Road Freight Statistics (RFS) team (Strategic Roads and Freight) at Department for Transport.

Road Freight Electronic data - Discovery

5 Incomplete applications

5 SME, 0 large

31 Completed applications

21 SME, 10 large

Published: Wednesday 6 February 2019
Deadline for asking questions: Wednesday 13 February 2019 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications: Wednesday 20 February 2019 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work: The supplier will deliver a Discovery Phase in line with GDS criteria (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/agile-delivery/how-the-discovery-phase-works), DfT Architecture Standards & Principles including, not limited to:
• discovery sessions with relevant stakeholders
• user researchers to fully identify&scope out user needs
• GDS Discovery documentation
• recommendations/options for Alpha/Beta phases including solution design suggestions
Latest start date: Wednesday 14 March 2018
Expected contract length: maximum of two months
Location: London
Organisation the work is for: Road Freight Statistics (RFS) team (Strategic Roads and Freight) at Department for Transport.
Budget range: upto £50 k Capped

About the work

Why the work is being done: The RFS are collected via 3 mandatory paper surveys requiring 16,000 paper forms to be completed each year. This method has numerous disadvantages: poor data quality, respondent burden, high costs, lag time. The RFS team wants to explore digital methods for collecting this data to tackle these issues and seeks to discover if a more efficient process could be used to meet the needs of all parties. However further understanding is needed about user needs (both survey participants and data users) and what practical, accessibility and attitudinal issues there might be to adopting a digital approach.
Problem to be solved: 1. Who completes the forms, what barriers do they currently experience providing the information?
2. Explore respondents’ preferred method to provide the information DfT requires exploring attitudes towards paper based collections versus digital solutions including (but not limited to) website, phone apps, APIs, tracking of journeys/routes).
3. What barriers would a digital solution present including making a solution practical and accessible for participants.
4. Ensuring consistency of new data with historical RFS data to avoid a break in series owing to changes in processing, collection or respondents interpretation/reaction to change in style or formatting of question (interviewer/survey/response bias).
Who the users are and what they need to do: Respondants:
Road freight hauliers (to be a representative sample stratified by respondent type (admin staff and drivers), geography, firm size etc.

DfT data capture and statistics team

Data users:
DfT and OGDs use RFS data to inform their evidence base for transport planning and policy initiatives. There are also many external organisations which use RFS data. The Discovery would seek data user views on the potential methodology change.

DfT Architects - Those who provide architecture standards, principles and provide assurance to digital projects

DfT Live Services - Those who provide Cloud Engineering and Cyber Security services
Early market engagement: N/A
Any work that’s already been done: Any work that’s already been done (Optional) (100 words)

In 2015 consultants (SYSTRA) researched and assessed on behalf of DfT, the ‘fitness-for-purpose’ of the existing survey by reviewing the questionnaire content and respondent ‘experience’ and the experience of goods vehicle operators completing the Continuing Survey of Road Goods Transport. A report was produced detailing the findings which also explores the potential for respondents to provide information electronically allowing the department to move away from a paper based survey:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/experience-of-completing-the-continuing-survey-of-road-goods-transport
Existing team: The appointed agency will be expected to work closely with members of the RFS team, which consists of 10 people comprised of a mix of analytical and admin staff.
Current phase: Discovery

Work setup

Address where the work will take place: The majority of the work will be conducted at the suppliers own site (or other chosen location) though conducting of user research will require travel around the UK to interview respondents at their premises or chosen location and meeting with DfT in their office in London
DfT Great Minster House office (33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR) as needed to complete the discovery activities.
Working arrangements: Suppliers to provide preferred approach. The exact milestones will be agreed with the supplier when appointed.

Weekly status updates (email/telephone) detailing achievements of key milestones and issues that may impact timescales and cost should be provided.

It is expected that the research questions should be fully answered in a final presentation and report.

Discovery should be completed in line with the GDS Service Manual: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual.
Security clearance: Baseline Personnel Security Standard ( BPSS )

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions: N/A

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 delivering a discovery phase in line with GDS guidelines for a government department

Proven experience conducting and documenting user research with a diverse mix of users, iterating project work accordingly

Demonstrable experience where delivering successful Discovery outcomes assisted to support and shape system developments

Have demonstrable experience of complex technical investigation to inform future project stage

Proven track record of delivering projects at speed using an agile project management methodology with clearly identified deliverables and timescales.

Demonstrable evidence of using clear development methodologies, outlining how this would work in conjunction with a client’s internal development team.

Experience of drawing up recommendations and options for alpha/beta on IT and data projects

Experience in conducting stakeholder analysis where knowledge gaps were identified and plans implemented to address the shortfall.
Nice-to-have skills and experience: Demonstrable evidence where innovative solutions have been applied to assist in project delivery.

Demonstrable evidence of successfully managing and assisting in delivering IT projects within public sector organisations

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate

Proposal criteria

Identify the approach and methodology to the Discovery project planning and delivery, identifying the main stages and activities proposed at each stage. (20%)
Detailed resource plan – demonstrating how in-house, supplier and external resource will be used and at what stage (10%)
How the approach or solution meets user needs (20%)
How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them (10%)
Estimated timeframes for the work (5%)
Demonstrate value for money (5%)

Cultural fit criteria

Experience of working as a team with our organisation and other suppliers (2.5%)
Experience of transparent and collaborative decision making (2.5%)
Experience of taking responsibility for their work and resolving problems effectively (2.5%)
Experience of sharing approach, knowledge and skills with other team members and with the department by example (2.5%)

Payment approach

Capped time and materials

Assessment methods

Written proposal
Case study
Work history
Presentation

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

70%

Cultural fit

10%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Is the budget range inclusive or exclusive of VAT?: No the Budget Range is exclusive of VAT
2. Please can you clarify if this requirement is solely for the systems and software needed to digitize the process, or if in addition, the actual work of conducting the user research itself, is needed: Road Freight Electronic data project will follow the GDS Agile delivery methodology to deliver a digital solution which meets the user needs. This piece of work requires conducting a Discovery to understand and research the needs of the various users and capture the current end-to-end process thereby capturing the full scope of the digital solution.”
3. For the skill 'Demonstrable evidence where innovative solutions have been applied to assist in project delivery.' does this relates to outcome of a project or does this relate to an actual discovery project?: Demonstrable evidence where innovative solutions have been applied should ideally relate to a discovery project but this is not mandatory
4. For the skill 'Demonstrable evidence of using clear development methodologies, outlining how this would work in conjunction with a client’s internal development team'. Does these methodologies relate to research methodologies or IT development methodologies?: The methodologies should relate to both research and IT development methodologies
5. Is the 50K budget exclude VAT?: Yes the Budget Range is exclusive of VAT
6. If we feel that you would need a little over 2 months to ensure you got the most from the project (especially a project involving user research with external users), would you be open to this?: The Government Digital Service recommends that the duration of a discovery project should take between 4-8 weeks depending on the size and complexity of the project. It is anticipated that the duration of Discovery for this project should take no more than 8 weeks. Any extension on this will be considered at the discretion of the contracting authority.
7. If we feel that you would need a little over 2 months to ensure you got the most from the project (especially a project involving user research with external users), would you be open to this?: The Government Digital Service recommends that the duration of a discovery project should take between 4-8 weeks depending on the size and complexity of the project. It is anticipated that the duration of Discovery for this project should take no more than 8 weeks. Any extension on this will be considered at the discretion of the contracting authority.
8. Does the buyer plan to provide more price details at Stage 2 in order to allow an accurate price estimate or will it be a rate card evaluation?: The day rates have been agreed at Framework level as such the suppliers should consider and provide their submissions based on their agreed day rates. However, VFM will form part of the stage 2 evaluation
9. Please can you provide details of what the next steps are following this initial application i.e. deadlines for the written proposal/presentation?: The optional presentation/interview will be decided on during final evaluation, and we will inform you of the date if required.
10. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold?: The evaluation will be carried out by representatives for both the business and technical areas.
11. Are you working with any existing suppliers in relation to this tender opportunity? If you are, who are they?: There is no incumbent supplier and this is a new piece of work
12. In the "How suppliers will be evaluated" section. You state "Experience of working as a team with our organisation and other suppliers". Are you only looking for suppliers that are/have worked for the Department of Transport?: Previous experience of working as a team with our organisation and other suppliers will be taken into account when evaluating proposals but a lack of previous experience working with the Department for Transport does not automatically preclude a supplier from being awarded a contract
13. Hi can you clarify if the “Discovery phase” is completed and now you are asking for engagement to look at suppliers for a Digital Solution that your staff can use to collate the data ? As the work start date published is 14 March 2018 ?: No work has yet been undertaken on this project. The supplier is required to deliver a Discovery Phase in line with GDS criteria (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/agile-delivery/how-the-discovery-phase-works) and DfT Architecture Standards and Principles including, but not limited to:
• discovery sessions with relevant stakeholders
• user researchers to fully identify and scope out user needs
• GDS Discovery documentation
recommendations/options for Alpha/Beta phases including solution design suggestions
14. Are DfT expecting to take scores from the evidence round through to final assessment or will these be used solely for the purpose of shortlisting?: The stage 1 scores are for the purpose of shortlisting under framework guidance you cannot evaluate the same criteria twice.
15. Please can the outputs of the research and assessment carried out in 2015 be shared with suppliers?: The outputs are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/experience-of-completing-the-continuing-survey-of-road-goods-transport
16. Can you host a call with suppliers about this opportunity where we can have a live Q&A and the discussion notes are shared on this tender ad? This has proven helpful on other DM opportunities.: This is an online activity at this stage of the procurement. Suppliers are requested to continue to submit their questions via the Digital Marketplace portal.
17. In the response to "In the "How suppliers will be evaluated" section. You state "Experience of working as a team with our organisation and other suppliers... you said that this would not be a barrier to new suppliers, however you have allocated 2% of the evaluation criteria to this requirement, this would mean that existing suppliers will have a 2% advantage over other non-DfT suppliers. Isn't this in direct conflict with the CCS guidelines for the DOS Framework: Experience of working with the Department for Transport, is not a pre-requisite for this contract however suppliers should be able to demonstrate experience of working as a team with central government bodies”
18. The summary of work references Architectural Standards & Practices and the Essential Skills references recommendations for IT & Data. This implies that the Discovery includes an element of architectural design for the future solution, including data mapping. Can you clarify the expected level of detail for this deliverable please?: Suppliers must demonstrate how they can take the user needs and then translate these into a prioritised backlog of user stories which can be prototyped in the Alpha phase. The discovery must include a conceptual design document or a high level architecture document as part of the future solution and will need to DfT Architecture Standards and Principles.
19. Can we ask what team make up the budget has been based on? This appears to hint a supplier should provide no more than 2 roles for the 8 weeks based on industry average rates: The Department for Transport’s budget is in line with previous discovery projects similar to this which successfully delivered a GDS discovery in 8 weeks. It is for suppliers to suggest how they will resource their proposal to deliver the needs of this discovery.
20. Can we ask what roles the RFS team would expect from suppliers and are these expected to be full time? The budget seems to suggest 1-2 FTEs for the 8 weeks at industry average rates. We would normally see a larger team for a GDS Discovery.: It is for suppliers to suggest how they will resource their proposal to deliver the needs of this discovery. The Department for Transport’s budget is in line with previous discovery projects similar to this which successfully delivered a GDS discovery in 8 weeks.
21. Can we ask what delivery roles DfT are expecting to provide to this project?: The Department for Transport has allowed for 1 full time member of staff (statistician) to work alongside the supplier on this project and for other staff with specialist skills and expertise to contribute at our discretion.
22. Will DfT be providing any full time roles to this project?: The Department for Transport will be allocating 1 full time member of staff (statistician) to work alongside the supplier on this project.
23. For the question – 'Experience in conducting stakeholder analysis where knowledge gaps were identified and plans implemented to address the shortfall.' does this refer to external end users, internal project team members or both?: This skill is about addressing any knowledge gaps with regard to the introduction of a potential solution. We expect application to be able to conduct a high quality discovery project that highlight gaps or issues in the concept of data collected by a digital approach. The research should then recommend a solution or solutions to address those gaps. These gaps could refer to both external end users and the internal project team members.
24. Can you please confirm your intended start date? Question 1 states that the buyer requires the team to start on Wednesday, 14 March 2018.: The start date outlined within the advert is only an estimated date to provide potential bidders with an indication to assist them with resource planning.
25. For the 2015 survey you contacted a selected sample of respondents in advance to identify a sample willing to provide their feedback (Systra, Experience Survey, p. 4, 1.1.3). Do you have a similar arrangement in place for the Discovery phase or do you expect your chosen partner to make the first approach about participation? If yes, can you give an indication of how large a group of participants you have identified?: Through conducting our surveys we have names and addresses of hauliers that have the potential to be sampled, we would expect the chosen supplier to approach potential respondents for participation.
26. The statistics drawn from the responses to this survey (Road Freight Statistics, United Kingdom: April 2017 to March 2018) include data derived from the International Road Haulage Survey (IRHS). Can you say why that survey is not part of this Discovery exercise?: All 3 paper surveys currently used to collect the RFS (CSRGT GB, NI and IRHS) are within scope of this discovery project.
27. The statistics drawn from the responses to this survey (Road Freight Statistics, United Kingdom: April 2017 to March 2018) include data derived from the International Road Haulage Survey (IRHS). Can you say why that survey is not part of this Discovery exercise?: All 3 paper surveys currently used to collect the RFS (CSRGT GB, NI and IRHS) are within scope of this discovery project.
28. Who will be responsible for recruiting participants and any costs associated with research participant recruitment (such as incentives)?: We would expect chosen suppliers to approach potential respondents for participation and costs associated with research participant recruitment should be in scope of the proposed budget.
29. One element of a typical GDS Discovery is to understand the technical constraints of legacy systems and explore potential technical solutions. Do you expect this to be undertaken by the supplier for this project?: During discovery the supplier will deliver recommendations/options for Alpha/Beta phases including solution design suggestions, which could include the technical constraints of legacy systems.
30. Beyond the immediate team of 10 people, how many stakeholders are likely to need to be consulted as part of this discovery process?: We do not envisage all 10 members of the RFS team being consulted as part of the discovery process. The actual number of stakeholders consulted as part of the discovery will be determined based on the proposed approach of the chosen supplier and discussions with DfT during the initial project stages.
31. Can you share an example paper survey print out with suppliers at this stage?: The 3 survey forms can be found at:

CSRGT GB
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/continuing-survey-of-road-goods-transport-gb-respondents-section

CSRGT NI
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/continuing-survey-of-road-goods-transport-ni-respondents-section

IRHS
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/international-road-haulage-survey-respondents-section
32. We have revised our earlier response to Question 25 as follows: For the 2015 survey you contacted a selected sample of respondents in advance to identify a sample willing to provide their feedback (Systra, Experience Survey, p. 4, 1.1.3). Do you have a similar arrangement in place for the Discovery phase or do you expect your chosen partner to make the first approach about participation? If yes, can you give an indication of how large a group of participants you have identified?: Note revised response to Question 25 as follows:

Owing to GDPR restrictions, we are seeking advice as to whether we would be able to share the names and addresses of hauliers, that the Department for Transport holds for survey purposes, with the chosen supplier for this project.

However, the names and addresses of all goods vehicle operator licence holders in the UK, as recorded on the Vehicle Operator Licensing database (VOL) are publicly available (updated on a weekly basis, every Sunday) and could be used as a sampling frame for contact purposes. These will be shared as a separate response.
33. Part 2 of Question 32 For the 2015 survey you contacted a selected sample of respondents in advance to identify a sample willing to provide their feedback (Systra, Experience Survey, p. 4, 1.1.3). Do you have a similar arrangement in place for the Discovery phase or do you expect your chosen partner to make the first approach about participation? If yes, can you give an indication of how large a group of participants you have identified?: Q32b

Names and addresses of all goods vehicle operator licence holders UK are available at:

Great Britain:
https://data.gov.uk/dataset/2a67d1ee-8f1b-43a3-8bc6-e8772d162a3c/traffic-commissioners-goods-and-public-service-vehicle-operator-licence-records

Northern Ireland:
https://data.gov.uk/dataset/1699fb94-7c4b-4cd9-8c1f-c11b0fa72526/northern-ireland-goods-vehicle-operator-s-licence-records

Note: operators may be listed more than once in these records are they include holders of public service vehicle (PSV) operator licences (which are out of scope of this discovery). Total number of rows across these records exceeds the actual number of unique HGV operators and should not be taken as the size of the population in scope. Unique operators can be identified through filtering “Licence number” to those starting with “O” and through filtering on unique “CompanyRegNumber” entries.
34. Can you please provide some examples of the external organisations that are using RFS data and how they're using it?: Road freight statistics are used across various types of public and private bodies: the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat); local and central government, such as the Office for National Statistics and Highways England; local town and transport planning bodies; commercial organisations, such as haulage operators and transport consultants; and academics. Users are mainly interested in information such as the origins and destinations of journeys, length of haul, type of goods carried, empty running and the pattern of freight from abroad on UK roads. The statistics also support policies on freight, road safety and reducing congestion and pollution.

Can we store analytics cookies on your device?

Awarded to Lagom Strategy Ltd