore since 2010. Originally launched as an open data portal for civic transparency and accountability, it has since outgrown this scope considerably and is now used to privately share non-open datasets. The GLA commissioned the Open Data Institute to undertake an initial “high-level” discovery exercise to redefine the scope of the Datastore moving forwards in light of these new use cases and to align it with the GLA’s wider ambitions for city data. The discovery report was published in January 2020.
• Existing team: It is expected that the successful candidate will work closely alongside our internal team throughout this project. On a day-to-day basis the London Datastore’s Product Manager will act as the primary point of contact. However there will also be involvement from other team members who will act as technical and strategic advisors where required. We will agree on our approach and the logistics of collaboration at project initiation.
• Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: All teams are currently working entirely remotely.
• Working arrangements: We expect the work to be carried out remotely and the chosen agency would need to fully integrate with our team, share their knowledge and insight, work in an open and transparent way and demonstrate good agile product delivery practice. Regular meetings, workshops, show and tells should be held on suitable platforms such as Microsoft Teams.

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:
  • Experience in agile delivery, knowledge of the GDS service standard and design principles.
  • Experience drawing upon a wide variety of methods in order to develop a robust understanding of user needs and translating them into platform requirements and a development backlog.
  • Experience of drawing-up technical infrastructure recommendations and options, ensuring robustness and scalability in using technology to meet user needs. Evidence of designing modular reusable, repeatable systems.
  • Experience of designing websites which support digital inclusion - excellent knowledge of inclusive design, accessibility guidelines - specifically WCAG 2.1 AA - and understanding of GDPR regulations.
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Experience delivering projects involving local or national government data.
  • Experience working together closely with client: ensuring transparency; making decisions collaboratively; and sharing knowledge and experience.

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • the proposed approach and methodology to developing a set of platform requirements that are based on a robust understanding of user needs
  • the proposed approach to reviewing the technology options available for each component of the new platform
  • the proposed deliverables/outputs of the discovery
  • the proposed team structure, including the skillset of each team member and how they will contribute
  • the estimated timeframes for the work
  • value for money
  • how risks and dependencies will be managed
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • approach to working with the GLA as part of an integrated team
  • evidence that the supplier will be transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • how the supplier will share knowledge and experience with other team members
• Payment approach: Fixed price
• Additional assessment methods: Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  20%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Can you provide links to the London Datastore and the report from the "high-level" discovery that you undertook with the ODI?: The London Datastore: https://data.london.gov.uk/; ; Blog summarising our "high-level" discovery: https://smartlondon.medium.com/10-years-of-the-london-datastore-thinking-on-city-data-for-the-next-decade-b634ae62dc3c; ; Full ODI discovery report: https://theodi.org/article/the-future-of-the-london-datastore-report/
• 2. Do you have confirmed views on how the research should be presented back to yourselves eg any/all of PPT/Word docs, online/face-face presentations / interview edits / interactive p-type etc. ?: We will be following the Government Service Standard https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard in terms of the process. The priority will be that the GLA can use the materials created during the Discovery as a practical resource during the subsequent build phases. We would expect a combination of written materials and meetings to discuss them.
• 3. The standard response approach is “You should only provide one example for each essential requirement (unless the buyer specifies otherwise).” Please confirm if you wish us to follow this or would accept two+ relevant examples per question.: Please only provide one relevant example per question at this stage. However, there will be an opportunity to provide more examples and detail for shortlisted suppliers at the next stage of procurement.
• 4. Is there an incumbent in this role?: The DataStore is provided on a SaaS basis by DataPress. There isn’t an incumbent for the detailed discovery work.