Department for Education

Transformation Service Delivery Capability

23 Incomplete applications

17 SME, 6 large

50 Completed applications

34 SME, 16 large

Published: Tuesday 4 June 2019
Deadline for asking questions: Tuesday 11 June 2019 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications: Tuesday 18 June 2019 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work: We are looking for Service Delivery capabilities to support the development, delivery and communication of effective, user-focused digital services, taking products from vision to delivery by engaging with the teams and stakeholders across DfE and wider.
Latest start date: Monday 8 July 2019
Expected contract length: 2 years
Location: South East England
Organisation the work is for: Department for Education
Budget range: A pipeline of activity is foreseen over the next 24 months, with an indicative budget against the requirements for this capability being £1.5m, but that scope could expand or contract.
Each SOW will give a cost to enable tracking. Budget approval is subject to Cabinet Office spending controls, service assessments and DfE governance.
DfE does not commit to any minimum or maximum spend at this point.

About the work

Why the work is being done: We are looking for Service Delivery Capability to work alongside our in-house digital teams and other capability suppliers, working with us to build digital services, as part of department's digital transformation of services, in line with government service standards.
Problem to be solved: Digital requires capabilities which are able to deliver outcomes based on user needs and government service standards and capable of supporting a range of projects from inception through to live. This approach will provide supportive continuity through the lifecycle of projects. We anticipate 5-8 projects at any time.
Who the users are and what they need to do: - Teachers
- Parents
- Students
- School administrators
- People that deliver children’s services
- Our own staff

For example:
I need to train to be a teacher so that I can be employed as a qualified teacher
I need to find out information on teaching options as part of my career
As a school leader I need to know about funding opportunities so that my school can apply for relevant grants
As a parent I need to know how to apply for financial support for my child
Early market engagement
Any work that’s already been done
Existing team: You will work with internal DfE staff from a range of disciplines, including architecture, security, policy, service and product management, finance, and delivery management.

You may collaborate or work with other suppliers who are providing capabilities as part of a team.
Current phase: Not applicable

Work setup

Address where the work will take place: For any given SoW the work is likely to be based in London, Coventry or Manchester, some research activity may be required UK wide. Travel may be required to DfE offices in these locations.
The primary base will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW) and expenses will not form part of the cost unless the supplier is asked to work from a secondary location instead during the execution of the work relating to the SoW. e.g. If SoW primary base is in Coventry then no expenses will be paid for Coventry.
Working arrangements: The existing DfE digital team comprises lead roles in product & service management and agile delivery, as well as stakeholders from our finance, HR and legal services teams.

To improve DfE internal capability, build and support the applications/services, knowledge transfer back into DfE will be a requirement.

We anticipate a maximum of 5-8 concurrent engagements at any one time.

A Statement of Work will be completed to outline the outcomes and deliverables expected for each engagement
Security clearance: DfE requires all supplier staff to have baseline personnel security standard clearance (BPSS). There may be a requirement for some of the work to require security clearance checks. This will be detailed in the statement of work.

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions: Standard Framework and Call Off Terms and Conditions. Expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with CCS Travel and Subsistence Policy. Any expenses shall be submitted in line with DfE standard T&S policy. Primary work location stated in SoW will not attract expenses. Contract and Vendor Management will form a key part of governance and suppliers will be expected to co-operate in a manner that fosters healthy working relationships and quality delivery.

Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR in line with Procurement Policy Note 03/17 Changes to Data Protection Legislation & General Data Protection Regulation

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: Provide high-level directional Business Analysis across the digital portfolio

High-level working knowledge and understanding of agile methodology, through Delivery Management.

Evidence of recommendations for the creation of new and existing digital services

Manage the full product lifecycles inc business analysis, user research, design, delivery and the continuous improvement of one or more transactional services or platforms

Develop and deliver communications plans for services/products which engages users across many channels

Proven experience of working closely with other team members on rapid prototyping and delivering at pace

Experience taking products and services successfully through different phases of the delivery lifecycle and assessment process
Nice-to-have skills and experience: Provide insight, structure, guidance and support to digital delivery programmes

Advocate for the importance of agile, iterative and user-centred methods as set out in the Government Service Manual

Proven experience prioritising user needs (using qualitative and quantitative data) with the team and incorporating user needs

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate

Proposal criteria

Delivery of digital services/products using Business Analysis
Delivery of digital services/products using Agile methodologies
Demonstrate understanding/ability to deliver digital products/services to government Digital Service standards
How you plan to transfer knowledge to permanent staff within DfE
Scalability, flexibility, deployment, skills and strengths of accessible capabilities
How value for money will be achieved for the duration of the contract
Case studies and references
Presentation supporting proposal criteria
We will follow up on all references given during evaluation so contact information must be clear

Cultural fit criteria

Establish a strong analysis based culture
Reinforce a culture of service and continuous improvement in all teams
Experience of working with an organisation at the beginning of an agile culture change
Experience of working with multi-vendor teams across multiple projects
Experience of collaboration with multiple organisational stakeholders with the aim to achieve a single objective.
Experience of transferring knowledge to permanent staff within client organisation
Understands how to be part of a multidisciplinary, agile service team
Able to explain technical things to non-technical people, and non-technical things to technical people

Payment approach

Capped time and materials

Assessment methods

Written proposal
Case study
Work history
Reference
Presentation

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

20%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Is there an incumbent and if so, will they be bidding?: There is no current incumbent for the contract.
2. Please, could you let us know how are you procuring these resources currently? Is there an incumbent delivering this transformation service delivery capability?: We currently procure these resources through a range of existing frameworks. There is currently no incumbent
3. Multiple SOWs and other suppliers are mentioned. Is the intention to award a place to multiple suppliers on this ‘framework’, or will a single supplier be expected to resource all 5-8 concurrent engagements?: We are not intending to award to multiple suppliers and would expect a single supplier to be able to resource up to 5-8 concurrent engagements. We are happy to receive applications from suppliers who submitted as a consortia
4. The location is listed as South-west England but later it mentions working from Coventry. Can you estimate the likely location of SOWs, or could they be anywhere in the country?: There may be a need for travel to other DfE locations, Coventry, Manchester, Sheffield or Darlington in order to deliver against SoWs.
5. Please, could you share the vision and key objectives of the transformation service delivery capabilities team/group?: There is no Transformation Service Delivery Capability team/group, so no vision or key objectives that we can share
6. If you're only looking for one service provider that supply 5-8 teams, to deliver 5-8 concurrent projects, doesn't that exclude the majority of businesses on this framework? Would you be prepared to reconsider?: We are looking for a supplier who will be able to support our digital delivery through this Capability contract.
Theye may be up to 5-8 projects running at any time, however, each project may not require a full team delivered through this capability.
We don't want to exclude any suppliers on the framework, and would be happy to discuss this further
7. The service delivery capability appears to be for BAs, Delivery managers and Product managers. Is it limited to these roles, or would you also use this contract to source other capabilities (e.g. user research, design, content, development)?: We would use this contract for the roles in the Service Delivery Capability
Agile coaching
Agile delivery
Business analysis
Digital communication and engagement
Product management
Programme management
Project management
Service management
8. Please can you give an indication of the roles undertaken of those who will be on the evaluation panel?: We will have commercial and digital specialists on the panel.
9. Please can you confirm whether it is 1 x Business Analyst you require for this role?: We will be engaging capabilities through SoWs
10. Is there a preference on location or will they be travelling across multiple sites?: For any given SoW the work is likely to be based in London, Coventry or Manchester, some research activity may be required UK wide. The primary base will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW). There may be a need for travel to other DfE locations, Sheffield or Darlington in order to deliver against SoWs.
11. What is the daily rate?: We will consider costs during evaluation, which will be 20% of the criteria
12. Is there an Incumbent in the role?: There is no current incumbent
13. Do you envisage appointing one service provider for this work or a number of providers?: We are intending to award to a single supplier. We are happy to receive applications from suppliers who submit as a consortia
14. Is there an incumbent in place?: There is no current incumbent
15. Please, could you provide examples of “high-level directional Business Analysis” or provide us with the context of what DfE is trying to achieve/address?: Competitor analysis
Interpreting user needs
Service or product performance analysis
Regulatory and legislative analysis
Business process mapping
Policy interpretation
Third party requirement gathering (eg an external api)
16. ‘Evidence of recommendations for the creation of new and existing digital services’, for ‘existing digital services’ do you mean recommendation of changes to existing services?: Yes, we would like to see evidence of where you have provided recommendations of changes to existing services
17. For ‘High-level working knowledge and understanding of agile methodology, through Delivery Management’, are you referring to the whole delivery process or specifically delivery managers role in agile?: We would like evidence of Delivery Managers working knowledge and understanding of agile methodology and how that's applied through the delivery process
18. ‘Advocate for the importance of agile, iterative and user-centred methods as set out in the Government Service Manual’, for the word ‘Advocate’, do you mean publicly /other?: We would like 'Advocates' on the importance of agile, iterative and user-centred methods to teams across DfE
19. With regard to providing “high-level directional Business Analysis across the digital portfolio” and your response to question 15; do you see this as more the strategic analysis of the product roadmap or the ongoing analysis in relation to user stories and acceptance criteria in conjunction with management of the product/sprint backlogs or both?: There is likely to be a need for capability to support both strategic and ongoing analysis
20. On criteria "Advocate for the importance of agile, iterative and user-centred methods as set out in the Government Service Manual", can we confirm you asking how we ‘promote the importance of agile…’ i.e. advocate for, or are you asking us to give example of having ‘used’ the method/s?: If possible we would like to understand both how you promote the importance and the methods you've used to do this.
21. Some of your Essential Skills and Experience appear to be asking for multiple examples. Can you confirm if you are looking for more that one example per criteria?: We are only looking for one example per criteria
22. The wording of your questions seems to imply you are looking for more than one example, please can you confirm if you are looking for multiple examples?: We are only looking for one example per criteria
23. Is education and social care domain expertise required to successfully deliver the contract?: It isn't an essential requirement to have expertise in education and social care
24. Can you please let me know what technology stack you are using?: DfE digital's technology stack and approach consists of the following elements:
Microservices architecture, with internal HTTP and JSON REST based APIs for business logic and data access.

User facing websites built using Ruby on Rails, and deployed to the DfE Azure platform as a service (Azure AppService). Code hosted in the DfE Digital Github repository, and the builds to be done via Travis-CI.
Databases to be one of the provided managed databases on DfE Azure such as Postgres.
25. Are there any incumbent suppliers?: There is no current incumbent
26. Has there been any other 3rd parties involved and if so who are they?: We currently procure these resources through a range of existing frameworks.
27. Has the tender been advertised before? If so why?: This opportunity hasn't been advertised previously
28. Will you be using standard scoring and if so, what are you looking for for a full 3 points?: We will be using the standard assessment scoring. We will award a full 3 points to suppliers who are able to demonstrate their experience in all of the criteria and able to meet out delivery needs
29. For each SoW, will the DofE stipulate where the primary address will be as I assume it where the internal team are located for each project or will the supplier have a say on where the primary location will be?: Each SoW will stipulate the primary location of the team. We would not expect the supplier to have a say in the location
30. You've stated no expenses can be claimed when teams are located at the primary address. Does this mean at the next phase the supplier can submit different rates dependant on team location?: Regardless of primary location we would expect capability rates to remain in line with rate cards. If there is a need for travel, this will be stated in the SoW and teams will expect suppliers to include expenses as part of the total cost.
31. Please can you provide more detail on what you expect from the requirement to "Develop and deliver communications plans...": Work with the team, PM, DM and leadership to understand stakeholders and their position, plan what need to be communicated to achieve the objectives of a team. Create assets that are useful for communicating with stakeholders. Establish relationships with stakeholders and set up channels to send stakeholders assets and information. Plan how communications should be sent/deployed. Execute the communication plan.
32. Considering the figures you have provided on budget, length of engagement and concurrent projects, this provides for 1-2 roles on each project. Is this your intention in terms of roles and can you provide a breakdown of likely numbers by role?: We can't provide a breakdown on the number of roles that may be required at this stage. Each SoW will outline the outcomes per project and we will discuss the team size required with the supplier
33. You reference that you will want to use this contract for Agile delivery roles; will this include developers and testers for delivery teams?: We would be looking to use this contract for Service Delivery Capabilities
34. Do you intend to provide feedback and scores for the stage 1 requirement responses, to each bidder?: We will provide the scores for stage 1 to each supplier who submits a bid. Unfortunately due to the expected numbers we will be unable to provide feedback
35. ‘Manage the full product lifecycles inc business analysis, user research, design, delivery and the continuous improvement of one or more transactional services or platforms’, what do you mean by ‘Transactional Services’?: Some examples of our transactional services are, the apprenticeship service and teaching vacancies
36. You reference you are using this contract for Service Delivery Capabilities. Gov.UK Guidelines for Service Delivery teams include the following (see below). Developers Performance analyst Technical architect DevOps engineer Quality assurers Testers Are you expecting these roles to be provided as well (and if so, which ones?) or do you solely anticipate the need for the roles highlighted in the evidence questionnaire?: We would use this contract for the roles set out in the DOS Service Delivery Capabilities. These are listed on the Digital Marketplace as:

Agile coaching
Agile delivery
Business analysis
Digital communication and engagement
Product management
Programme management
Project management
Service management
37. How does the DfE expect to support 5-8 concurrent projects with subject matter experts, product owners/managers etc?: Subject matter experts will be provided by the DfE through the relevant policy/business areas. Likewise, product owners are provided by the DfE. Depending on their experience, SoWs could request specific resource to support them.
38. Please, could you provide examples of communication plans or provide us with the context of what DfE is trying to achieve/address?: We can’t provide examples of specific plans but can outline what is expected of a communication plan. To work with the team, PM, DM and leadership to understand stakeholders and their position, plan what need to be communicated to achieve the objectives of a team. Create assets that are useful for communicating with stakeholders. Establish relationships with stakeholders and set up channels to send stakeholders assets and information. Plan how communications should be sent/deployed. Execute the communication plan.
39. Could you confirm that, by “capped time and materials”, you are just referring to your having an overall budget cap and not that you are expecting the successful supplier to take on commercial risk, given your multi-vendor team structure?: It refers to having a budget cap for each work package based upon each SoW.
40. With reference to the essential criteria: 'Develop and deliver communications plans for services/products which engages users across many channels', please can you clarify whether this relates to developing communication plans throughout the delivery lifecycle or whether it is specific to the implementation/adoption of products/services?: It can refer to both, either working with the team, PM, DM and leadership to understand stakeholders and their position, plan what needs to be communicated to achieve the objectives of a team. As well as create assets that are useful for communicating with stakeholders. Establish relationships with stakeholders and set up channels to send stakeholders assets and information. Plan how communications should be sent/deployed. Execute the communication plan.
41. Which service lines will the 5-8 concurrent projects target?: We are not in a position to specify the exact service lines SoWs will relate to.

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