UKEF0512 - Digital, Data and User Centred Design Support

Description

Summary of work The buyer (UK Export Finance) are looking for digital, data and user-centred design support to augment their existing DDaT capability delivering an ambitious programme of work. Where the supplied staff will work South West England Who the organisation using the products or services is UK Export Finance Why the work is being done "The UKEF Digital, Data and Technology Directorate (DDaT) works to build new services and develop those already in existence to enable UKEF to deliver its business plan objectives. The DDaT Directorate is a new function, with an aim of delivering key services to exporters and internal staff over the next few years. Much of DDaT’s work is project based, and suited to outcome-based teams. There is an ambitious portfolio of both digital services and wider project change." The business problem "The Buyer has products and services designed to support UK businesses get finance or insurance to export. The supplier will-have expertise in the following areas: - User research - User Centred Design (including service, interaction,graphic and content design) - Business Analysis - Service Delivery (including agile delivery and product management) - Data Reporting - Data Analysis and Visulisation - Data Governance - Performance Analysis The chosen supplier will be expected to undertake the work in all cases according to: - cross-government Service Standard and Service Manual - UKEF's approach to user needs and acceptance criteria - GOV.UK Design System and UKEF style guides - Accessibility WCAG 2.2 regulations - UKEF security policy and procedures The supplier will be required to: - Support delivery of new projects and transformation of existing services - Identify gaps and build capability in the DDaT to support emerging skills needed in the future - Ensure a successful transition of knowledge to in house team members The portfolio of work includes: - End to End Trade Finance - Export Insurance Policy - Data and Analytics transformation - Case and deal management - Data migration - Transformation of other discrete products and applications" The people who will use the product or service User type: Staff & Public Definition: "The Buyer’s services include both staff-facing and public-facing products. The internal services enabling the buyers teams to support UK exporters. For example, Underwriters, Credit Analysts and Operations staff. The Buyer's public-facing digital services are used by the banking and financial community alongside exporters and brokers." Work done so far "https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/07/driving-better-outcomes-through-continuous-support/ https://services.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/01/collaborating-in-government-what-an-alpha-means-in-practice/ https://services.blog.gov.uk/2021/12/21/showing-what-good-looks-like-and-creating-a-culture-that-enables-digital-transformation/ https://www.gov.uk/service-standard-reports/digital-trade-finance-service-alpha-assessment-report" Which phase the project is in Not applicable Existing team "The Buyer’s DDAT team consists of a range of multi-disciplinary teams, working across all areas. It is a fast-paced groups of teams. The supplier will support DDaT during this phase to deliver departmental priorities either by supplementing existing product teams or by taking forward new Discoveries, Alphas and Betas independently, under the leadership of the programme team. Documenting the work and handing over is a critical part of the contract to ensure that DDaT owns and retains the knowledge created during the work. There is an incumbent supplier for some areas that this work covers." Address where the work will be done 1 Horse Guards Road, Westminster. Some travel to conduct user research across the UK may be required. Working arrangements 1 Horse Guards Road, Westminster 1-2 days a week and remote working Security and vetting requirements Security Check (SC) More information about the Security requirements: All supplier staff will be required to have SC clearance before they start. A copy of the clearance from the supplier will be required. Latest start date 11 March 2024 Expected contract length Contract length: 2 years 0 months 0 days Optional extension: 1 years 0 months 0 days Budget Indicative maximum: £8000000 Indicative minimum: The contract value is not specified by the buyer Further information: £5M for the initial 2 years + £3M for the extension Contracted out service or supply of resource? Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Questions and Clarifications 1. You went out to market last year (DoS opportunity number 18180). This seems to be an almost exact match for questions. and title name. As Nomensa won the last bid, can you assure us this isn't to extend their contract please? This is an open procurement process, meaning we will evalute all bidders fairly and consistently against the criteria listed. The contract will be awarded based on the most economically advantageous tender. Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 2. Will Export Finance be able to sponsor the SC clearances prior to start dates? It is a mandatory requirement, that the supplie can provide SC cleared professionals for all SoWs. On a case by case basis and if appropriate, the supplier and UK Export Finance can explore sponsoring SC clearance. Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 3. If the resources supplied already have SC clearance from previous government engagements will Export Finance be able to transfer the SC clearance (they need to be kept live as they expire if not used within 12 months). Yes. UK Export Finance will transfer SC clearances over to the UKEF account in the sourcing and onboarding process. Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 4. The requirement asks for a number of resources across several disciplines. Can you provide an indication of volume of roles and against which roles eg 20 UCD resource, 10 Testing, 2 Business analysts - as a rough guide. "5 x UCD and Analysis 4 x Delivery and Product Management 3 x Data and Performance This is initial indicative and the volume will vary depending on scoped SoWs." Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 5. Will this work run in parallel with the current Nomensa and Softwire contracts, or replace one or both of them? Can you clarify if Service Delivery (including agile delivery and product management) includes developers/engineers, or is delivery and product management? "It will run in parallel to the Nomensa and Softwire contracts in some cases. It is delivery and product management. " Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 6. Please confirm the character count - is it 750 characters including spaces per answer. Yes, it is 750 Characters including spaces Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 7. Is the current incumbent Nomensa? Yes Last Updated : <strong>30/11/2023</strong> 8. Can you confirm the page count/word limit for R2 responses (accepting that only shortlisted suppliers will be asked to respond)? This will likely be limited to 10 A4 Pages, size 12 font. This is indicative. Last Updated : <strong>01/12/2023</strong> 9. The 'Location' section says 'South West England' but the 'Working Arrangements' and 'Address...' refer to 1 Horse Guards Road, Westminster. Could you please clarify. Location is, 1 Horse Guards Road, Westminster, SOUTH EAST ENGLAND. Last Updated : <strong>01/12/2023</strong> 10. CQ response 5 states: "It will run in parallel to the Nomensa and Softwire contracts in some cases. It is delivery and product management." Does this mean that this contract is additional to the existing contracts with Nomensa and Softwire, or will it replace one or both of those contracts? This contract will eventually replace the Nomensa contract but continue running in parallel with Softwire. Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 11. Q3 Taking services through cross-government service assessments and passing them. What is the difference with Q8 Evidence of successfully taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard? Question 3 focuses on the supplier having taken services through assessment and what assessments have been passed. Question 8 focuses on how the services have been taken through assessment successfully which includes detail covering preparation, the assessment itself and the result and aftermath (for example, if not mets were received, how did the team respond and resolve). Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 12. Based on the data available, this opportunity appears to be a re-procurement of a 2 year contract won by Nomensa in January 2023. The spend data available suggests the contract let to Nomensa has reached the maximum spend allowable 12 months earlier than anticipated. With this in mind, we are unlikely to bid for this opportunity. Is the UKEF able to provide reassurances that the incumbent supplier has not been lined up to win this procurement? Answered in response to clarification question 1 Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 13. Q6. Experience in delivering services that meet accessibility WCAG 2.2 regulations For Q6, What are your expectations for demonstrating experience delivering services that meet ‘WCAG 2.2’ when WCAG 2.2 only came out in October 2023 and GDS will not start monitoring for these extra criteria until October 2024? The supplier is expected to give evidence of how they have met accessibility regulations for WCAG. 2.1 up to this point and how they are and will approach meeting 2.2 going forward. Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 14. For Q8, What are your expectations for detailing work ‘against each point of the standard’, as there are 14 standards to provide evidence for within a 750 character count? Character limit will be increased to 2000 including spaces for this question ONLY, and you can choose to detail against each standard or against each area. Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 15. These two questions appear to require the same answer: a. Evidence of successfully taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard, detailing work against each point of the standard b. Experience in taking services through cross-government service assessments and passing them Aside from the GDS service assessment process, please can the Authority provide guidance for the second question on what assessments respondents should consider? Any assessment where a service is being assessed against the Service Standard can be considered. This could be run internally or externally to the organisation. Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 16. How can we access these listed UKEF-specific guidance docs: • UKEF's approach to user needs and acceptance criteria • UKEF style guides • UKEF security policy and procedures Information will be shared with the winning as they are onboarded. As this is is not an assessed criteria, this information isn't provided for this stage of the ITT. Last Updated : <strong>05/12/2023</strong> 17. Is UKEF seeking to appoint just one supplier through this tender process? Yes Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 18. When does the current contract for your incumbent, Nomensa, expire? Expiry is February 2025, but contract will be ending earlier than 2025. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 19. What is the scope of UKEF’s existing contract with Nomensa? The scope is identical to the scope of this contract which is detailed in the tender documents Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 20. Your clarification response (question 5) suggests that this new contract will run in parallel to the Nomensa and Softwire contracts “in some cases” What does this mean in practice? e.g, does this mean that some of the scope of this tender will be delivered by these existing providers? The scope of this contract differs from the scope of the Softwire contract. This contract due to the intended start date, will run parallel to the active Nomensa Statement of Works. This contract is a replacement for the current Nomensa Contract. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 21. Would you consider bids from suppliers who do not have direct experience of the government service standards and technology code of practice but who do have a wealth of experience working with private sector service standards and technology codes? Taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard is an essential criteria for this requirement and bidders without the experience will not be considered. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 22. With reference to the 750 word limit for each of the two sections in Attachment 3 (Essential skills and experience & Nice-to-have skills and experience), can you please confirm if this word limit applies to each of the questions (8 and 3 respectively) individually or collectively at the respective table level (i.e. 750 covering all of the 8 questions in the Essential skills table and 750 covering all of the 8 questions in the Nice to have skills table)? 750 character limit is per question within each section. Please see CQ 14, where an exception has been made to the character limit for one question only Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 23. Can you confirm if the Stage 1 response needs to be submitted with indicative pricing or will this only be required at Stage 2 response only if successfully shortlisted in Stage 1? Pricing will only be required at Stage 2 Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 24. In Nice-to-Have 3 you request "experience of taking services through cross-Government Service Assessments." Can you please clarify what you mean by cross-Government in this context? What specific assessments are you looking for experience in, given that Essential 8 asks for experience of taking services through the "assessments on the Digital Service Standard". Is this a duplicated question? Please see response to CQ 11 & 15 Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 25. Can you please provide some more clarity around the precise requirement for onsite work onsite in London? This is dependent on each Statement of Works - There is an expectation to facilitate being in the office a minimum of 1 day per week Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 26. Please can you clarify what information you are seeking in response to the Essential Stage 1 question, 'Evidence of successfully taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard, detailing work against each point of the standard', as compared with the information you are seeking in response to the Nice-to-Have Stage 1 question, 'Experience in taking services through cross-government service assessments and passing them'? Please see response to CQ 11 Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 27. Could you please also confirm that you are not asking suppliers to provide evidence against each of the 14 points of the GDS Service Standard in the response to this question (i.e., in 750 characters), but only to evidence of taking services through assessment successfully? Please see response to CQ 14 Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 28. Nice to have question 2 asks for experience in delivering Government services. Please can you clarify what type of services you want experience of (i.e. design and build of citizen facing digital services, management of live services etc)? Government services could include the design, delivery, build or buy and iteration of public facing or staff facing services at any stage of the agile lifecycle from inception to management of live services. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 29. Nice to have question 3 asks for experience in taking services through cross-government service assessments and passing them. Are you looking for examples of services delivered across multiple government departments, or of passing CDDO/GDS assessments? This could be a service within 1 organisation or that serves multiple organisations that has been assessed against the Service Standard. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 30. Please confirm whether the working arrangements described under work set up in the Statement of Requirements document, would be for all staff members or specific people only? All people involved in working on an active statement of works Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 31. Re. Q4 of essential skills, can you please confirm if external-facing digital services could be a substitute for public-facing digital services? Yes, external-facing digital services could be a substitute for public-facing digital services. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 32. For NTH Q3: Experience in taking services through cross-government service assessments and passing them - What do you mean by cross government services assessment? Services that have been assessed against the Service Standard. Please refer to CQ 11 Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 33. Will bids be considered seriously where the bidder is able to clearly demonstrate meeting equivalent Government Service Standard through delivery of work for clients, despite not having delivered the work specifically for Government? Taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard is an essential criteria for this requirement and bidders without the experience will not be considered. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 34. Question 8 of Essential Skills and Experience asks for evidence of taking a service through assessments. Is there a preference for suppliers with past government experience, and will any new suppliers without prior government experience be disqualified? If a bidder is able to demonstrate evidence of successfully taking services through assessments against the Government Service Standard, without prior government experience, this would be accepted. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong> 35. Is demonstrating experience where the supplier's staff have worked on Government Services but not the supplier as an organisation acceptable? Yes, this is acceptable. Last Updated : <strong>07/12/2023</strong>