Awarded to Tisski Limited

Start date: Monday 5 November 2018
Value: £1,760,833
Company size: SME

Information System Services (ISS), Applications Services DevOps Tower (ASDT).

Capability and Acquistion Management Service (CAMS)

6 Incomplete applications

1 SME, 5 large

6 Completed applications

3 SME, 3 large

• Published: Friday 10 August 2018
• Deadline for asking questions: Friday 17 August 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Friday 24 August 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Applications Services DevOps Tower (ASDT) is an internal software house to Defence which is deploying Dynamics Online services to deliver configured applications to meet the demands of Defence. There is a requirement for Dynamics online DevOps team to deliver applications and support them in live.
• Latest start date: Monday 5 November 2018
• Expected contract length: 2 years with an option to extend up to a further 6 months
• Location: South West England
• Organisation the work is for: Information System Services (ISS), Applications Services DevOps Tower (ASDT).
• Budget range: This requirement is funded up to 31st March 2021. The value approved for this requirement is £1.08M VAT ex. ; ; Additional requirements may emerge so a team which can flex in an agile manner is required. The maximum anticipated throughput is £3.583M VAT ex up to 31st March 2021. However, this additional element is subject to further financial approval and is not a guaranteed commitment

About the work

• Why the work is being done: ASDT delivers information services to Defence. A number of Defence processes to deliver outputs are heavily reliant on emails, spreadsheets and storage of documents on local sites; with limited to no workflow and Management Intelligence. ASDT is currently establishing a Dynamics Online services to support Defence outputs across multiple business processes to digitalise them and enable reporting through the use of MoDNet based on O365. The processes that are currently in scope include Capability Acquisition Management and business case approvals. These are at differing stages of delivery from closed beta to alpha respectively.
• Problem to be solved: Provision of a cost effective, flexible and scalable Dynamics DevOps service that can meet the demands of requirements placed on ASDT to digitise Defence processes. The service will need to be able scope, develop and support services delivered using O356 capabilities in the form of Microsoft Dynamics, Power BI and related technologies. ; As part of the onboarding, a Dynamics Centre of Enablement needs to be stood up, defining the process, standards, security and architecture required to provide an on going standard and coherent way to deliver and support Dynamics application for Defence.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: The users of applications are regulars, reserves, civil servants and contractors across Defence. The users are required to log on to the MoDNet and browse to O365 services.; ; The users need secure, highly performant and available information services to provide information in the right context to undertake their business functions. The services need to improve the efficiency of processes, provide authoritative data, ability to query and report on data used, provide an auditable trail and provide greater transparency of processes to improve the day to day operation of Defence.
• Early market engagement: Market engagement has taken place for the alpha phases of 2 separate requirements of Capability Acquisition Management System and Business Case approvals.
• Any work that’s already been done: For the Capability Acquisition Management Service, a private beta has been delivered.; ; For the digitisation of business case approvals, an Alpha has been completed.
• Existing team: Product owner, delivery manager will be provided by the authority. It is anticipated that the current team delivering CAMS and BC approval will hand over to this DevOps team for this requirement. If that is not possible, documentation will be finalised and handed over
• Current phase: Alpha

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: The place of delivery of the contract shall be at such location as agreed between the supplier and the Authority. ASDT is based in Corsham, but given the dispersed nature of Defence it will require travel to and working at other sites, including Andover and Northwood.; ; Travel to Corsham should be included within the proposal. Travel to other sites will be by prior approval from the Authority representative/Commercial. This will be claimable in accordance with MOD policy. All claims must be supported with original receipts. ; ; Offshore development will be given consideration providing it adheres to MoD security policies and requirements.
• Working arrangements: The supplier will deliver within ASDT standards, policies and processes. ASDT uses Azure to provide a remote development capability enabling the development service to work with customers and off site. ASDT uses Scaled Agile Framework with 12-week planning increments. The supplier will be required to work within this framework.
• Security clearance: Security Clearance (SC) will be required for the duration of the role. Incumbents are to follow both the letter and spirit of Information Systems and Services security regulations. BPSS will be accepted where SC has been applied for. Suppliers are responsible for obtaining SC clearance.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: IR35 - The intermediaries legislation doesn't apply to this engagement.; ; Def-Stan 05-138 shall apply. The cyber risk has been assessed as low (RAR - HSA54FJ9).; ; Suppliers must note that use of the Contracting, Purchasing and Finance (CP&F) electronic procurement tool is a mandatory requirement for any resultant contract awarded following this Tender.; ; We aim to get feedback to you within two weeks of the advert closing.; ; More detail will be provided at the tender stage, for shortlisted suppliers.

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 within last 3 years implementing and supporting large solutions on the Microsoft Dynamics platforms, including PowerApps, Flow, Power BI, Application Platform, ISV solutions and integration with in house solutions.
  • Experience within last 3 years of providing Dynamics analysts, architects and developers who have successful understood users’ needs to design and develop secure, scalable enterprise level applications using Dynamics.
  • Experience within the last 3 years of implementing a Dynamics centre of enablement in a large enterprise; standing up the governance, polices and processes to deliver and support applications.
  • Experience within the last 3 years of providing Dynamics subscription administrators to manage Dynamics instances and configuration.
  • Experience within the last 3 years of providing scalable multiskilled teams of user researcher, business analysis, architects, development, testers and support in a DevOps environment to meet the demand.
  • Demonstrate experience within last 3 years in data modelling, use of Common Data Service (CDS), designing data models in conjunction with the users and reuse of data from authoritative sources
  • Experience within 3 years of integrating Dynamics with 3rd party applications, services through Application Programme Interfaces, including on-premise & cloud-based services though use of CDS SDK API & data integrator
  • Experience within last 3 years in CRM Plug-in development, Custom workflow assembly development, CRM form programming, Custom page integration using ASP.NET pages JavaScript to integrate with CRM forms.
  • Demonstrate Delivery of development and support services into an Agile /DevOps organisation.
  • Demonstrate skills and experience in use of Dynamics 365 – SDK and WebAPI/Web services, Selenium Testing framework (EasyRepro for Dynamics), OAUTH and XRMToolBox.
  • Experience of successfully building secure web applications that collect and manage personal and/or sensitive information with appropriate controls and protection in-line with JSP 440 and mitigate common listed OWASP risks.
  • Experience of providing the necessary security evidence necessary to satisfy JSP 440 and Defence accreditors for both platforms and applications.
  • Demonstrate ability Knowledge and experience in Microsoft Azure. Team Foundation Server & Visual Studio Services.
  • Demonstrate fully-familiar with the GDS Service Manual, as the digital service will be run through an internal MoD GDS-style Service Assessment.
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Demonstrate experience with the following qualifications: Microsoft Dynamics 365 MB2-715: customer engagement Online Deployment, MB2-716 Customization and Configuration and MB2-718 Customer Service
  • Experience of delivering training material to support the roll out of new capability to users in the form of videos and user guides.

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 3
• Proposal criteria:
  • Provide evidence against the essential and nice to have skills and experience as detailed above. (15%)
  • Provide a high-level plan to your approach, provide an understanding of workpackage/sprint content to demonstrate how you will meet this requirement. (15%)
  • Provide two reference able client-focused case studies where your company have provided similar service capability as described in this requirement. (5%)
  • Explain how you plan to mobilise and retain key resources for the duration of the contract, and your ability to meet ASDT’s flexible need for skills and experience. (5%)
  • Provide core team structure and CVs, describe how they’ll work together. List the roles, their responsibilities and the number of people you need in each role. (5%)
  • Identify the risks and dependencies associated with this requirement and potential mitigation. (5%)
  • Provide an outline of how you will transfer knowledge to the Authority and provide an exit and transition plan at the end of the contract. (3%)
  • Provide Technical proposal for a DevOps pipeline and suitable environments to enable rapid and interactive development to meet this requirement. (2%)
  • Describe how the service will optimise costs; enabling ASDT to deliver and support Dynamics applications in a cost-effective manner. (5%)
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Experience within last 3 years of an open and collaborative working relationship at all levels with excellent communication and co-ordination skills when conducting daily stand-ups, team meetings and demonstrations. (2%)
  • Evidence of using Lessons Learned within the last 3 years to deliver improvement. (2%)
  • Evidence of an ability and willingness to work collaboratively within a multi-vendor delivery environment. (2%)
  • Evidence of communicating effectively with users, technical architects and solve issues amongst complex integrations. (2%)
  • Evidence within the last 3 years of ability to add value to a project through the use of innovation and continuous improvement. (2%)
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Reference
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Can you please confirm if this is Outside of IR36 and if there is a incumbent supplier and if there is are they set up on DOS and bid for this piece of work?: Based on the assumption that the question is regarding IR35, the intermediaries’ legislation, it is confirmed that it is outside IR35. There is not currently an incumbent.
• 2. Is ISS/ASDT able to share more information on the business case/CAMS process to be addressed.: CAMS provides the digitalisation of process for the capability options and changes to them being raised by Joint Force Command and the other services, recording of them, understanding the impact across lines of development and then the costing of the capability changes by the delivery agents. ; Business case digitalisation is an alpha to demonstrate the utility of Dynamics. The initial process being digitalised is for ISS internal BC approval between the different stakeholders involved. This could utilise an existing Dynamics app if there is one applicable.
• 3. And if advantageous, are ISS/ASDT open to the adaption of existing Dynamics applications?: CAMS started as an innovation and is now in alpha. It will be mature by the time this contract starts, plus the processes are bespoke to Defence. Therefore the adaptation of an existing industry solution will be difficult. The aim is to have CAMS available to users by Feb 19.; Business case digitalisation is an alpha to demonstrate the utility of Dynamics. The initial process being digitalised is for ISS internal BC approval between the different stakeholders involved. This could utilise an existing Dynamics app if there is one applicable.
• 4. Please can you clarify your expectations for the initial stated budget in terms of team size and/or duration or work?: The value for each financial year (1Apr-31Mar) is £420K approx, with the ability to flex up by about £200K each year for CAMS. Initially the team will be required to establish best practice for Dynamics in the first 30 days. After which it will be steady state for on going development and support of CAMS. Team size will be at the discretion of the supplier to provide this service. Additional requirements for new capability outside of CAMS will require the supplier to expand to meet the development and support of them.
• 5. The notice states that the service will need to be able to 'support services'. Do you envisage this support service being provided by the same single DevOps team or will this require a separate Application Management Service providing e.g. break/fix support and guidance for applications running in a Production state?: DevOps was stated in the advert as the preferred mechanism. However, if the supplier wishes to utilise an Application Management Service, this will be acceptable as long as it can deliver quality services to the users.
• 6. Are there one or more incumbent suppliers that have been engaged for the Alpha and Private Beta work for the 2 described requirements? And if so, will the supplier(s) be bidding for this new work?: Two suppliers have been engaged in the previous alpha and beta utilising existing commercial agreements. This is a fair and open competition, the authority cannot determine whether the previous suppliers will be bidding
• 7. The notice states "The supplier will deliver within ASDT standards, policies and processes". Please can you provide these standards, policies and processes?: The standards and policies for Dynamics used by ASDT are those set out by Microsoft at the link below. The processes follow Agile and DevOps, for the delivery and support of Dynamics applications. ; ; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/