Foreign and Commonwealth Office Digital Transformation Unit

Digital Skills for the Digital Transformation Unit, FCO (Consular projects)

16 Incomplete applications

15 SME, 1 large

35 SME, 2 large

Specialist role: Technical Architect
Summary of the work: The Technical Architect will be assuring Consular projects of FCO to ensure strategic alignment, technical integrity, technical oversight and governance and adherence to GDS digital principles.They will deliver at all levels including heads of departments and project teams, applying agile methods and utilising technical and business assurance practices.
Latest start date: Monday 2 September 2019
Expected contract length: 115 days
Location: London
Organisation the work is for: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Digital Transformation Unit
Maximum day rate: £850 per day

Early market engagement
Who the specialist will work with: The specialist will be working in close collaboration with Consular Directorate, Digital Transformation Unit and Knowldege and Technology Directorate. Additionally, each individual service/project they will work on will have its own set of stakeholders. They are going to be working with product managers, delivery teams and processing staff in each instance, including the staff of Legalisation Office.
What the specialist will work on: As a Technical Architect you will deliver specific pieces of analytical and assurance work in close co-operation with multidisciplinary teams. You will assure specific digital projects such as Notify, Configurable digital forms,Payments, Consular Integration Systems and conversion to Platform as a Service in context of existing Consular technical ecosystem, and the wider FCO technical architecture, including their alignment to GDS Principles. Based on your analysis of these projects and our wider technical architecture, you will also produce a strategic IT roadmap.

Address where the work will take place: Work will be delivered in the FCO's London office in King Charles Street London, with some travel to Milton Keynes offices. Some work can be done off site if the specialist wants or needs to.
Working arrangements: We would like the individual to:
- Be comfortable talking to non-technical staff and translating their requirements into technical terms.
- We would like to be able to send the specialist unaccompanied to meet technical and non-technical staff, confident that they will be respectful, productive, and represent Consular Directorate and Digital Transformation Unit effectively.
Security clearance: All contractors working on FCO premises must be British citizens, and at least SC cleared or capable of being cleared to SC. Bidders must confirm clearance of nominated resources.

Additional terms and conditions: We would pay the specialist based on timesheets - monthly in arrears.

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

Essential skills and experience: Understanding of a range of tech stacks (e.g. AWS, UK Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, O365, open source, PaaS etc) and the ability to take a balanced approach to technology selection

Experience migrating legacy technology, e.g. applying data migration strategies, migrating hosting to cloud service providers, or incrementally replacing a legacy system

Strong software development and application architecture experience, with good knowledge of open source technologies, testing and at least one programming language

Ability to read, understand and critique (in order to improve) solution design documentation

Experience of, or an appreciation of the GDS Principles

Significant consulting experience of influencing senior management and communicating with both technical and non-technical audiences through a strong ability to grasp their business challenges

Experience in leading technical teams to deliver scalable and secure user-focused services that deliver measurable transformation

Understanding of agile environments, continual delivery techniques and devops cultures

Ability to quickly absorb differing strategies, remain flexible in your thinking
Nice-to-have skills and experience: Experience scaling technology services

Experience of cloud technologies and enterprise integration tools

How many specialists to evaluate

Cultural fit criteria

Working with technical and non-technical staff at senior level
Quickly joining teams, understanding their needs, and transferring knowledge when offboarding

Assessment methods

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

60%

Cultural fit

15%

Price

25%

1. Is there a current incumbent?: No, there is no incumbent in the role.
2. What is the IR35 status?: Outside of IR35.
3. Have Microsoft Dynamics implementations started or will be? Which services (business functions) will use Dynamics 365?: Microsoft Dynamics is already in place within the department.

A list of business functions using Dynamics is not necessary for this requirement. If necessary, the successful candidate will be provided with a list.
4. What is the average supplier payment performance (i.e. the time taken to pay suppliers)? What is the department’s average supplier payment performance to SME suppliers?: The Buyer will pay the Supplier within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice submitted in accordance with the Call-Off Contract.

This exercise is not for disclosing average supplier payment performance. This request will have to be sent and reviewed in a different format.
5. Will the FCO sponsor the successful candidate through SC clearance if required?: Yes.
6. Our specialist has dual nationality, French and UK, but currently holds SC clearance, is this acceptable?: Yes this is acceptable and the specialist is eligible to apply for specialist role.
7. Could you advise on who will be reviewing the evidence please?: This information is not required for completion of proposals.