This opportunity was cancelled

The buyer cancelled this opportunity, for example because they no longer have the budget. They may publish an updated version later.

The Trustees of the British Museum

BM.22.006 British Museum AR tablet tours

5 Incomplete applications

5 SME, 0 large

4 Completed applications

4 SME, 0 large

• Published: Friday 18 February 2022
• Deadline for asking questions: Friday 25 February 2022 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 4 March 2022 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Off-payroll (IR35) determination: Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply
• Summary of the work: Development of game app to provide three separate tablet tours within high profile British Museum galleries for school groups (ages 7-14). The app will be used on Samsung tablets provided by the museum and will leverage AR functionalities. The app will not be available for public download onto other devices.
• Latest start date: Monday 2 May 2022
• Location: No specific location, for example they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: The Trustees of the British Museum
• Budget range: £40,000 to £50,000 (excluding VAT)

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The British Museum is looking for an independent contractor to develop and produce a game app that will provide three separate tablet tours of specific galleries (Parthenon, Suton Hoo, Roman Empire) for school groups. Tour will consist of a series of tasks and minigames incorporated within a wider overarching story that will provide an immersive visiting experience for students and teachers. The app will be used on Samsung tablets provided by the museum and will leverage AR functionalities. ; ; Key metrics: ; - Student Ages: 7-14 (Key stage 2&3); - Class size: 30+ working in pairs or threes ; - Tours should take 30-45 minutes to complete ; - App will be self-contained in 50+ tablets and will not be available for download onto other devices. ; - Interface, user experience and functionality should account for accessibility requirements of school students.; - App should include CMS capabilities allowing specific tasks to be disabled in the case of objects on loan/unavailable; - Activities should be varied to be engaging for students ; - Useful life: until 2024 (minimum), until 2027 (ideal); ; The applications target go-live date is September 2022 with at least two completed tours. The third tour has a target go-live date of January 2023.
• Problem to be solved: The British Museum receives numerous school visitors to its Bloomsbury site every year. Prior to March 2020 the Museum provided a tablet lending system where teachers could borrow a set of tablets with bespoke British Museum content for use in one of three galleries. It would support them to have a 45-minute experience fully facilitated by the content on those devices. The tours were well booked (15 thousand users completed the tour every year) and it was well received by schools. The native app is past end of life and cannot be used. The Museum is seeking to update this offer and to incorporate AR functionalities.; The story and content will be provided by the British Museum and will focus on the curriculum for students aged 7-14 (key stage 2 & 3).
• Who the users are and what they need to do: As a key stage 2/3 student I want to have a good time so that I enjoy a day out of the classroom with classmates. ; ; As a primary school teacher I need to provide an immersive and memorable learning experience for my students that I linked to the national curriculum so that they are more exited to learn about the topic. ; ; As the Museum provided these resources we want to have a low maintenance solution that is easy to deploy and manage on a daily basis.
• Early market engagement: Our early market engagement confirmed the feasibility of this project within budgetary and time constraints.
• Any work that’s already been done: No work has already been done
• Existing team: You will be working primarily with the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre (SDDC) team which supports digital education in the Museum. You will be working closely with two digital learning professionals with extensive experience working with schools and the relevant user group. Interaction with the Museum's Information Services Department may also be required and other stakeholders as necessary.
• Current phase: Not started

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: The majority of the work can be done remotely. However we expect some development and tests at the Bloomsbury site will be required.
• Working arrangements: The majority of the work can be delivered remotely and we would expect weekly virtual meetings to formally update the team on project progress.; We expect some kick-off meetings at project initiation and later development and testing at the Bloomsbury site will be required. Any such on site meetings will be in accordance with any prevailing Covid related restrictions. All travel, subsistence and related costs should be included in the supplier's fixed fee.
• Security clearance: No clearances are needed to commence work, your staff will need to be either provided with security passes or escorted if on site on at the Museum. The Museum will assist with provision of any security passes.

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 experience developing game like apps for tablets, ideally with a focus on android.
  • Demonstrate experience working with and designing apps for the education sector, ideally for children 7-14 years of age.
  • Demonstrable experience developing digital tour guides including elements such as but, but not limited to, gamified content for use in an educational context
  • Demonstrate experience designing for mobile and/or hand held devices
  • Ability to develop dual technology that incorporates 3D object recognition and 3D visual augmented reality
  • Have an understanding of the role of museums in young people’s learning
  • Have the ability to produce engaging learning content.
  • Have experience delivering projects on time and providing detailed development estimates
  • Hold at least Cyber Essentials certification
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrate past experience producing digital 2D visual assets (illustration animation)
  • Demonstrate experience working in the cultural and arts sector with museums, galleries or other heritage bodies
  • Have the ability to meet the accessibility requirements 7-14 year old school students and experience incorporating these into the design of suitable interface, user experience and functionality

How suppliers will be evaluated

All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Technical solution
  • Approach and methodology
  • How the approach or solution meets our user needs
  • How the approach or solution meets our organisation’s policy or goal
  • Estimated timeframes for the work
  • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Work closely as a team with our organisation
  • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • Share knowledge and experience with other team members
• Payment approach: Fixed price
• Additional assessment methods:
  • Case study
  • Reference
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. The App is to be used by students & teachers; do Teachers have specific/different user requirements or same as students?: The app itself will be used by students who will be accompanied by teachers. It is not expected that the teachers will need a teacher specific tablet or version of the app.
• 2. Does the £50k budget include ongoing maintenance and support through to 2024/27?: This will be decided when the contract is drawn up. Minimal support and maintenance is envisaged beyond a period of bug fixing which will be covered by a warranty in the contract. Once the app is locked down onto the devices little/no software or hardware changes should occur.
• 3. Tours to have tasks and mini games – Do you have initial ideas or requirements around this, or will this be our role to suggest?: The digital learning team at the Museum have prior experience of developing tasks and mini games within activities. However, we are keen to work with a supplier to identify new opportunities for interaction. It is not expected that users would book more than one tour on the same day or within a short period of time. There is no expectation that the tasks and mini games must be different between the three gallery tours.
• 4. Do you have current analytics you can share on user engagement (e.g. what content is used/liked best)?: We have observation reports from the app this is looking to replace which identify what types of content and interaction mechanics users found most engaging and which supported the intended learning outcomes of the activities. A summary of these will be available at the next stage. The Museum's experience of working on a range of similar digital engagement products will be drawn on for the collaboration process.
• 5. Do you have current (or preferred) server/cloud platforms for hosting, and are these costs separate to the £50k budget?: The app will be self-contained in 50+ tablets and will not be available for download onto other devices. The tablets will not be connected to the internet.
• 6. What levels/type of support do you envisage needing beyond go-live?: This will be decided when the contract is drawn up. Minimal support and maintenance is envisaged beyond a period of bug fixing which will be covered by a warranty in the contract. Once the app is locked down onto the devices little/no software or hardware changes should occur.
• 7. What kind of assets are available? If there are 3D assets for AR have they been optimized (low polygon)?: There are no existing 3D assets available.
• 8. Do you have device management software/platform / is there any provision in place for updating devices and the OS on the devices?: No there is not any device management software or platform in place. The devices will not be connected to the internet and there is no intention of updating the OS on them.
• 9. Do you have any research/insights from current app users that you can share that is/will inform the new app?: We have observation reports from the app this is looking to replace which identify what types of content and interaction mechanics users found most engaging and which supported the intended learning outcomes of the activities. A summary of these will be available at the next stage. The Museum's experience of working on a range of similar digital engagement products will be drawn on for the collaboration process.
• 10. Do you anticipate that the app would use sound (or would that be too disruptive in the setting)?: Due to the busy nature of the galleries, users would struggle to clearly hear audio played from the devices without headsets. It is understood that headsets would limit the interaction between students working together in small groups or pairs on a device. There are also concerns that headsets impede the ability for teachers and supporting adults to help students or maintain communication to control the group.
• 11. Can you share info around the story and content for the tours?: The digital learning team at the Museum have prior experience of developing content and narrative for this age group of students. However, we are keen to work with a supplier to identify new opportunities as these have not yet been identified.
• 12. Can you provide any details about the existing native app? Any information about its functionality & content (e.g. screenshots, video walkthroughs, demos) and/or its implementation (e.g. technology stack, source code) would be very helpful. Thanks: The existing app is called 'A Gift for Athena' and was developed by Gamar, more information on that experience is publicly available online. We do have copies of the content and an APK file. This will/could be shared with shortlisted suppliers/at the tender stage.
• 13. Can you give details of the specification of the Samsung tablets to be used for the new application? Thanks: We haven't had confirmation from Samsung for what devices these would be. However, they are likely to be Galaxy Tab S4 or newer.
• 14. Could you pls provide the full spec of tablets including current version of Android running on them: We haven't had confirmation from Samsung for what devices these would be. However, they are likely to be Galaxy Tab S4 or newer.
• 15. Could you provide further information on what the school children get to see on the guided tours and what they do in the current native app?: The existing app is called 'A Gift for Athena' and was developed by Gamar, more information on that experience is publicly available online. We do have copies of the content and an APK file. This will/could be shared with shortlisted suppliers/at the tender stage.
• 16. Would it be possible for us to see the current Native app, along with your view of what from this has been successful, you’d like to keep, change, etc.?: The existing app 'A Gift for Athena' and was developed by Gamar, information on that experience is publicly available online. We have copies of the content and an APK file. This will/could be shared with shortlisted suppliers at the tender stage.; We have observation reports from the app this will to replace which identify what types of content and interaction mechanics users found most engaging and which supported the learning outcomes of the activities. A summary of these will be available at the next stage. The Museum's experience of working on similar digital engagement products can be drawn on.