Awarded to Caution Your Blast Ltd

Start date: Monday 3 December 2018
Value: £139,500
Company size: SME

Government Digital Service (GDS)

WP1674: Global Digital Marketplace discovery of nations’ DDaT / commercial capability & professions

8 Incomplete applications

7 SME, 1 large

12 Completed applications

10 SME, 2 large

• Published: Monday 1 October 2018
• Deadline for asking questions: Monday 8 October 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Monday 15 October 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Discovery Research/Analysis into:; ; - other nations’ DDaT, Commercial capabilities and capacities; - maturity of existing professions; - consistency and ranges of skills, including critical skills; - learning and development offers; - recruitment and attraction strategies; - extent of insourcing/outsourcing; - work scope for subsequent alpha phases to start addressing gaps
• Latest start date: Monday 3 December 2018
• Expected contract length: 6 months
• Location: No specific location, eg they can work remotely
• Organisation the work is for: Government Digital Service (GDS)
• Budget range: £140,000 + VAT; (Expenses budget is excluded from this figure)

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The goal of the Global Digital Marketplace is to partner with national and subnational governments in emerging economies, to implement the Digital Marketplace and associated reforms to help tackle corruption, by opening up procurement and contracting in the end-to-end DDaT delivery lifecycle.; ; The Global Digital Marketplace is a commitment under Priority 4 (Reduce Corruption in Public Procurement and Grants) of the UK Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017 to 2022:; ; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-anti-corruption-strategy-2017-to-2022; ; This discovery will assess other nations’ DDaT capability / capacity to deliver transformation programmes / projects, and scope potential work for subsequent alpha phases to start addressing gaps.
• Problem to be solved: If a government doesn’t have DDaT capability, it’s likely that most of the DDaT skills required to support their transformation and technical problem solving, will be outsourced. It’s possible that outsourced services may not be managed as effectively, if organisations don't have the awareness and skills to define and manage the delivery of their required outcomes. ; ; Over-reliance on external resources and services, often costs more than recruitment and development of internal employees. ; ; A lack of DDaT practitioners and general DDaT awareness across a government will impact its ability to:; ; - transform services; - attract skilled workers; - provide job opportunities.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: Users and needs refined during discovery:; ; - Leaders in: DDaT and Commercial; Capability; Transformation ; - Human Resource Directors (HRDs) ; - Finance Directors; - Strategic Workforce Planners; ; As a HRD, I must understand critical skills gaps and market benchmarks to consult and make decisions on strategic staffing plans, budget and compensation offerings. ; ; As a Capability Leader, I must understand critical skills gaps and market benchmarks so I can make strategic decisions on pay, compensation, and training and development offerings.; ; As a DDaT leader I must understand my organisation's capability to deliver to make informed decisions on organisational / transformation priorities.
• Early market engagement: GDS conducted early market engagement in September 2017 and again in April 2018, details of which and what was discussed have been published as a blog post titled 'Engaging UK suppliers in the Global Digital Marketplace':; ; https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2018/07/24/engaging-uk-suppliers-in-the-global-digital-marketplace/; ; This early market engagement was not specific to this supply opportunity.; ; From October 2018, the Global Digital Marketplace Programme is starting its discovery work across 6 countries in 3 regions (Latin America, South East Asia, and Southern Africa), with a target completion date for this phase of March 2019. Findings from these discoveries will be shared with the successful supplier for the next phase of the project.
• Any work that’s already been done: Initial scoping missions have been completed in 6 countries across 3 regions, and an additional ‘Inception’ mission was also completed in one South East Asian country in early September.; ; Collectively, the insights gained from these missions have enabled the Global Digital Marketplace team to develop an increasing understanding of the political will for change, who the key stakeholders are, the different procurement structures in place, the problems and challenges they face, as well as the successes they’ve been able to achieve. ; ; Due to the sensitive nature of this work, specific countries and findings will be shared at a later stage.
• Existing team: The core Global Digital Marketplace team consists of:; ; - Director; - Programme Lead and PMO; - Business Analyst; - Product Manager; - Delivery Manager; ; The successful supplier will work with other GDS teams who are supporting Global Digital Marketplace delivery, in particular the DDaT Professions team.; ; Due to the nature and scope of this work, it's possible that the successful supplier for this opportunity, may wish to liaise with the successful supplier of the Digital Marketplace opportunity titled 'WP1655: Global Digital Marketplace discovery of other nations' DDaT routes to market & supply chains', which was published on 01 October 2018.
• Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: The Government Digital Service is based in the White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 8QS.; ; The supplier will be able to work remotely and will not have to be based in this office as the work will require international travel.
• Working arrangements: As these outcomes are likely to be achieved by carrying out primary and secondary research, analysis and report writing, GDS anticipates that this work will be predominantly carried out remotely. Some short, in-country visits may be required. Expenses will be capped at the Cabinet Office subsistence guidance for international travel. ; ; GDS will share with the successful supplier, details of in-country stakeholders from national and subnational governments and non-government organisations, as well as findings from our own discovery work running parallel to this contract.; ; Any contact with the GDS team will take place remotely or at the White Chapel Building.
• Security clearance: Security Check (SC) minimum

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: All expenses must be pre-agreed with between the parties and must comply with the Cabinet Office (CO) Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy.; ; All vendors are obliged to provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures so that the processing meets the requirements of GDPR and ensures the protection of the rights of data subjects. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/

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 In-depth understanding of user-centred research, design principles, methods and tools
  • Experience of working in an agile environment, and ability to apply agile methodologies to their work.
  • Ability to communicate with stakeholders clearly and regularly, and advocate for user needs and content design principles.
  • Ability to conduct interviews with stakeholders to understand their needs and motivations.
  • Ability to analyse and clearly present complex information.
  • Working knowledge of job frameworks, specifically the Digital, Data and Technology Capability Framework.
  • Experience and strong understanding of resourcing, skills development, talent management and broader HR in the digital/ tech sector.
  • Knowledge of workforce planning and data capture
  • Knowledge of capability maturity assessment
• Nice-to-have skills and experience:
  • Experience of developing services that align to the Government Design Principles, Digital Service Standard and Service Manual.
  • Experience of creating content for a diverse international audience.
  • Experience working with local or national government.
  • Experience of leading Discovery and Alpha phases.

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
• Proposal criteria:
  • Strong stakeholder engagement and outcomes
  • Delivery approach and methodology
  • Supplier innovation
  • Previous experience and references
  • Value for money
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Collaborates closely with colleagues to meet user needs
  • Transparent and collaborative when making decisions
  • Works with GDS in a self-starting fashion
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Work history
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  60%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  30%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Regarding 'Security Checked' requirement – is this security clearance, BPSS or will GDS support the SC process?: It is preferred team members have security clearance however GDS can sponsor the security clearance process. The cost of the process will be charged to the supplier.
• 2. What are the details of the telephone conference call?: Apologies for late notice. A telephone conference call is planned for Tuesday 9 October. Please email Jag at gds-digital-buyer@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk quoting reference WP1674 in the title for details.; All points raised, questions asked and answered, clarified, etc, will be captured and published openly as a publicly viewable google doc.
• 3. Are there any passport restrictions?: Your passport should be valid for a minimum period of 6 months from the date of entry to the majority of the countries within the six regions.
• 4. Will the travel require any special requirements such as a VISA?: All of the six countries do not require individuals to obtain a VISA if the stay does not exceed 30 days for UK passport holders
• 5. When is the telephone conference call (Q&A)?: The telephone conference call is scheduled for 11:30am on Tuesday 9 October.; ; Please email Jag at GDS-DIGITAL-BUYER@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk for details by 10am on Tuesday 9 October.
• 6. This project is clearly interconnected with WP1655, which in turn mentions in its project description a connection with WP1656. Do you have a preference as to whether these projects will be contracted to the same supplier or different suppliers? Will it have a bearing on our application for any one of them whether we are also applying for the others?: Not an issue as long as supplier has capacity. There is no preference for the same supplier for all of the work packages. Supplier will be chosen on merit for each.
• 7. The project description gives a latest start date of 3 December and a project length of 6 months. It also states that 'From October 2018, the Global Digital Marketplace Programme is starting its discovery work... with a target completion date for this phase of March 2019.' I presume the latter phrase refers to this same project – if so, please could you clarify whether the project could in theory run for the full 6 months from 3 December (i.e. to the end of May 2019).: Length of discovery period ( 6 months) but could be completed sooner
• 8. Could you please provide more details about this requirement “Working knowledge of job frameworks, specifically the Digital, Data and Technology Capability Framework"?: We expect you to refer to DDAT capability framework as part of this process. please refer to; https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digital-data-and-technology-profession-capability-framework
• 9. Knowledge of workforce planning and data capturing.' Could you please elaborate on what experience you are expecting here?: Methods or tools for capturing and analysing workforce data
• 10. Do you expect the supplier to be CMMI certified? Otherwise please provide more details about capability maturity assessment.: No. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process level improvement training and appraisal program
• 11. Clarify what is meant by nation in the context of this requirement?: Specifically, this refers to government and their Capabilities.
• 12. What is required from the supplier for this work package specifically?: We have performed previous in-country scoping and feasibility studies. This is a follow-up to discover the "as is" state with GAP analysis. What is the capacity of government from a Commercial perspective. The aim is to provide insight into the capability that exists in government departments and identify gaps. Please refer to essential and nice-to-have requirements.
• 13. Would you expect somebody to be imbedded as part of an existing team?: There are other GDS teams as part of this work offering. There may be crossover with other recently published requirements WP1655/1656
• 14. Do you have a preference to have one supplier for all work packages WP1655/1656/1674: No. Each requirement is individual and supplier for each will be awarded on merit.
• 15. Are we working towards a product?: No expectation of a product. We will only require an output which will consist of reporting/presentations, show and tell etc whilst working in an agile manner. GDS staff with area expertise will be there to support.
• 16. With regards to the other published opportunities. If you combine them there will be cost savings especially with travel? Do you agree?: We expect some travel to be required but not a huge amount. Each supplier will be awarded on merit and best-fit for each opportunity
• 17. Latest start date? Target completion date? Is the completion date accurate?: This work will take up-to 6 months but may be completed sooner depending on engagement with various stakeholders.
• 18. Is there a second stage to the process after the shortlisting?: Yes. We expect to shortlist 3 suppliers. These suppliers will need to submit a written proposal (mandatory) and may also be assessed using other methods specified Work History, Presentation, Case Study. Details will be provided to successfully shortlisted applicants.
• 19. What are the GDS standards you refer to?: We expect suppliers to be aligned with GDS service standards, technology code of practice, user centred design etc.
• 20. Will SC security clearance be sponsored?: Yes, at supplier's cost.
• 21. Do you require knowledge of CMMI?: CMMI knowledge not required as part of this process
• 22. What do you mean by "Working knowledge of job frameworks, specifically the Digital, Data and Technology Capability Framework"?: We expect you to refer to DDAT capability framework as part of this process. please refer to; https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digital-data-and-technology-profession-capability-framework
• 23. What do expect in terms of workforce planning and data capture?: An understanding of tools that are available is really important in understanding what country's workforce and capabilities look like.
• 24. Will all work be carried out in English?: All work will be carried in English, however interpreter services may be required for some stakeholder engagements and interviews. The Global Digital Marketplace Programme team will liaise with British Embassies and British High Commissions, and if interpreter services are advised GDS will cover those costs directly.