TfGM Mobile App Shell Delivery 20220705BRMA

Description

Summary of the work Software Development Organisation to build a new Strategic App for TfGM, assembling features for Ticket retailing, Journey Planning, and Travel Information. Software Development Organisation would be responsible for the App UX, build of apps by assembling TfGM services and TfGM partner services, QA, deployments and updates. Expected Contract Length Expected to be 2 years with an optional extension of 6 months if required. Latest start date Monday 21 November 2022 Budget Range The estimated contract value is £1,500,000 to £1,750,000 over the duration of the contract term. Why the Work is Being Done The Bee Network is our vision for an integrated transport system which will join buses, trams, cycling and walking by 2024, with rail incorporated by 2030, transforming how people travel in Greater Manchester (GM). The GM bus network is to be franchised from September 2023 beginning the journey to a 'London Style' transport network. The Bee Network App will provide transport users in GM with digital ticketing, retail and information services. The vision is for a ‘companion app’ that will truly integrate the customer experience and be a key part of the customer journey. This must be in place ahead of the commencement of the first franchised bus services in September 2023. The app seamlessly brings together digital services such as retail, real-time information and journey planning and as such will be pivotal to delivering the social, economic and environment benefits outlined in the case for GMCA case for Bus Franchising. The Mobile App 'Shell' procurement is for services that will support TfGM's development of the Bee Network app and integration with internal and external system components. Link to supplementary deck with supporting information for responding potential suppliers: https://assets.ctfassets.net/nv7y93idf4jq/ywFwifIqn7r0KB6cqB6mL/c5c38f710af3af2233afbc48d97fe9ae/TfGM_App_partner_DOS_marketplace_supplementary_deck.zip Please contact TfGM via the marketplace for the password. Problem to Be Solved TfGM are looking for a supplier that will deliver the core/shell app that will integrate the suite of TfGM & partner customer facing services that will enable our customers to buy tickets and get timely customer information conveniently and securely on the go. The supplier will build an app shell that enables: - Ticketing retail, payment, fulfilment, activation across modes as part of a consistent customer experience - Plan a journey across transport modes in the GM region - View public transport schedules and real time information - View and be notified of any current or future disruption impacting their journeys The supplier will include design, development, deployment and maintenance of the app to meet TfGM's requirements. The supplier will support TfGM to take ownership in-house for longer term enhancements to the mobile app. Services from other parties to integrate into the app shell will include a retail engine, identity management, journey planning, ticketing, live travel and disruption information. The supplier will be expected to only supply the app shell, and will be responsible for integrating these services into the app shell. The supplier will handover the app shell to enable TfGM to take ownership of ongoing development and support. Who Are the Users TfGM passengers currently use mobile apps to purchase tickets and to find information for travel on Metrolink Tram services. This user base will grow substantially in 2023 to include bus users and cycle hire users, and beyond that to include rail users. These users need to be able to find information about transit options available for when, where, and how they can travel. They need to be able to purchase tickets, to receive tickets purchased, and to securely manage their user account relationship with TfGM and the Bee Network. The user experience will ensure that the mobile app is fast and easy to use and is accessible to all. As TfGM expands the customer proposition of the Bee Network for integrated transport the users will expect all aspects of the transit proposition to be supported through the Bee Network companion app. These users expect to access these services through an iOS or Android mobile device. Other users will include internal Marketing and Communications Teams who will create, edit and publish new content and urgent customer information with minimum requirement for developer support. Work Already Done A comprehensive backlog of requirements for the mobile app has been established and initial delivery phasing has been identified. Since the mobile app will exist within the wider TfGM systems estate, initial discovery and development work has been completed on tooling for a walking skeleton for the Retail Engine for Customers and Products, using a Serverless setup, with Continuous Integration pipeline, and path to production. This framework is intended to meet much of the back office need for business specific services. Existing Team Core TfGM Product Team currently in place includes: * Product Owner * Business Analyst * Technical Owner * Lead Developer (Retail Management System API provider) * DevOps specialist * Subject Matter Expert and QA lead * UX/UI Designer * Delivery Manager Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Have demonstrable expertise of delivering WCAG2.2 AA Accessibility standards, and should meet TfGM Diversity and Inclusion policy and requirements arising from the Equality Impact Assessment. • Have demonstrable expertise in building and designing app with various user features (journey planning, product offering, checkout account management) and the ability to host and manage the app content. • Have demonstrable expertise in building journey planning interface with an ability to find travel information, view real time travel information (E.g. live updates and disruption alerts). • Have demonstrable expertise in building product offerings, secure checkout (by integrating with various industry standard payment processors) and enabling mobile tickets in app or device wallet to use. • Have demonstrable expertise in building security measures which minimise the possibility of fraudulent use of the product such as screenshotting, copying, replicating or sharing of the ticket. • Adhere to TfGM Governance, Engineering Ways of Work, Development environments, tooling, and pipeline. • Have demonstrable expertise in capturing analytics for dashboards and reports using data tracking framework to be selected in conjunction with TfGM to support data driven features. • Have demonstrable expertise in delivering industry standard regulations to be compliant with and Support TfGM with the latest version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). • Provide deliverables as per the Cyber Essentials standard and meet the ISO27001 standard before sharing first binary, with security testing and fixing as required. • Have demonstrable expertise in monitoring, alerting and recording system events in the audit logs. • Provide and maintain documentation and training materials for deliverables for various TfGM user roles, following TfGM Ways of Working, with transition of skills to TfGM. • Commit to delivering within the TfGM SLAs and KPIs. • Deliver peak performance as per the expected transaction and user volumes as set out by TfGM. • Have demonstrable capability to deliver app recovery to a specific agreed point in time with recovery. All data repositories shall be held in the UK. • Have demonstrable ability to provide an assurance and evidence of successfully testing non-functional requirements, testing across all the phases of development inline with the TfGM Test Strategy. • Have demonstrable capability to test the app solution across all the phases of development inline with the TfGM Test Strategy. • Have demonstrable capability to provide support, maintenance and optimisation of the app. • Assure delivery of scope to cost/time/quality objectives through project controls including detailed project delivery plan, RAIDS log, and weekly progress reports. • Have demonstrable expertise of delivering products to relevant industry regulations including being compliant with GDPR and UK Data Protection act. • Deliver the app to run on most devices in use (95% iOS & Android) with the same features on each, downloadable for free. Versions to be agreed with TfGM. Nice to Haves • Provide examples of delivering live projects where they have exceeded performance expectations. • Provide examples of delivering live projects where they have high transaction retail apps being used by the public in the UK. • Provide examples of delivering ticketing apps that are live in the UK. • Provide examples of delivering apps which support biometric recognition techniques. • Provide examples of delivering apps which will support interactive network mapping. • Provide examples of delivering apps which will support the presentation of 3rd party display adverts. • Have demonstrable expertise in delivering an app in which the customer can purchase and collect ITSO smartcard products. Work Location Work can be remote, but weekly meetings will be required face to face in the TfGM HQ for collaborative working sessions: Transport for Greater Manchester headquarters, 2 Piccadilly Place Manchester M1 3BG Working Arrangments The supplier staff will keep TfGM Ticketing team hours in order to maximise knowledge transfer and integrate with team development processes: Monday to Friday starting work by 9.00am, working 8 hours per day + lunchtime. Expenses for the duration of the contract and all travel and subsistence will require prior approval by TfGM. Typical working arrangements will involve weekly/periodic project status meetings, via Microsoft Teams and at our offices in Manchester. The supplier's staff are expected to be available remotely or on-site. Support service must be in place to allow 24/7/365 operations. Additional T&Cs IPR: TfGM to control/develop code following handover; need ownership of anything new and perpetual licence (enabling contractors to use) of all solution materials including source code which must be maintained within private repository; Implementation: supplier responsible (subject to assumptions) for delivery of working solution to meet requirement (via acceptance testing) within agreed timeline/ milestones with consequences for failure. Ongoing services: agreed service levels with service credits. Liability: Super-cap for data protection, 3x contract value otherwise. Exit: right to complete asset ‘toolkit’ (with handover sessions/ documentation) to enable TfGM to pick up and run the final product. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology. 5% • Technical tooling recommendations. 5% • How the approach and solution meets TfGM & user needs. 5% • Examples of similar App builds in Transport, Journey Planning and Ticketing domains. 5% • Estimated timeframes for the work. 5% • Risks and dependencies and approaches to manage them. 5% • Team structure, specialisms and recommended Ways of Working. 5% • Committing to deliverables and delivery dates within a capped T&M Commercial arrangement. 5% Cultural Fit Criteria • Promote Local Skills and Employment. • Support Growth of Responsible Regional Business. • Support Healthier, Safer and more Resilient Communities. • Support Decarbonising and Safeguarding our World. • Promote Social Innovation. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please may you provide the password for the supplementary deck? Please email chris.atherton@tfgm.com in the subject line mark it "Password for Supplementary Deck"The password will then be sent. 2. Please can you provide the password, or let us know how to obtain the password so we can access the supplementary deck zip file ? Please email:-chris.atherton@tfgm.comThe password will then be sent directly via email 3. Is there an incumbent supplier? TfGM currently has a Get Me There (GMT) App selling Metrolink mobile tickets. This project will replace the GMT app and build a platform for multimodal ticketing and journey information. The new Bee Network App is new and therefore no incumbent supplier. 4. Would you consider extending the deadline for submission by 1 working day. Monday 29th August is a bank holiday. Unfortunately we are unable to extend the deadline due to CCS having an automated timeline. 5. Please could you clarify what you mean by “interactive network mapping” under nice-to-have requirements? Interactive map - Ability to search and find various stop information on a TfGM Metrolink network map. 6. For the handover of the App to TfGM, do you have an existing mobile app team? Are there any specific skill sets or tooling within this team we should consider and give examples where we have handed these over in the past? TfGM will be building an internal mobile engineering capability in due course, and this will form part of discussions in Stage 2 of the procurement. 7. Are you looking for a supplier to provide end user support? If so, is there a preference for first, second or third level support? TfGM will be triaging user support queries and will require an incident report desk from the supplier to send requests to 24/7/365. This will form part of discussions in Stage 2 of the procurement. 8. Have plans been made as to who will be responsible for the deprecation and end-of-life support for the current suite of apps as well as any migration of data into the new app. Is this something you would be looking for the supplier of the new app to take on in order to ease the transition? TfGM will be managing this in due course, and this will form part of discussions in Stage 2 of the procurement. 9. The brief mentions the supplier would be responsible for integrating all the listed services into the app shell. We would strongly recommend a thin middleware layer providing a single interface onto the backend systems for the mobile app. Is this something that is being considered? And if not, is it something you would be open to us proposing? TfGM will be managing this in due course, and this will form part of discussions in Stage 2 of the procurement. 10. Please may you supply time timeframes for the next stage of the tender? The indicative timescales for stage 1 and stage 2 of the procurement is quarter 3 and quarter 4 of 2022. 11. Please can you provide any further clarity/breakdown on how the price evaluation is broken down beyond the 30% The weighting of 30% is based on overall costs. Further breakdown will not be shared. 12. Do TfGM have any particular technology platforms in mind for the app. For example, is the requirement for the App to be Native, and if so, both iOS and Android? Or, is the expectation for a cross-platform technology (React Native, Flutter etc) to be used? Or, are you looking for recommendations as part of the response? TfGM's expectation is that both Native and Hybrid approaches can be supported. Once a partner is appointed the technology choices will be confirmed through a collaborative exercise. 13. Does the £1.75m total include the cost to support the app? The budget estimate given is an indicative figure inclusive of all supplier costs to give a total contract value, therefore being inclusive of costs for the support of the application shell. 14. Are suppliers expected to be accountable for/conduct all of the Testing outlined in the Test Strategy? If so, can we assume that the API Testing and E2E Testing will be done againstA15:C19 stubs provided by TfGM as the accountability for the API’s sits outside of the scope of this Opportunity as per the Scope slide (Slide 7) in the Supplementary Deck? The supplier will be responsible for fully testing the App Shell. TfGM's ambition is to have the API services outlined in the deck ready for integration and subsequent testing by the supplier in advance. 15. Will Penetration Testing be conducted by a 3rd party supplier of TfGM? Penetration testing will be undertaken by a TfGM partner but TfGM also expect pen tests to be completed and any issues fixed by the App shell supplier ahead of major releases - to be agreed with TfGM. 16. Please provide your TfGM Diversity and Inclusion policy and details of the Equality Impact Assessment. TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in Stage 2 of the procurement. 17. Is any middleware development required from the provider – eg even as proxy services for security or performance? TfGM will be managing this in due course, and this will form part of discussions in Stage 2 of the procurement. 18. In Essential skills and experience and the Supplementary Deck – NFRs such as performance and security are mentioned – how will this work where the app is dependent on third party services developed by TfGM eg APIs or infrastructure? TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in Stage 2 of the procurement. 19. In Essential skills and experience – testing in line the TfGM Test Strategy is mentioned – will this entail independent testing of the FE by ourselves and end to end testing by TfGM, or would our testing team look to report of issues caused by or relating to the entire system? The supplier will be responsible for fully testing the App Shell. TfGM's ambition is to have the API services outlined in the deck ready for integration and subsequent testing by the supplier in advance. 20. No specific technologies are mentioned for the app development – would you expect the winning partner to engage with yourselves in an exercise to define this, or would you want the decision to be made as part of the RFP process (given Technical tooling recommendations make up 5% of the Proposal criteria)? TfGM's expectation is that both Native and Hybrid approaches can be supported. Once a partner is appointed the technology choices will be confirmed through a collaborative exercise. 21. Other than the App build technology – what else is expected to be included as part of Proposal criteria: Technical tooling recommendations. 5% TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in Stage 2 of the procurement. 22. The Proposal Criteria add up to 40% – are there others not shown or should some of them be higher than 5%? "Technical Competence* (Stage 1&2) 60%Price (Stage 2) 30%Cultural Fit (Social Value) (Stage 2)10%Where the Technical Competence* of 60% breaks down as: Mandatory short form (Stage 1) 10%Optional short form (Stage 1) 10%Proposal criteria (Stage 2) 40%" 23. In Nice-to-have skills and experience – you ask for “..examples of delivering apps which support biometric recognition techniques.” – would these be over and above accessing existing OS biometric features via the app? TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in Stage 2 of the procurement. 24. In the Supplementary Deck the project is described as using Capped T&M, what flexibility therefore is there expected to be on features? TfGM will invite shortlisted applicants to consider this as part of their written proposal in Stage 2. 25. Volumetrics and app performance for most native apps are generally dependent on the server & cloud infrastructure than on the architecture of the app. How does TfGM see this responsibility and SLAs being split between the infrastructure providers vs app providers? TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in Stage 2 of the procurement. 26. The App Feature Release Schedule supplied seems to implement TfGM prefers a dedicated digital product team to build an Agile roadmap but the request for “Commitment on time, features, and budget cap required from the Supplier to share risk around deliverables” seems to imply TfGM would like fixed price quotes per milestone/SoW. How does an Agile product development need reconcile with the commercial structure of individual SoW and the standing up and down of teams? TfGM will invite shortlisted applicants to consider this as part of their written proposal in Stage 2. 27. Could you provide details of what Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the procurement exercise consist of? Is the Digital Marketplace opportunity “Stage 1” and is the intent that 3 suppliers will be shortlisted for Stage 2? What does Stage 2 involve to help us qualify this opportunity? "Technical Competence* (Stage 1&2) 60%Price (Stage 2) 30%Cultural Fit (Social Value) (Stage 2)10%Where the Technical Competence* of 60% breaks down as: Mandatory short form (Stage 1) 10%Optional short form (Stage 1) 10%Proposal criteria (Stage 2) 40%" 28. Do TfGM have a preference for a tech stack for the app shell development? TfGM's expectation is that both Native and Hybrid approaches can be supported. Once a partner is appointed the technology choices will be confirmed through a collaborative exercise. 29. Is any further information available on the TfGM Governance, Engineering Ways of Working, or Test Strategy processes beyond that in the supplementary document? TfGM will provide more details in the pack being provided to shortlisted applicants in stage 2 of the procurement.