Awarded to Redrock Consulting Ltd

Start date: Monday 4 December 2017
Value: £263,712
Company size: SME
Legal Aid Agency

LAA non-live environment hosting and portfolio support DBAs

3 Incomplete applications

3 SME, 0 large

7 Completed applications

5 SME, 2 large

Important dates

Published
Tuesday 26 September 2017
Deadline for asking questions
Tuesday 3 October 2017 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Tuesday 10 October 2017 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work
DBA support for non-live environments hosted on the Redcentric cloud platform. Additional input into/support for live hosting and other portfolio projects.
Latest start date
Monday 13 November 2017
Expected contract length
2years
Location
London
Organisation the work is for
Legal Aid Agency
Budget range
The maximum day rate payable is £750 (non negotiable).It is envisaged the team will consist of between 2 and 4 resources.
Total spend for the period cannot exceed £261,206.

About the work

Why the work is being done
LAA has moved its non-live environments to a cloud-based platform and requires DBAs to complete and support this transition and to ensure the benefits of this are realised. Input will also be required into the move of live environments to the cloud and other portfolio activities.
Problem to be solved
Support required to fully leverage the benefits inherent in a cloud platform.
Who the users are and what they need to do
As digital delivery staff and internal and external users, have access to systems that are consistent, robust and readily available.
Early market engagement
N/A
Any work that’s already been done
For the non-live environments, beta phase work has almost completed and the solution is transitioning to live service. The live hosting solution is at Discovery stage; other areas vary between not started and live.
Existing team
The team will be working with a mix of in-house and 3rd party supplier resources.
Current phase
Live

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
LAA's Head Office at 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ.
Working arrangements
Team will need to be on-site in order to integrate with other staff members.
Security clearance
Baseline Personnel Security Check (BPSS) which must be dated within three months of the start date. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-baseline-personnel-security-standard for further guidance. Some roles may require SC security.

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions
N/A

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
  • Demonstrable experience of successfully delivering high transaction hosting/system support/development services to government departments, working in complex and highly regulatory environments.
  • Experience of dealing with complex systems and integrations
  • Demonstrable experience of maintaining and spinning up/down flexible environments.
  • Experience of working with cloud-based hosting (must include AWS).
  • Demonstrable experience and understanding of Oracle, particularly eBS v11 & v12, IDAM solution and database versions 9 to 11.
  • Management of infrastructural changes (e.g., firewalls, loadbalancers).
  • Experience of working with full-stack based on Sparc Solaris (versions 8, 10, 11).
  • Experience of CDC.
  • Experience of managing background processes, including UniQBatch.
Nice-to-have skills and experience
  • Demonstrable experience of working in an agile delivery environment.
  • Prior experience of working with the LAA

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate
3
Proposal criteria
  • Describe how you will ensure that LAA is supplied with high quality and appropriately skilled DBAs, whilst minimising LAA's effort in screening the proposed team members.
  • Explain how you plan to retain key resources for the duration of the contract.
  • Provide named individuals and CV’s to meet the requirements, demonstrating experience of working in agile multi-vendor teams.
  • Describe your approach to adding, replacing and rotating new team members, within a 2 week notice period, to the existing team without reducing the team’s velocity.
  • Describe your approach to delivering capability and ensuring that knowledge transfer is conducted.
Cultural fit criteria
Explain how you will work with the LAA to ensure successful outcomes and provide a brief example of when you have done this.
Payment approach
Time and materials
Assessment methods
Written proposal
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

15%

Price

25%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. The maximum day rate, over a 2 year period, with approximately 4 resources, provides a £s total in excess of the total spend for the period. Please can you advise?
Though the contract can run for 2 years, initial calculations are for the period to the end of March 2018.
2. Could you please confirm that the funding amount for this is correct please?
Though the contract can run for 2 years, initial calculations are for the period to the end of March 2018.
3. a) Hi, Will all work be required to take place on the customer site in London, or will there be opportunity for some the work to be done remotely? If there is the option for remote work, what is the expected split between the two?

b) Please can you give more info on the IDAM solution? E.g. any version specs, manufacturer.

c) The tender asks for DBA's but also asks for experience of management of infrastructural changes (e.g., firewalls, loadbalancers). Is this purely from DBA perspective, or will the successful bidder be required to manage the full changes.
a) Potentially, but default expectation should be that work will be from the office.
b) Oracle IDAM suite 11.1.2.3

c) From an APPS DBA perspective, managing and specifying the requests for infrastructure change
4. For Q4 are LAA asking for experience of eBusiness Suite (eBS) versions R11i and R12 or are they asking for experience and understanding of eBS and Fusion Cloud versions 11 and 12.
eBusiness Suite versions R11i and R12
5. We note the framework Terms and Conditions state that in addition to the daily rate charged, expenses will be payable at the Buyer expense policy permitted maximum. Please can you confirm your policy on T&S will cover public transport charged at cost/car travel at HMRC approved rates? Please could you confirm the policy regarding overnight accommodation?
The Department's policy on T&S is: "Subsistence allowances are designed to meet the extra cost incurred by employees away from their home or place of work on official duty." No overnight stay required.