This opportunity is closed for applications

The deadline was Monday 23 April 2018
Her Majasty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)

HMCTS Robotic Process Automation

8 Incomplete applications

6 SME, 2 large

12 Completed applications

3 SME, 9 large

Important dates

Published
Monday 9 April 2018
Deadline for asking questions
Monday 16 April 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Monday 23 April 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work
HMCTS want to build an RPA capability to deliver business process improvements using a mixture of supplier and in-house staff. We currently have four robots in production which we are continuing to develop and a further four in various stages of development.
Latest start date
Monday 18 June 2018
Expected contract length
2 years with 3-6 month statements of work to ensure the quality of delivery.
Location
London
Organisation the work is for
Her Majasty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
Budget range
We are not declaring a budget but would expect the following roles to be provided at competitive rates:

·Project Manager (part-time)
·RPA Developer
·Business Analyst
·UiPath Trainer (as required)
·RPA Infrastructure Engineer (as required)
If a supplier expects additional roles to be required, these should also be proposed during the proposal stage. A pricing matrix will be shared that allows for a full rate card to be submitted, prior to presentations.
Furthermore, if the requirement for additional roles arises, we will inform Suppliers at the earliest opportunity.

About the work

Why the work is being done
HMCTS has many IT systems some of which will be replaced under the HMCTS Reform programme. The new systems are being developed incrementally so legacy systems are required to support back-office processing while online applications and other services are developed. It will be necessary to transfer data from new services to back-end applications to allow requests to be processed and maintain a system of record. RPA has been identified as a solution to this problem. Business areas untouched by Reform can also benefit from automation to eliminate repetitive tasks and improve quality freeing up staff for other work.
Problem to be solved
From April'18 we want to increase capacity to provide the following capabilities:
• Conduct business analysis, design and build at least four robots every 10 weeks;
• Provide “hypercare” immediately following deployment of each new robot;
• Provide ongoing support for all live robots;
• Assess new processes suggested for automation;
• Train and share knowledge with HMCTS staff;
• Provide consultancy and advice, on request, about improvements in RPA and software, how to best train and develop staff and the most appropriate team structure.
• Provide flexibility to increase or decrease capacity at short notice as dictated by demand.
Who the users are and what they need to do
As a Product Manager I need:
• to continue to support and iterate the existing HMCTS robots;
• to have capacity to develop up to four robots simultaneously whilst being in discovery for a further four processes;
• to be able to train HMCTS staff as BAs and RPA developers;
• to have the flexibility to cope with peaks and troughs of demand for automation;
• to be able to assess the viability of processes for automation.

As a user I need:
·robots that will automate processes quickly and accurately;
·to be able to request changes and im
Early market engagement
N/A
Any work that’s already been done
Following an evaluation we have selected UiPath as our preferred toolset.
We have built and deployed robots for four processes following a proof of concept
Existing team
The existing team consists of a Product Owner and Delivery Manager from HMCTS and a Project Manager, three Business Analysts and three RPA Developers supplied by a contractor.
Current phase
Not applicable

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
The work is currently based at 102 Petty France, London but activity will be required nationwide depending on the location of processes that are automated. The base is expected to move to 54 Hagley Road, Birmingham during 2018/19. The work can be based in Birmingham before the move to Hagley Road if the supplier has premises in Birmingham and can accommodate the HMCTS members of the team there.
Working arrangements
The people will keep standard office hours to maximise knowledge transfer and integrate with team processes: Monday to Friday based in our office starting work by 09.30, 7.5 hours per day plus lunch time.
Security clearance
Everyone must have BPSS as a minimum however a higher clearance may be required by some people depending on the processes they are automating.

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions
We will require the supplier to provide us with a clear reporting and governance structure including who manages them.
The supplier will be required to undertake a handover and knowledge transfer from the current supplier.

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 of building and deploying robots (2%)
  • Experience of working with UiPath software (2%)
  • Evidence of ability to work using Agile methodology (2%)
  • Experience of effective estimation and sizing techniques to prioritise product delivery (2%)
  • Experience of developing robots in a fast changing agile environment (2%)
  • Experience of supporting and iterating robots over their lifetime (2%)
  • Experience of developing and training in-house staff in use of UiPath software (2%)
  • Experience of analysing processes for automation (2%)
  • Experience of deploying robots across a wide variety of software applications (2%)
Nice-to-have skills and experience
  • Experience of other RPA software (1%)
  • Good understanding of emerging and associated technologies such as OCR, etc (1%)

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate
4
Proposal criteria
  • Proposed team structure (4%)
  • CVs of proposed team members (5%)
  • Approach and methodology (5%)
  • Explain the Value Proposition; value for Money, how the proposal will optimise costs, and generate savings. Demonstrate how discounts will be linked to volume and duration (5%)
  • Describe any potential risks and dependencies and how you’ll manage them across the project (3%)
  • How the supplier will work with other stakeholders (3%)
  • Estimating and sizing techniques (4%)
  • Maintenance of team capability and structure (to cover unexpected absence, etc.) (4%)
  • Experience of training and staff development. (4%)
  • Describe how you deliver outcomes, measure and manage quality, speed of delivery to ensure continuous improvement (3%)
Cultural fit criteria
  • Demonstrate knowledge of MoJ and HMCTS processes, structure and business (4%)
  • Share knowledge and experience with other team members (4%)
  • Experience building RPA across other Government departments (4%)
  • Work as a team with our organisation and contractors (3%)
Payment approach
Time and materials
Assessment methods
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Work history
  • Reference
  • Presentation
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

15%

Price

25%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Who the users are and what they need to do:
As a user I need:
·robots that will automate processes quickly and accurately;
·to be able to request changes and improvements to "live" robots;
·ongoing support for "live" robots.
2. Please explain what is meant by "Explain the Value Proposition; value for Money, how the proposal will optimise costs, and generate savings. Demonstrate how discounts will be linked to volume and duration" This contract appears to be a Time and Materials engagement, what is meant by discounts for volume and duration?
"HMCTS are seeking to understand what the Supplier would provide within the service in addition to the proposed T&M day rate, examples could be but are not restricted to:
Volume based discounts
Risk & reward discounts
BOGOF
Office Accommodation - FOC "
3. We note the various locations and options for working from different sites - is there any opportunity for remote working from our own UK premises?
HMCTS are happy for suppliers to propose working from their own UK premises, as long as they can demonstrate compliant delivery and they meet the commercial milestones. The amount of time that suppliers can work remotely will have to be agreed with the Business.
4. Should we be successful in going forward to Round 2, given the variety of working locations, can you confirm if the rates should be quoted as excluding or including expenses?
"The Programme DO NOT pay travel expenses to the Client’s place of work.
The only expenses that the Programme would pay are directly related to works instructed by the programme, i.e. going to a “Court or Prison”, and do not include any travel within the M25. All expenses must be pre-approved by a senior member of the programme, and must be compliant with the Civil Service guidelines (available on gov.uk website)."
5. Please confirm which supplier has delivered the Alpha phase.
Atos IT UK Limited have been engaged to conduct the initial scope of works
6. Which suppliers have been involved in the proof of concept work to date?
Atos IT UK Limited have been engaged to conduct the initial scope of works
7. Demonstrate knowledge of HMCTS structures, processes and business (4%) Please clarify in which question, of the 100 words answers boxes, you are expecting to see (and mark) this answer in.
This is a Cultural fit question, and should not be answered in the first shortlisting phase. A tempate and guidance to answer this question will be provided to the successfully shortlisted suppliers.
8. In the ten week lifecycle of the project iteration what is the breakdown of event time scales?
A typical project consists of five two week sprints. The first sprint will be discovery followed by a further two weeks of detailed automation design in sprint two. Sprints three and four will be building and testing the automation and sprint five will be UAT and deployment into live. This can vary considerably from one project to another however depending on the complexity of the process.
9. Who provides the Hypercare immediately upon deployment and for how long? (Developer? Analyst? Other?)
Hypercare is provided for two weeks following deployment by the Developer and Analyst.
10. The ongoing support for Robots, is that subject to a Service Level Agreement with your users? What is the expected level of cover? 24 by 7? What is the rollback contingency planning around each iteration?
We don't currently have a SLA with our users. We expect to introduce one in the future but no details have been agreed. In the meantime we provide support during normal office hours.
11. What is the means to control the rollout from Development into Test/UAT/Production? Are you working to the Government Digital Standards for Agile?
Robots are developed on a test system which mirrors the live environment. Once they have been fully tested they are transferred into the live environment for UAT prior to go-live. We are not currently working to GDS standards for Agile.
12. You ask for 'Examples of developing SQL database structures' Please can you provide some context here. With Dynamics CRM (online or on premise) you do not change the structure of the database directly as this is only supported via the Dynamics configuration tools? Therefore is this question regarding non-Dynamics CRM databases?
We haven't asked for this.
13. You ask for examples of developing SQL database structures, specifically in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365 Online With Dynamics CRM (online or on premise) you do not change the structure of the database directly as this is only support via the Dynamics configuration tools. Therefore is the question referencing Dynamics CRM configuration experience?
We haven't asked for this.
14. You ask for examples of delivering a Beta phase, taking over from a different Alpha supplier. Please provide details of the types activities to be performed during the Beta phase.
We haven't asked for this.
15. How do you determine if individual RPA projects are a success today?
Success is measured by the number of transactions processed, the time per transaction compared with the manual process and accuracy.
16. What SLA’s/KPI’s have been agreed with process owners to form the

*NOTE* This question was submitted as incomplete.
No SLAs or KPIs have been agreed with the Process Owners.
17. How many staff does HMCTS wish to train on RPA?
We have not yet decided how many staff we will train on RPA.
18. Has a knowledge transfer process and key milestones been agreed with stakeholders, or do you intend for the supplier to define this within the project?
We would like the supplier to define this within the project based on their previous experience of what has worked well for them in other projects.
19. Has a process already been agreed for assessing new processes suggested for automation? Basis for benefits realisation?
We have devised a process for the business to submit suggestions for automation to us. These are triaged before being considered by a Steering Group who decide whether we will develop the idea.
20. What internal experience does HMCTS staff have delivering RPA previously?
We have deployed robots in four different processes to date.
21. How many people do you envisage will require training and what type of background and skills are these individuals likely to have (Business Analyst, technical, etc.)? Have you previously utilised computer-based training?
We have yet to decide how many people we want to train and have not yet recruited for the team, there we don't know what their backgrounds will be. We have used computer based training previously but not for RPA.
22. What is your standard process framework that you use and what is your preferred toolset for documenting processes?
A typical project consists of five two week sprints. The first sprint will be discovery followed by a further two weeks of detailed automation design in sprint two. Sprints three and four will be building and testing the automation and sprint five will be UAT and deployment into live. This can vary considerably from one project to another however depending on the complexity of the process. We use JIRA and Confluence to document our processes.