Awarded to Deloitte LLP

Start date: Thursday 21 March 2019
Value: £5,720,797
Company size: large

Ministry Of Defence

CCT664 - EA Delivery Partner for DBS FRHS Programme

8 Incomplete applications

4 SME, 4 large

11 Completed applications

4 SME, 7 large

• Published: Wednesday 14 November 2018
• Deadline for asking questions: Wednesday 21 November 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
• Closing date for applications: Wednesday 28 November 2018 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

• Summary of the work: Defence requires a partner to help meet the challenges involved in the FHRS-Civ and DE&S HR projects and implement coherent technical solution(s) and deliver business and service change and ensure successful transition to the new solution(s) and services.
• Latest start date: Monday 25 February 2019
• Expected contract length: 21 Months
• Location: South West England
• Organisation the work is for: Ministry Of Defence
• Budget range: • Total Budget Limit of Liability of £6.05M (Excluding VAT and including all partner travel and substance costs); • FHRS-Civ Funding: £0.25M in FY18/19, £1.92M in FY19/20 and £0.58M in FY20/21 (Excl VAT); • DE&S Funding: (to contribute to DE&S additional costs to FHRS-Civ and deliver DE&S HR project): £2.8M in FY19/20 and £0.5M in FY20/21 (Excl VAT)

About the work

• Why the work is being done: The MOD Civilian HR System, known as HRMS (Oracle PeopleSoft) and used to manage civilian personnel and deliver HR transactional services, needs replacing. As per the government Shared Services Strategy all of government is required to move to a SaaS HR solution and change processes, services and policy to converge with Global HR Design best practice. The FHRS-Civ project will deliver this transformation for in-scope civilian HR services and transition all current users of HRMS to the new solution by July 2020. DE&S HR require solutions to compliment the FHRS-Civ solution for HR Casework, Deployment and Learning Management.
• Problem to be solved: Defence requires a partner to help meet the challenges involved in the FHRS-Civ and DE&S HR projects and implement coherent technical solution(s), deliver business and service change and ensure successful transition to the new solution(s) and services. Both project teams require dedicated partner teams to meet their needs for Knowledge, Skills and Experience that are not readily available within defence and to deliver specific outcomes/outputs, while ensuring coherence and managing the dependencies between the projects. The intent is to compete/procure the necessary technical solution(s) by June 2019 and transition all users to the new solution(s)/services by July 2020.
• Who the users are and what they need to do: There are some 46,000 civilian users HRMS and DBS civilian people services (including 10,250 DE&S users). In addition, there are some 6,500 military managers who use HRMS to manage civilian staff. The user population is diverse and comprises employees, managers, service providers and HR/business professionals. The vision to be achieved is ‘that our people are using best practice HR technology, processes and services and are better supported and empowered to meet their responsibilities’. Services must be accessible to all users and residual divergence in the needs of the user populations met by the solution and/or services.
• Early market engagement: N/A
• Any work that’s already been done: FHRS-Civ and DE&S HR projects have completed Discovery/Alpha phases of work, including: Agreement of the scope/priorities, engagement with users/business/government, capture of user needs, down-selection to SaaS option, procurement strategy, cost/benefit modelling, assessment of business change impact, establishment of governance forums and approval/funding to proceed.
• Existing team: The FHRS-Civ project team is a joint DBS and Defence People team of 20 full-time civil servants across three locations. The team is comprised of: Project Director, User/HR Customer Team (7), Service Team (5), Technical Team (4) and Delivery Team (3). About 30% of the junior roles are still being recruited. ; The DE&S project team is comprised of 10 full-time civil servants: Project Management (2), HR Team (1), Business Analysis (2), Change Team (3) and Technical Team (2). About 60% of the roles are still being recruited.
• Current phase: Not applicable

Work setup

• Address where the work will take place: FHRS-Civ: the partner should have a suitable presence in DBS Bristol (2-4 days a week), London (1-2 days per week) and DBS Manchester (1 day per week). ; DE&S: the partner should have a presence in DE&S Bristol (3-4 days a week).; The partner should expect to travel between defence establishments in line with the project need.
• Working arrangements: Civil servants typically work compressed/flexible weeks (with 1-2 days home-working and around 1-2 days per fortnight of travel to other defence establishments). The team rely on technology to work collaboratively (facilitated by MODNET) and travel/co-location where necessary.
• Security clearance: The partner needs to supply people with a minimum of SC clearance in line with defence establishment security guidelines and likely exposure to defence data or technology.; The Authority WILL NOT sponsor SC or DV Clearance, it must be in place and remain valid for the duration of the contract.

Additional information

• Additional terms and conditions: We aim to get feedback to you within TWO weeks of the advert closing. ; Responses to be submitted on templates provided, in Microsoft Office Excel/Word format only.; Suppliers must use or sign-up to the Authorities Purchase to Payment Tool ; More detail will be provided at the tender stage, for suppliers that pass the shortlisting stage.; MODNET assets will not be assigned to suppliers, accounts can be created and accessed from assets in project team locations.; Large meeting/collaboration spaces in defence establishments are limited. Suppliers may want to consider the provision of suitable venue(s) for large priority workshops/activities in their bid.

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:
  • Planning, facilitating, delivering and testing the configuration of SaaS/PaaS solutions to meet the needs and expectations of the business and users
  • Identifying, assessing and catalysing business configuration/design decisions, helping identify the associated business change impact on people, policy and services and vfm associated with the different choices or proposed change
  • Delivery of planning, assurance and materials/artefacts necessary to navigate the security and compliance processes and support the customer in gaining approval to operate the solution(s)
  • Designing, creating, implementing and testing data archiving solutions to work coherently with SaaS solutions to enable services and ensure compliance with data protection legislation
  • Delivery and testing of interfaces/integrations with other systems/solutions to enable process hand-offs and securely communicate data as needed by the customer
  • Delivery of data architectures, mapping, cleansing and migration plans and activity to ensure compliance with legislation, enable services and transition of users to the new solution/services
  • Service design, process mapping and activity to enable the customer to deliver service changes (including an Assisted Digital offering) that works for all users
  • Preparing the users and defence for transition to new solution(s), services and ways of working; including delivery of guidance materials/up-skilling/training/knowledge transfer and assessment of technological/service/policy/user readiness
  • Transition of users and business to the new solution(s) and services, including the planning, management and support to the customer during beta testing/proving periods
  • Identifying and recommending performance management processes, service level agreements, performance indicators which reflect best practice and encourage continuous improvement
  • Identifying and recommending operating models, approaches and business capabilities needed to deliver future improvements/changes and operate/support SaaS capabilities, including how to leverage the continuous innovation/updates effectively
  • Explore, assess and account for people behaviours in the project and deliver a behavioural change strategy, plan and action set to better enable adoption of best practice ways of working
  • Identify, assess and model efficiencies and benefits resulting from adoption of the new solution/services and deliver a detailed benefits realisation strategy and plan
  • Project and sprint management, balancing agile and waterfall approaches to reflect MOD’s linear governance/assurance/sign-off processes for security approval, business/policy/service change and transition of users to the solution(s)
  • Delivery of research, learning from others, benchmarking, attendance at governance meetings, senior briefings, strategies, planning, proformas, templates and activity to improve the delivery of project outputs/outcomes
  • Delivery of assurance and materials/artefacts necessary to enable the team to pass digital assessments and embed digital metrics and service standards in the new services

How suppliers will be evaluated

• How many suppliers to evaluate: 4
• Proposal criteria:
  • 1. The proposed solution provides defence with the Knowledge, Skills and Experience and partner resources to meet the challenges, achieve the vision and deliver the projects
  • 2. The proposed plan and approach will result in implementation of the technical solution(s) compliant with data protection legislation and Government/Defence IT strategies and security risk appetite
  • 3. The proposed plan and approach to configuration and implementation of the solution enables defence to make decisions and deliver the enabling policy, business, behavioural and service change
  • 4. The proposed plan and approach to preparing the users and business for transition to the new solution(s) and services is pragmatic, with minimal disruption to business outcomes
  • 5. The proposed plan and approach ensures defence is capable, skilled and prepared to use, operate, manage and support the new solution(s) and services
  • 6. How the proposal will enable defence to converge with Global HR Design best practice, leverage lessons and accelerators of similar organisations and identify/explore opportunities
  • 7. How the proposal has clarified the responsibilities of the MOD team verses partner teams, dependencies, assumptions and deals with the risks in meeting the challenges
• Cultural fit criteria:
  • Works as a team with organisations and other suppliers
  • Informs, empowers and catalyses timely client decision making and management of risks/issues
  • Has a no-blame culture and encourages people to learn from their mistakes
  • Transparent and honest with clients and forges strong relationships based on mutual respect
  • Works collaboratively across multiple locations and organisations to achieve success
  • Drives work forward, taking the initiative and catalysing progress
  • Takes responsibility for delivery of their work
  • Innovative and digital
  • Assures the quality of their work, benchmarking against best practice/other organisations and ensuring it meets the client expectations/needs
  • Shares knowledge and experience with other team members
  • Responsive, agile and focuses on understanding the needs and challenges of the client
  • Adds value proactively to strengthen project outputs, strategies and thinking
  • Can operate in large organisations, with complex hierarchies, bureaucracy and slow decision making processes
• Payment approach: Capped time and materials
• Assessment methods:
  • Written proposal
  • Case study
  • Work history
  • Reference
  • Presentation
• Evaluation weighting:

  Technical competence

  70%

  Cultural fit

  10%

  Price

  20%

Questions asked by suppliers

• 1. Which external suppliers (if any) were involved with the discovery and alphas of this work?: Deloitte provided support to the FHRS-Civ project team during the 2017 Discovery Phase. No external suppliers were used in FHRS-Civ Alpha phase. PWC supported DE&S transformation in 2017 and helped shape some of the early thinking around learning management and deployment capabilities.
• 2. Does the authority wish to remain with an Oracle Peoplesoft solution after the transformation or is looking to replace it in its entirety?: The Authority (including DE&S) uses Oracle Peoplesoft 8.8 HRMS to deliver HR services, supplemented by a DE&S bespoke deployment solution which needs replacing. The Authority will compete their requirements for a HR SaaS solution with a need to enable the decommissioning of HRMS from its current use and adoption of a coherent solution that meets the needs of defence for FHRS and DE&S add-on capabilities. Government Shared Service Strategy indicates which HR SaaS solutions are being actively explored across government, details can be found on .gov website. Contract award for the coherent technical solution is needed by Jun 2019.
• 3. Is this role outside of IR35?: To be confirmed
• 4. The Authority refers to the work already undertaken including the down-select to a SaaS option. Could the Authority advise on the SaaS option selected?: The down selection refers to consideration of replacing HRMS with on-premise technology verses adoption of SaaS, selected as the best option for defence. The Authority will compete their requirements for a HR SaaS solution with a need to enable decommissioning of HRMS from its current use and adoption of a coherent solution that meets the needs of defence for FHRS and DE&S add-on capabilities. Government Shared Service Strategy indicates which HR SaaS solutions are being actively explored across government, further details can be found on the .gov website. Contract award for the coherent technical solution is needed by Jun 2019.
• 5. Can you elaborate on your expectations around an ‘Assisted Digital offering’ and who (outside the public sector) this would apply to? (part 1): Answer part 1; DBS currently provide multiple service channels for users to consume in-scope FHRS-Civ services for all user populations. The intent is to leverage the adoption of SaaS and the enabling business change to reinforce the use of digital self-service (accessible by MODNET) as the primary channel. This intent is to phase out the use of paper forms. However, there remains a need for an alternative service channel and support wrapper provided by DBS to allow users who struggle to use digital technology or whom do not have access to MODNET to consume services.
• 6. Can you elaborate on your expectations around an ‘Assisted Digital offering’ and who (outside the public sector) this would apply to? (part 2): Answer part 2; Authority expectations are that DBS will have an accessible service in place to cater for people unable to use the solution directly themselves. As an example, this could be delivered through phoning of DBS operators to enter the self-service information on behalf of the user or through delegated permission to managers in the solution. This is what is meant by Assisted Digital services, a catch-all channel for users.
• 7. Can you elaborate on your expectations around an ‘Assisted Digital offering’ and who (outside the public sector) this would apply to? (part 3): Answer part 3; DE&S intend on delivering their casework service wrapper in-house, with minimal DBS support. DE&S intend on delivering their deployment and learning management services through DBS. However, work is needed around these new service requirements. DE&S have the same need as FHRS when it comes to having a catch-all alternative channel for users who are unable to use the solution enabled self-service directly. As an example, this could be email forms, DBS phone entry or delegated access to managers.
• 8. Can you elaborate on your expectations around an ‘Assisted Digital offering’ and who (outside the public sector) this would apply to? Part 4: Answer part 4; Although the authority intends to use the internet accessible services via personal devices that is possible with SaaS. The cyber security risk necessitates that the services offered to users via this route be limited to low risk self-services (i.e. not services where multiple people’s data is at increased risk).
• 9. Can you share your Discovery/Alpha phase work on SaaS selection criteria?: The authority has not selected a specific SaaS solution. The Authority will compete their requirements for a HR SaaS solution with a clear need to enable the decommissioning of HRMS from its current use and adoption of a coherent solution that meets the needs of defence for FHRS and DE&S add-on capabilities. Government Shared Service Strategy indicates which HR SaaS solutions are being actively explored across government, further details can be found on the .gov website. Contract award for the coherent technical solution is needed by Jun 2019.
• 10. Can you tell us anything about the planned timetable for Stage 2 of the bid process?: We anticipate that stage 2 (for suppliers who have been deemed successful after the initial shortlist ) will commence from approx 10th December and resume from the 7th January 2019 (when the authority staff return from leave over the festive period). Presentations on the cultural fit element will take place w/c 21st or w/c 28th January 2019.Dates will be confirmed in due course .
• 11. The description of work already done includes the down-selection to SaaS option. Is this down-select product agnostic or has a specific product been selected?: The down selection refers to consideration of replacing HRMS with on-premise technology verses adoption of SaaS. SaaS was selected as the best option for defence. The Authority will compete their requirements for a HR SaaS solution with a need to enable the decommissioning of HRMS from its current use and adoption of coherent solution that meets the needs of defence for FHRS and DE&S add-on capabilities. Government Shared Service Strategy indicates which HR SaaS solutions are being actively explored across government, further details can be found on .gov website. Contract award for coherent technical solution is needed by Jun 2019.
• 12. If a specific SaaS technology stack has been selected please can you state which one?: A specific technology supplier has not been selected. The Authority will compete their requirements for a HR SaaS solution with a clear need to enable the decommissioning of HRMS from its current use and adoption of a coherent solution that meets the needs of defence for FHRS and DE&S add-on capabilities. Government Shared Service Strategy indicates which HR SaaS solutions are being actively explored across government, further details can be found on the .gov website. Contract award for the coherent technical solution is needed by Jun 2019.
• 13. Would it be possible to give a little bit more clarity on the final question – can you explain further what you mean by digital metrics? Would this be about tracking user rates etc. or does it cover wider than that?: The authority intent is to modernise the approach to performance reporting and capturing metrics on user activity and how they consume services to enable continuous improvement. These would include the mandatory digital user metrics outlines in the Government Digital Service Standards. However, which metrics we need to capture, and how they are used, needs to be explored and worked through as part of the service design work.
• 14. Can you share your planned timeline beyond down-selection of the initial four bidders, in particular, issue date and deadline for the subsequent RFP?: We anticipate that stage 2 (for suppliers who have been deemed successful after the initial shortlist ) will commence from approx 10th December and resume from the 7th January 2019 (when the authority staff return from leave over the festive period). Presentations on the cultural fit element will take place w/c 21st or w/c 28th January 2019.Dates will be confirmed in due course .
• 15. INFORMATION TO NOTE FROM THE AUTHORITY: Priced proposals will require a separate limit of liability for travel and subsistence to be identified, for journeys away from the work place. This is paid in line with Ministry of Defence Business travel regulations.
• 16. 16. INFORMATION TO NOTE FROM THE AUTHORITY: Breakdown of Question weightings:; Technical - Essential Skills - 35% of overall score split as follows per sub question:; 1. 10%; 2. 10%; 3. 10%; 4. 5%; 5. 5%; 6. 5%; 7. 5%; 8. 10%; 9. 5%; 10. 5%; 11. 5%; 12. 5%; 13. 5%; 14. 5%; 15. 5%; 16. 5%; Technical - Proposal Criteria - 35% of overall score split as follows per sub question:; 1. 35%; 2. 10%; 3. 15%; 4. 10%; 5. 10%; 6. 10%; 7. 10%; Cultural Fit - 10% (Presentation); Price - 20%