Awarded to Nomensa Ltd

Start date: Friday 31 August 2018
Value: £59,875
Company size: SME

Welsh Government

Discovery Stage to explore and inform future development options for E-Portfolios

2 Incomplete applications

1 SME, 1 large

17 Completed applications

14 SME, 3 large

• Published: Friday 22 June 2018
• Deadline for asking questions: Friday 29 June 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 6 July 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: We require a team to undertake a discovery projects focusing on user experience and technology options on behalf of Welsh Government to inform the requirments and development of an online system to enable all learners in Walesa (ages 3-16) to create and own an online ‘E-Portfolio’ of thier learning experience.
• Latest start date: Monday 6 August 2018
• Expected contract length: 8 weeks
• Location: No specific location, eg they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: Welsh Government
• Budget range: £60,000 excluding VAT

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The Welsh Government is committed to reforming education having accepted all of Professor Donaldson’s recommendations in ‘Successful Futures’, including a number focussed on the use of e-portfolios and e-badges to record learners’ key achievements and experiences and on mechanisms for providing feedback to parents and carers.; ; Recommendation 47:; ; Children and Young people should develop their own e-portfolio, possibly including ‘e-badges’, to record key achievements and experiences.; ; The discovery phase must to be completed no later than 12 weeks from contract award. This will help ensure Welsh Government delivers its new curriculum and assessment arrangements on time.
• Problem to be solved: The objectives of this discovery phase are to conduct research and present options for the development and delivery of an online system for E-Portfolios, e-badges and reporting to parents. ; ; The supplier will be expected to produce a prototype/wireframes to help inform the development of a future solution.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: All learners in Wales (aged 3-16); ; As a learner I need to save work, achievements and experiences from both within and outside of school that is important to me.; ; Teachers (Primary, Secondary, Special schools (Maintained and PRU)); ; As a teacher I need to support children and young people create and maintain their e-portfolios and provide formative feedback for parents to use at home to further support learning. ; ; Parents ; ; As a parent I need to receive feedback from teachers so that I can further inform and support learning at home.
• Early market engagement: Options for the development of E-Portfolios presented by the supplier should demonstrate value for money sustainability - Initial market research has indicated that off-the-shelf products may be cost prohibitive.
• Any work that’s already been done: The ‘Successful Futures’ report was commissioned from Professor Donaldson’s by the Welsh Government, the report can be found at the following: https://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf
• Existing team: Welsh Government, Senior Responsible officer and the project manager, is based within the Curriculum Division of Welsh Government.
• Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: "Work can be carried out remotely but we would expect the supplier to be able to work at Welsh Government offices when required – Address: Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. ; ; The supplier should also be able to travel to other locations across Wales in order to meet with children and young people, teachers, parents and other stakeholders as required."
• Working arrangements: It is anticipated that inital inception meeting will be face to face. However, day to day contact will be by telephone and/or email as required. The supplier will need to visit the Welsh Government's Cardiff offices (Address - Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ) for meetings as required. ; ; The supplier will be expected to provide a written report of their findings, including recommendations for future development.; ; The supplier will also develop a prototype/wireframes for Welsh Government to gain feedback from users.
• Security clearance: The supplier will need have the appropriate DBS clearnances for working with children and young people.; Cyber Essentials Certificate

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: The Supplier shall be required to provide an up-to-date Cyber Essentials certificate prior to the commencement of work.; ; The Supplier shall be required to provide a signed copy of the Welsh Government SecurityAspects Letter (Available upon request).; ; Supplier staff that will be working with Children will be required to have undertaken a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

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:
  • have experience of proposing technical solutions
  • have experience of combining user research, service design and developer expertise
  • have experience designing services for a wide range of digital skills
  • have an understanding of how to meet the needs of a diverse range of users
  • be available to start the project by the 06/08/2018 and complete within 8 weeks
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • demonstrate an understanding of Welsh Public Sector Welsh Language requirements
  • demonstrate an understanding of accessibility standards
  • demonstrate experience of developing multi-lingual systems and/ or applications
  • demonstrate experience of the education sector

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 3
• Proposal criteria:
  • How the overall approach and methodology meets the requirements.
  • How well the approach or solution meets our organisation’s policy or goal.
  • How well the proposal identifies the risks and dependencies and offers approaches to manage them.
  • Details of resource capacity and delivery team structure.
  • How the proposal demonstrates value for money.
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Underastanding user needs with a wide range of stakeholders i.e. Policy officials, teachers, parents, children and young people.
  • Ability to work with stakeholders with a wide range of digital skills.
  • Ability to work as a team with the SRO and project manager.
  • Ability to take responsibility for their work and resolving problems quickly.
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Work history
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  15%

  Price

  25%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Will you carry out DBS checks for successful bidder, or should they be carried out in advance by the supplier themselves?: Due to the delivery timeframes we will require the successful Supplier to have DBS checks completed in advance for staff that will be working with children and young people.
• 2. Will the system be required in Welsh as well as English?: Yes, the final solution will need to be bilingual. This needs to be a consideration in the discovery project.
• 3. Is there a preferred translation service?: The Welsh Government would not stipulate which translation service is to be used. The translation standards for the system would be stipulated at the Alpha and Beta phases.
• 4. Is the Successful Futures report available?: The ‘Successful Futures’ report (Professor Donaldson) can be found at the following: https://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf
• 5. Are there any legacy systems that will need to be considered in discovery?: The Hwb platform - the preference is for a single sign-in for students, with the solution potentially sitting behind the Hwb login. Further information on the Hwb platform is available at the following: https://hwb.gov.wales/about
• 6. Are you able to advise on the timelines for the proposal and presentation?: Please be advised that we will not be holding presentations for this requirement. Our intention is to request proposals following the shortlisting process, with the option to include a Case study and/ or Work history if required.; ; We intend to allow 2 weeks for the written response and shall issue the response templates the week commencing the 9th July.
• 7. Is NPPV Level 2 clearance suitable, as this goes significantly beyond the checks included in DBS?: We can confirm that NPPV Level 2 would be acceptable.
• 8. Does the Welsh Government have contacts in primary and secondary schools that the supplier will be able use to arrange research and feedback on user experience / technology?: Yes, the Welsh Government have a pilot group of schools which the Supplier will be able to liaise with to undertake user research.