Awarded to Ixydo Ltd

Start date: Monday 7 August 2017
Value: £90,300
Company size: SME
Government Digital Service, GOV.UK Verify

WP1423 DevOps Specialist 4 for GOV.UK Verify

7 Incomplete applications

6 SME, 1 large

15 Completed applications

13 SME, 2 large

Important dates

Published
Wednesday 28 June 2017
Deadline for asking questions
Friday 30 June 2017 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Wednesday 5 July 2017 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Specialist role
Web operations engineer
Summary of the work
GOV.UK Verify is migrating from a VMWare based environment to AWS. At the same time, it is developing it's onboarding service and other areas of the service. We need webops engineers to work across different product teams and, on rotation, with the security operations and operational support teams.
Latest start date
Monday 7 August 2017
Expected contract length
1 Year
Location
London
Organisation the work is for
Government Digital Service, GOV.UK Verify
Maximum day rate

About the work

Early market engagement
None.
Who the specialist will work with
working with the product teams, security operations and operational support in house
What the specialist will work on
Developing and maintaining scalable and resilient platform for GOV.UK Verify products and services.

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
10 Whitechapel High St, London E1 8DX
Working arrangements
Normal hours 9 - 5.30am Monday to Friday. Expected to be on site a minimum of 3 days a week, using Slack and other channels to keep in communication with team when working remotely. Expected to attend stand-ups, retros etc. Contribute to describing and breaking down epics, provide and update technical documentation as appropriate.
Security clearance
SC

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions
Cabinet Office Travel and Subsistence Policy will apply.

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
  • Operational management of Linux servers, delivering a complex web application stack
  • development and use of configuration management tools such as Puppet, chef,Ansible, Salt, etc.
  • Good understanding of network protocols – TCP/IP, HTTPS, TLS, etc.
  • Ruby, Python, Go, and/or Java within an existing, production codebase
  • Experience of working with VMWare and AWS
  • Agile/Devops working
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Ability to take the initiative
  • Ability to work independently and move in a fast-paced environment
  • Experience in passing on knowledge in a structured way
Nice-to-have skills and experience
  • Good understanding of working in an PKI environment
  • Demonstrable experience in a multi-disciplinary product team

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many specialists to evaluate
6
Cultural fit criteria
  • Commitment to excellence
  • Culture of taking responsibility for owning issues and resolving any problems.
  • Commitment to team working
  • Your approach to knowledge sharing with civil servants to support learning from this engagement.
Assessment methods
  • Work history
  • Reference
  • Interview
  • Scenario or test
  • Presentation
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

65%

Cultural fit

15%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Is the rate inclusive or exclusive of VAT?
Exclusive
2. Is there any travel involved in this role and will the travel expenses be paid ?
The specialist will be based in our office in London, we do not expect there to be travel to any other locations over the term. It is therefore unlikely there will be the need to claim any expenses. However should a need arise any expenses must be pre-agreed and adhere to the Cabinet Office T&S Policy.
3. What are the other expenses which will be paid
Travel and Subsistence if required to travel to a location outside of London. Any expenses must be pre-agreed and adhere to the Cabinet Office T&S Policy.
4. Is occasional remote working allowed?
This will be at the discretion of the person responsible for setting the specialist's tasks
5. Is occasional remote working allowed?
This will be at the discretion of the person responsible for setting the specialist's tasks
6. Any specific format(pdf,doc) in which CVs to be sent later
If your submitted specialist is shortlisted, we would ask for a completed Work History. This should read like a tailored CV.
7. Any chances of change in start date as the latest date mentioned is Monday 7 August 2017
We cannot change the latest start date
8. What is the total number for positions open for this role
There are only 4 Web Ops specialist opportunities open for GDS (WP1420-23). Only one specialist to be submitted per opportunity.
9. Can more than one candidate per supplier be submitted for this role
No. We can only accept one specialist per supplier per opportunity.
10. Please can you confirm how many actual positions are open ?
Four Web Ops specialists (WP1420, WP1421, WP1422 & WP1423) and one Technical Architect (WP1424)
11. There were 8 postings for the same Devops role , now only 4 are left, are these positions cancelled
The previous 4 had an error and were taken down as a result and replaced. We are only going out for 4 Web Ops specialists
12. Are these individual DevOps specialists separate to the DevOps Outcome posted recently?
No. The opportunities are a replacement of WP1410
13. Is this a re- procurement of the existing services of DevOps engineers via the G-Cloud given it ties in with the end date of current suppliers of the 6th August?
This brief is a part of a series of opportunities to ensure GOV.UK Verify has the capability it requires. These opportunities are not to re-procure anyone specifically. Whichever supplier scores highest overall against the published criteria will be awarded the contract.
14. Is this a re- procurement of the existing services of DevOps engineers via the G-Cloud given it ties in with the end date of current suppliers of the 6th August?
This brief is a part of a series of opportunities to ensure GOV.UK Verify has the capability it requires. These opportunities are not to re-procure anyone specifically. Whichever supplier scores highest overall against the published criteria will be awarded the contract.
15. Is this to work on the same programme as "WP1410: Dev Ops capability for Verify (ref 4608)"? Are these specialists to work alongside any consultants provided in WP1410?
This is part of series of procurements which are a replacement of WP1410
16. There are now 7 of these very similar requisitions - are we able to submit one candidate to each requisition or are some of these duplicates? Could you confirm the total number of hires required - thanks.
Four Web Ops specialists (WP1420, WP1421, WP1422 & WP1423) and one Technical Architect (WP1424). You can only submit one specialist per role.
17. The roles now listed under Specialists, were originally an Outcome. Is the Outcome no longer being considered? Or will these roles sit alongside the team brought in from the Outcome?
No. This is a replacement of WP1410.
18. Could we please have the daily rate for this role ?
We are not setting day rate cap, all bids will be considered.
19. Do you have an expected budget per day for each specialist?
We are not setting day rate cap, all bids will be considered.
20. How important is it to already have SC clearance?
It is preferred that the candidate already has SC clearance. If not currently held, the candidate must be willing to undertake the SC clearance process. This DOS requirement made it clear that SC clearance is required therefore suppliers are required to pay and arrange for that security clearance themselves to become eligible and compliant to perform the contract. We can however arrange for special dispensation to allow suppliers to begin their contract and allow them onsite whilst the security process is underway. A caveat to this is that the suppliers contract would be terminated if SC clearance was not granted.
21. Will you sponsor SC clearance
It is preferred that the candidate already has SC clearance. If not currently held, the candidate must be willing to undertake the SC clearance process. This DOS requirement made it clear that SC clearance is required therefore suppliers are required to pay and arrange for that security clearance themselves to become eligible and compliant to perform the contract. We can however arrange for special dispensation to allow suppliers to begin their contract and allow them onsite whilst the security process is underway. A caveat to this is that the suppliers contract would be terminated if SC clearance was not granted.
22. Regarding the SC clearance status, if the candidate does not hold active SC clearance and is willing to go through the process, can this be considered, if yes will you sponsor the security clearance
It is preferred that the candidate already has SC clearance. If not currently held, the candidate must be willing to undertake the SC clearance process. This DOS requirement made it clear that SC clearance is required therefore suppliers are required to pay and arrange for that security clearance themselves to become eligible and compliant to perform the contract. We can however arrange for special dispensation to allow suppliers to begin their contract and allow them onsite whilst the security process is underway. A caveat to this is that the suppliers contract would be terminated if SC clearance was not granted.
23. Can you consider anyone with BPSS who is willing to undergo SC Clearance?
Yes
24. Can a candidate with DV clearance be considered for this role
Yes. For reference DV clearance level is higher than SC.
25. What is the lead time for feedback once the application is submitted?
Within 4 working days
26. Date on which feedback would be provided for the application submitted
Within 4 working days from the shortlisting evidence being made available.
27. Will this be inside IR35?
No
28. Do these roles fall inside or outside of the "off payroll" working legislation?
Outside
29. Could you please confirm whether the role is inside or outside of IR35?
Outside
30. Are we able to submit more than one consultant?
No. We can only accept one specialist per supplier per opportunity.
31. Maximum number of applications we could submit.
We can only accept one specialist per supplier per opportunity.