Working Age Service Resource Contract (Multi-disciplinary team focused)

Description

Pre-market engagement Not held Work done so far This will be a new requirement to continue responding to user needs of citizens who claim and receive Working Age benefits such as Universal Credit, New Style Jobseekers Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance. Which phase the project is in Not started Existing team DWP operates in a multi-disciplinary environment for digital solutions. Teams consist of a broad range of DDaT roles with a combination of permanent and external supplier resources. These teams are referred to as ‘theme or feature teams’ and contain roles to deliver digital and operational requirements from initial problem statement through to delivery and support. Preferred bidders will be required to collaborate across multiple teams and multiple disciplines. Address where the work will be done Primary DWP Hub locations; London, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester but expectation of approximately 60% remote working. It is anticipated that at least one feature team will be based out of London and a second feature team in Manchester. Working arrangements Supplier will provide access to teams of 1 or more digital specialists who will provide outcome-based services under clearly defined pieces of work. The work will be hybrid based with an expectation of 60% remote working. The working arrangements for a particular project will be specified in each Statement of Work. Provide more information about your security requirements: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Provide more information about your security requirements: Security Check (SC) Provide more information about your security requirements: SC clearance is needed for the following roles: Software Engineer, QA/Test Engineer, Devops Engineer. All other roles require BPSS. If SC clearance is currently held but with another orgainsation DWP can support you in having this transferred across to work carried out in DWP. If SC isn't currently held, DWP will sponsor the clearance process. You should therefore undertake the clearance process for any personnel proposed to DWP checking they are eligible. DWP will not incur cost for personnel who have SC pending and will not on-board them until this process is complete. Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels National security vetting: clearance levelswww.gov.uk Latest start date 2025-09-08 Enter the expected contract length: 2 years Extension period: 1 year Special terms and conditions This requirement will be for the procurement of outcomes, however, the workers delivering those outcomes are likely to be deployed into mixed teams, with some control and direction of day to day activities resting with the buyer, therefore, off-payroll working legislation will apply (in scope of IR35). All suppliers are obliged to provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures so that the processing data meets the requirements of GDPR and ensures the protection of the rights of data subjects. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website:https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/ DWP Specific security schedule will apply and DWP expenses policy Special terms and conditions AI tools can be used to improve the efficiency of your bid writing process, however they may also introduce an increased risk of misleading statements via ‘hallucination’. Have you used AI or machine learning tools, including large language models, to assist in any part of your tender submission? This may include using these tools to support the drafting of responses to award questions. Yes ロ No ロ Please write answers to the mandatory questions found in the special terms section below your answers to the Essential and Nice to have criteria Special terms and conditions Please provide details: Where AI tools have been used to support the generation of Tender responses, please confirm that they have been checked and verified for accuracy Yes ロ No ロ Please write answers to the mandatory questions found in the special terms section below your answers to the Essential and Nice to have criteria Special terms and conditions 4) In the event of a tie-break, where a bidder ranks in equal position, an order of precedence will apply until one bidder achieves a score greater than the other. The order of precedence is as follows (listed in order of importance) - 1. 3 (Essential) 2. 1 (Essential) 3. 2 (Essential) 4. 4 (Essential) 5. 5 (Essential) 6. 1 (Nice to Have) Special terms and conditions 5) This requirement will incorporate "Fixed Price", "Time and Materials" and "Capped Time and Materials". One of these pricing methodologies will be selected at Statement of Work draft stage. Special terms and conditions 6) 10.2.3 Each signed Statement of Work will be automatically incorporated into this Order Form therefore does not require contract variation document. The SOW can be terminated for convenience by the Contracting Authority at 14 days’ notice. In the event of an inconsistency between what’s contained in the Statement of Work and the Order Form, the contents of the Statement of Work shall take precedence. Special terms and conditions 7) Offshoring is not permissible for this requirement Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 9900000 Provide further information: Indicative budget for the initial 2-year term is approximately £9,900,000 (ex VAT). The contract will be on a non commitment basis and due to agile nature of projects work will be committed and governed by individual Statement of Works based upon requirements. Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource Supply of resource: the off-payroll rules may apply Summary of work This contract seeks digital capabilities to support Working Age Services (WAS) by focusing on multi-disciplinary teams that will deliver defined modernisation objectives. The modernisation of WAS aims to provide accessible services, reduce reliance on outdated systems, decrease fraud and error, and increase efficiency through automation. The preferred supplier will be expected to provide several resources under specified statements of works and collaborate closely with department staff to achieve these goals. Agile teams within WAS will build services to agreed standards, improve products and processes, and ensure services work quickly, reliably, and securely. Example roles in WAS include Product Design Professionals, Security-Cleared Development Operations Professionals, Delivery Managers, Software Engineers, and Infrastructure Engineers, each contributing to various aspects of service delivery and improvement. Where the supplied staff will work North East England Where the supplied staff will work North West England Where the supplied staff will work Yorkshire and the Humber Where the supplied staff will work West Midlands Where the supplied staff will work London Who the organisation using the products or services is Department for Work and Pensions Why the work is being done DWP is responding to user needs of citizens who claim and receive Working Age benefits such as Universal Credit, New Style Jobseekers Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance. Over the next spending period 2025/6 to 2027/8 we are also modernising the infrastructure on which we deliver services to users to reduce technical debt and ensure it is more efficient and less costly to maintain. As part of this modernisation effort, we will eliminate dependencies on outdated legacy services that can no longer adapt to policy changes. Many of these legacy services will be phased out during this period. We seek a supplier(s) to collaborate with our teams to deliver a wide range of services, benefiting both Working Age Benefit claimants and the Agents who administer these benefits. The business problem you need to solve We aim to tackle several problems, including addressing technical debt, removing expensive and hard-to-maintain legacy services in end-to-end service delivery, reducing fraud and errors, responding more proactively to policy and legislative changes in the upcoming spending round, and implementing modern and intuitive digital solutions to better serve citizens and agents. Example work to demonstrate breadth of requirements (list isn't exhaustive): - A small team of product design professionals that will bring their expertise to collaborate with the internal engineering team to capture and respond to user needs by modernising the New Style Benefits service delivery. - A team of security-cleared development operations professionals that will bring their skills to address technical debt on several business-as-usual services. - A multidisciplinary team that will bring together professionals from various fields, including some internal to DWP, to collaborate on a common goal and achieve transformation delivery outcomes. Each member will bring their specialised skills and expertise to ensure comprehensive and coordinated digital service delivery on a transformation project. This approach enhances user experience by combining the deep knowledge of internal teams with the diverse perspectives of external partners. - Infrastructure Engineer(s) with knowledge of AWS infrastructure service and solution options will bring their capabilities to support the management and resolution of incidents, problems, and changes. They will apply different techniques and methods to improve the performance, reliability, and security of the service. - In some instances, individual roles may be required to ensure the successful delivery of specific objectives under this contract. These roles will be identified based on the unique needs of the project and the expertise required to achieve the desired outcomes. First user type: Citizens