Awarded to Digi2al Limited

Start date: Tuesday 2 January 2018
Value: £4,950,000
Company size: SME

Home Office

User-Centred Design

15 Incomplete applications

12 SME, 3 large

17 Completed applications

10 SME, 7 large

• Published: Wednesday 13 September 2017
• Deadline for asking questions: Wednesday 20 September 2017 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Wednesday 27 September 2017 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Home Office requires a supplier to provide a User Centred Design service that'll:; •Build services that meets Digital by Default Service Standard; •Reduce cost/effort attached to failed assessments; •Build user centred design capability for the portfolio; •Reduce duplication of effort; •Reduce failure demand; •Transfer knowledge and skills to Civil Servants
• Latest start date: Tuesday 5 December 2017
• Expected contract length: 2 years.
• Location: London
• Organisation the work is for: Home Office
• Budget range: £4,000,000 to £4,950,000

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The Immigration IT Portfolio is delivering around 70 projects which impact over 20,000 Home Office staff and millions of customers worldwide. We are looking for a supplier who can provide the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to help build a user centred design capability within the department, on a range of internal and public facing services from discovery to live. Specific skills required are content design, interaction design and user research as set out in the GDS Service Manual (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/the-team/what-each-role-does-in-service-team)
• Problem to be solved: The Home Office currently lacks capability in user centred design and the services are failing to meet the Digital by Default Service Standard. The supplier will support in-house delivery teams to build services which meet the Digital Service Standard, reduce duplication of effort, reduce failure demand and transfer knowledge and skills to Civil Servants.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: People from overseas who want to come to or stay in the UK. Staff who need to make decisions, share information or process applications.
• Early market engagement: None.
• Any work that’s already been done: The Home Office currently has an in house user centred design function. However, it is currently unable to meet the demands placed upon it. The new supplier would provide discrete teams for specific pieces of project work to ensure best practice is being followed across the Home Office.
• Existing team: The existing team is a multi-disciplinary agile delivery team, made up of product/service managers, business analysts, developers and design professionals.
• Current phase: Not applicable

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: The Services will be delivered to Home Office’s primary location at Metro Point, 49 Sydenham Road, Croydon, CR0 2EU. The supplier may be required to travel on occasion to other Home Office locations within the UK. Travel and subsistence expenses will not be reimbursed for any travel within the M25 region
• Working arrangements: The Supplier will provide a user centred design service to project delivery teams across the Home Office. Each Statement of Work will cover that particular project and have associated outcomes and deliverables, and will be for a fixed price for fixed scope. The teams will be expected to work alongside the project teams where appropriate to deliver against the agreed deliverables.
• Security clearance: Service Provider personnel need to be compliant with BPSS as a minimum, and CTC clearance if working in Home Office buildings. Depending on the nature of the role, if escalated and/or privileged access is necessary then there may be a requirement for SC clearance

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: The teams will be made up of Content Designers, Interaction Designers and User Researchers, will the mix depending on the requirements and scale of the project. It will be up to the supplier to decide what the most appropriate mix should be and reflect that in the fixed price for that SOW. The price evaluation for this procurement will assume a standard mix for evaluation purposes. This contract will probably be deemed outside the intermediaries legislation (IR35) but could be affected by factors outside HO control. HO assumes no liability and will grant no guarantee of status.

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 building services to meet the Digital by Default Service Standard.
  • Deploying teams of content designers, interaction designers and user researchers to work alongside agile delivery teams in government, and understanding how those roles work together.
  • Experience in proving the benefits of a user-led approach in a deadline-driven environment
  • Experience in designing services that meet both user needs and business objectives
  • Experience in delivering digital solutions that meet Level AA of the W3C WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards
  • Experience in successfully and collaboratively working, coaching and sharing knowledge with Public Sector client teams, particularly those with limited agile development experience
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrable experience of working in multi-team agile delivery programmes
  • Experience in working in government in within a similar context
  • Experience in building customer or staff facing digital services in the immigration field
  • Demonstrate thought leadership in user centred design and public sector delivery

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Demonstrate understanding/ability to deliver digital products/services to government Digital Service standards
  • Demonstrate approach to knowledge and skills transfer
  • Ability to scale up to full team and flex resource when needed
  • Illustrate core team skills/strengths, including CVs of key personnel
  • Value for money
  • Experience of using insight and evidence to create compelling and persuasive arguments
  • Demonstrate understanding of the challenges of implementing user centred design in a government agile environment
  • Domain knowledge of Home Office business requirements and issues
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Have a proactive approach to service readiness
  • Have a proactive approach to stakeholder engagement
  • Have a strong dedication to a One Team approach
  • Have a positive approach to development of client capablility
  • Have a positive approach to people development
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  65%

  Cultural fit

  5%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. The opening refers to the fact that the teams will be made up of content designers, interaction designers and user researchers – before we compile our bid, do you have an estimate of how many individuals will be required initially?: It is anticipated that the supplier should be able to provde between 10 and 15 individuals a year.
• 2. You mention: "The Home Office currently has an in house user centred design function. However, it is currently unable to meet the demands placed upon it. The new supplier would provide discrete teams for specific pieces of project work to ensure best practice is being followed across the Home Office." Would the supplier also be involved in assessing the roadmap of work and shaping the projects?: No.
• 3. What's at risk if you don't do this piece of work?: I’d like to refer you to the “Why we are doing this” section of the published requirements. This section outlines our commitment to the GDS Digital Standard, for further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/the-team/what-each-role-does-in-service-team
• 4. Are you able to share the results of any failed service assessments, or can you describe in a few words any main areas of failure?: Most services are failing on point 1, Understand user needs, and 2, Do on-going user research.
• 5. Could you elaborate on what you are looking for as a "One Team" approach?: The “One Team” approach refers to the departmental approach to a multi-supplier environment. We expect all suppliers to work cohesively and collaboratively with civil servants, contractors and other suppliers. The One Team approach put simply, means these distinctions should not be visible to us. We expect all suppliers to adhere to the IPT Partnering Behaviours Charter which will be shared in the subsequent round.
• 6. You state that you want content designers, interaction designers and user researchers. Are you only looking for these roles or are you looking for a supplier that can be held accountable for delivering the outcomes against project scopes?: As the section under "Any work that's currently being done" mentions, the new supplier will be expected to provide teams for specific pieces of project work and as such will be held accountable for the delivered outcome.
• 7. Do you have a roadmap in place that the supplier would be required to follow? Similarly, a list of priorities and projects that you require to be delivered?: A roadmap will be provided at the next round of this procurement. Projects will be allocated to the new supplier subjhect to demand. As mentioned in the requirement under the existing team section, the department currently has UCD capability. When the department UCD team is at maximum capacity, the new supplier will be requested to undertake specific pieces of project work.
• 8. The stated Payment Approach is capped time and materials, however you also state that "Each Statement of Work will .... be for a fixed price for fixed scope." Which is the preferred model? Are you also open to other commercial models that give sufficient flexibility in detail during delivery, whilst still producing the required outcome e.g. passing GDS Assessment?: As per the requirements we provided, we see this as augmenting existing Home Office teams with User-centred design expertise to improve our capacity to support our current portfolio of Digital projects. We would not rule out alternative commercial models if they could be demonstrated to add value to the Home Office without tranferring additional risk.
• 9. Are examples of government work from outside the UK seen as relevant in our response?: Government work outside the UK would not be relevant experience as the new supplier should have experience in working to the Digital by Default Service standard.
• 10. Do you have existing user research facilities at your primary location in Croydon or is this something you would be seeking help to establish?: We have functioning user research facilities available at no cost to teams from the Home Office.
• 11. How many Civil Servants would need to be trained as part of this programme?: We will not require formal training, but the supplier will be required to transfer project specific and domain knowledge to civil servants.
• 12. The brief refers to the transfer of knowledge to Civil Servants. What skills and backgrounds do these Civil Servants have? Are they digital professionals?: Backgrounds will vary. Some civil servants will be juniors in the UCD professions, some will be other members of delivery teams, and others will be new to UCD.
• 13. Please could you provide logical application, network and physical architecture diagrams and high level design information for your current virtualised environment and applications?: No - this isn't relevant to this tender.
• 14. The stated Payment Approach is capped time and materials, however you also state that "Each Statement of Work will .... be for a fixed price for fixed scope." Which is the preferred model? Are you also open to other commercial models that give sufficient flexibility in detail during delivery, whilst still producing the required outcome e.g. passing GDS Assessment?: The cap refers to the maximum contract value, and also, that as we are buying outcomes - with suppliers responsible for producing agreed deliverables within each statement of work, the expectation is that suppliers will produce the agreed deliverables and rectify any defects at their cost. We may consider alternative commercial models, if they can be proven to deliver additional value to the Home Office but not if they have the effect - intended or otherwise - of passing risk back to the Home Office
• 15. Does the supplier need technical development capability, or does the request only relate to User Centred Design with development being handled by your in-house delivery teams?: Only User-Centred Design.
• 16. What ratio of work would be focused on helping build User Centred Design capability versus delivering specific pieces of project work using User Centred Design methodologies?: A core part of our work as UCD professionals in government, is to up-skill those around us. Raising awareness of our approach is something we do as part of our collaborative ways of working.
• 17. The brief refers to ‘discrete’ teams for specific pieces of project work. What is meant by discrete in this context.: As stated in the requirements, there is an existing in-house user-centred design team comprised of Civil Servants. On occasions, demand for support from this team exceeds capacity, so the Home Office is looking for a partner who can provide subject matter experts to augment the existing team when demand outstrips available internal resource. “Discrete” in this context means to provide resources to a specific user-research requirement arising from one of the Home Office Digital programmes and workstreams within those programmes.
• 18. Could you please elaborate on what is meant by the Nice to Have Skills and Experience bullet point: “Experience in working in government in within a similar context”?: Home Office is keen to work with suppliers who demonstrate capability of working on large-scale Digital programmes/projects/workstreams in support of the Government’s ambitions to be “digital by default”. Suppliers who can demonstrate previous experience of supporting Government in realising the digital agenda through adherence to the Government Digital Service’s service manual in relation to U-CD could make suitable partners. This is a “nice to have”, therefore suppliers who have experience of supporting large Digital programmes in other environments (e.g. complex Government Digital projects in other countries and/or private sector) are welcome to demonstrate their capability with reference to this experience.
• 19. The Home Office currently has an in house user centred design function. However, it is currently unable to meet the demands placed upon it. The new supplier would provide discrete teams for specific pieces of project work to ensure best practice is being followed across the Home Office." Would the supplier also be involved in assessing the roadmap of work and shaping the projects?: No.