Teaching Workforce Directorate Portfolio: Digital Outcomes and Contracted Out Services

Description

Summary of the work DfE requires a supplier or a consortium of suppliers with specialist expertise across all of the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability Framework job families, to design, develop and iterate digital services for Teachers and related users. Work will be outside the scope of IR35. Expected Contract Length 2 years with option to extend up to 6 months if required subject to DfE governance and approvals. Latest start date Friday 31 March 2023 Budget Range The contract period of 2 years has an indicative contract value up to £27,456,000. Budget approval is subject to Cabinet Office spending controls, service assessments and internal DfE governance. DfE does not commit to any minimum spend at this point. A pricing template will be provided to shortlisted suppliers which will request rates for outside IR35 at proposal stage. Why the Work is Being Done The portfolio supports the Department’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in January 2019. This sets out the Government's priorities for making sure a career in teaching continues to be attractive, sustainable, and rewarding. The Government’s vision is for all our young people to have access to a world-class education – no matter where they are from or their background. The key to accessing a world-class education is the teacher in the classroom. Key areas this programme of work and SOW’s will support include: Continuous Professional Development, Teacher Regulation Agency Digital Transformation, Teacher Misconduct Unit and Cross Teacher Programmes. DfE is looking for a supplier to support the delivery of this portfolio of work and the associated outcomes. The Supplier will support the Teacher Services delivery of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy through agile Services and Multi-Capability Work Packages. This requirement is for fully outsourced services out of scope of IR35. A Supplier is required to meet new demands quickly and at scale to deliver the outcomes of projects and portfolio. Problem to Be Solved Many people have a desire to become a teacher, but not enough have the chance to try it out, with many put off by long and complicated application processes. Also, teachers at the start of their careers don’t always get support to build successful careers, and too many end up leaving. We are transforming routes to become a teacher and the support they receive. This involves developing/iterating integrated services that: • encourage people to consider teaching, get school experience, including in Further Education, and apply for a postgraduate teacher training course. • register trainee teachers/provide financial support helping them train. • help find teaching jobs/early career development with extra professional support. • claim financial support offered to retain teachers in hardest to fill subjects. • access professional qualifications (NPQs) to develop in role/progress to leadership positions. • help retrieve individual Teacher Reference Number/other professional qualifications information. • access pensions support. This is a broad portfolio and as part of Agile Services and Multi-Capability Work Packages we expect to be able to transform how we use performance data to improve services, policies and gather policy insights to support the delivery of urgent work that underpins the Governments response to critical needs. Who Are the Users Our users are prospective and current teachers, schools, colleges, training providers/internal DfE support, operations and analysis teams. For prospective teachers this includes requesting further information on the career steps to become a teacher including training/funding. For teachers this includes supporting each career phase; applying for vacancies, retention payments, continuous professional development, and receiving pensions as a retiree. For schools, colleges, and training providers this includes improving user experience/reducing administrative burdens. Examples: • As a teacher in my early career, I may need to claim early-career payments. • As a prospective teacher I need to understand how to train to teach to gain relevant qualifications. • As School Leader I need to collect/supply information about teachers to drive the service. • As teacher, I need to pass my information to DFE once to complete different activities. • As analyst, I need to be able to identify teachers throughout their career lifecycle to understand the success of different interventions. We also support internal users with data to inform policy changes and interventions and aim to drive the delivery of user-centred policies/services that support key strategic priorities by ensuring the journey to become a teacher and developing a career better meets users’ needs. Early Market Engagement A pre-market engagement event was held in September 2022 to provide suppliers with more detailed background on the requirements. We have since developed our procurement strategy following feedback from suppliers and recent Government announcements. A presentation has been shared and the slides set out the updated plans for the requirements. Work Already Done Teacher Services supports digital services and a portfolio including: ● Get into Teaching Get tailored guidance in your inbox (education.gov.uk) ● Apply for Teacher Training Create an account - Apply for teacher training (apply-for-teacher-training.service.gov.uk) ● Teacher Vacancies Service Find a job in teaching - Teaching Vacancies - (teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk) ● Find Postgraduate Teacher Training Courses Find postgraduate teacher training courses - (www.gov.uk) ● https://www.claim-additional-teaching-payment.service.gov.uk/additional-payments/landing-page ● Register trainee teachers https://www.register-trainee-teachers.education.gov.uk/ ● Manage training for early career teachers https://manage-training-for-early-career-teachers.education.gov.uk/ ● Register for a National Professional Qualification https://register-national-professional-qualifications.education.gov.uk/ ● Find Lost TRN https://find-a-lost-trn.education.gov.uk/start The successful supplier will support the delivery of all agile services. Existing Team This is a multi-capability contract requiring all DDAT disciplines to work on fully outsourced outcomes and continually promote DDaT good practice. The successful supplier or consortium for this contract will deliver outcomes in relation to the full scope of job families in the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework in alignment with the Teacher Services programme. The services will cover existing services in different phases of agile delivery and/or discrete packages of end-to-end work. There are various suppliers that support the Teacher Service portfolio, the successful supplier will be expected to flex as required to provide the outcomes Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Successful experience of agile delivery of digital/data products and services in complex multi-programmes, rapidly changing priorities and context, to meet user needs and strategic objectives, reacting and anticipating scope changes • Evidence experience, of taking products and services successfully through each phase of the delivery lifecycle to a specific set of digital standards such as a GDS assessment process • Delivering successful Technical Architecture and DevOps outcomes for agile projects using open-source tools and languages, RoR and .Net core at programme and portfolio level, aligned to digital standards e.g. GDS • Evidence achieving outcomes that support successful Continuous Delivery approaches to software development including tooling for pipelines, build automation and test execution/reporting aligned to technical standards e.g. GDS • Evidence experience of providing services to successfully build, support and manage containerised applications using Docker. • Evidence of successfully delivering designs using specific technical standards such as GDS for the design prototype kit or similar, which are accessible to all users and meet technical guidelines. • Evidence of successfully prioritising and understanding user needs and using insight to underpin and drive decisions when designing content, products, and services across portfolios whilst building capability within organisations • Demonstrate experience delivering performance analysis and insight at scale to inform and influence product direction and design, including pivoting the product strategy where necessary. • Demonstrate understanding and ability to successfully deliver digital products and services aligned to specific standards such as Government Digital Service and Technology code of Practice or similar. • Evidence of running successful continuous discoveries and strategic reviews in organisations starting their digital transformation journey; framing problems and opportunities to inform investment decisions to stop/start/continue service development and delivery. Nice to Haves • Evidence of analysing failure within a service and identifying root causes which were resolved, highlighted and ultimately documented and changed • Evidence of successfully creating new user journeys or features on an existing platform Work Location The Supplier shall deliver the services remotely on its own premises. The Supplier may request onsite working. The Buyer shall consider such requests and may at its absolute discretion agree onsite working arrangements with the Supplier. DfE sites include London, Manchester, Coventry, Bristol, and Nottingham. There is no parking. The primary location will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW). All work must be conducted in line with the Buyers security policy and securely within in the United Kingdom. Working Arrangments The Supplier will have regular portfolio and performance reviews to discuss progress against delivering the intended outcomes and will suggest/implement interventions to ensure outcomes are completed on time. Each Statement of Work (SOW) will outline the expected outcomes, associated budget and payment approach. Suppliers will need to provide clear costs to enable tracking. Each work package will set out a knowledge transfer deliverable to improve DfE internal capability, build and support the applications/services, and provide business continuity of services. Security Clearance DfE requires all supplier staff to have Baseline Personnel Security Standard clearance – enhanced security requirements will be detailed in the individual SOW. Work must be conducted securely in the United Kingdom. DfE will not sponsor higher security clearance than is necessary for the individual SOW. Additional T&Cs Standard Framework and Call Off Terms and Conditions apply. Suppliers must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) May 2018; Data Protection Act 2018; Law Enforcement Directive and any subsequent amendments to date including providing sufficient guarantees to meet GDPR requirements in line with Procurement Policy Note 02/18 May 2018. Consortia bids are welcome. Contract and Vendor Management will form a key part of governance arrangements and suppliers are expected to co-operate in a manner that fosters healthy working relationships and quality delivery. Suppliers invited to Proposal will be issued a Financial Viability Assessment Tool which must be completed. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 7 Proposal Criteria • Please note: Stage 1: Essential Criteria: Pass/Fail and Stage 2 Proposal: Scored according to criteria set out below • Mobilisation and Implementation Plan • Methodology and approach to delivery of Multi-Capability Services • Technical Merit • Methodology and approach to innovation and value for money • Methodology and approach to change, continuous improvement and transition • Methodology and approach to risk, security, good practice and standards Cultural Fit Criteria • Methodology and approach to collaboration, transparency and knowledge transfer • Methodology and approach to drive behavioural and cultural change • Methodology and approach to working with clients with differing levels of technical expertise • Social Value - Methodology and approach to well being, diversity and inclusion and tackling inequality • Social Value - Methodology and approach to sustainability Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 45% Cultural fit 20% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please can the Authority share the list of attendees at the Sept 2022 event? We cannot share a list of attendees If you would like a copy of the slides please raise a further clarification with your contact details as the messages received are anonymised. Please note, the pre market event was held for suppliers on the DSP framework and an updated copy of the slides were then issued to Suppliers on the 7th December 2022 for the DOS framework. 2. Are you able to share the pre-engagement slides please? Please raise a clarification and include your contact details as the messages we receive are anonymised. 3. Your criteria shows that Social Value will be assessed but the evaluation criteria doesn’t have a % associated with it. Could DfE share if it will be 10% weighting or higher for this opportunity please? The weightings will be Technical 45%, Cultural Value: 10%, Social Value 10% and Price 35%. 4. Can you clarify how you see this open-source tools, language and dev-ops being applied at programme and portfolio level? Open-source languages include ruby on rails and .NET. Your response may include one or more examples and should demonstrate your skills and experience in delivering successful Technical Architecture and DevOps outcomes for agile project(s) which are aligned to programme and portfolio level standards. "Devops outcomes" is referring to implementing certain tooling or developing deployment methods. 5. Are you expecting the answer to describe delivery of individual projects, or the architecture & devops work at programme/portfolio level? Open-source languages include ruby on rails and .NET. Your response may include one or more examples and should demonstrate your skills and experience in delivering successful Technical Architecture and DevOps outcomes for agile project(s) which are aligned to programme and portfolio level standards. "Devops outcomes" is referring to implementing certain tooling or developing deployment methods 6. Can you clarify what you mean by “DevOps outcomes”. For example, do you mean embedding a devops culture, or implementing certain tooling or developing infrastructure deployment methods? Open-source languages include ruby on rails and .NET. Your response may include one or more examples and should demonstrate your skills and experience in delivering successful Technical Architecture and DevOps outcomes for agile project(s) which are aligned to programme and portfolio level standards. "Devops outcomes" is referring to implementing certain tooling or developing deployment methods. 7. Can you clarify if whether the technical standards and guidelines are to support decisions made on design/user research or technology? Please can you re-phrase your question to specify what part(s) of the published requirement it relates to and to clarify what information you need. 8. Can you provide an example of the types of technical standards and guidelines you’re expecting to be be delivered by prototypes? During the running of the contract, we anticipate requiring rapid prototypes in code using the gov.uk prototype kit https://prototype-kit.service.gov.uk/docs/.If you have a question relating to specific essential or nice-to-have skills and experience, please quote it when asking a question so that response can be tailored. 9. We are an SME who is interested in bidding for this contract as part of a consortium. Please can you advise how we can identify other organisations who may be interested in forming a consortium for this bid? It is up the supplier to determine a suitable partner for a consortium. Please contact CCS and the framework for further information. There is also a downloadable list of DOS suppliers and contact details is on CCS website https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/buyers/frameworks/digital-outcomes-and-specialists-5/requirements/digital-outcomes ? Sell services to the public sector info is here https://www.gov.uk/tendering-for-public-sector-contracts. Please note if you do form a consortium, DfE will contract with the lead bidder and the DfE will require a Financial Risk Viability Tool and Supplier Security Assurance Questionnaire to be completed for each party if invited to Proposal stage. 10. With reference to Qu.10 on Essential:Evidence of running successful continuous discoveries and strategic reviews in organisations starting their digital transformation journey; framing problems and opportunities to inform investment decisions to stop/start/continue service development and delivery.Can the Authority please clarify, if we are to provide examples of more than 1 Discovery and if so, how can we complete in 100 words a sufficient enough answer..to cover multiple discoveries and other information requested. It is up to the Supplier to determine how best to respond to the criteria that provides evidence that demonstrates their capability of running successful continuous discoveries and strategic reviews in organisations within the set word count. There is no minimum or maximum example set. 11. Can you provide a procurement timetable? The timetable is indicative but dates are proposed below: Stage 1 Closing Date:26/01/23Shortlisted Suppliers invited to Stage 2: w/c 20th Feb 23Closing Date for Stage 2 Written Proposal and Presentation Slides: 10/03/23Presentations: w/c 13th March 23Notification of award: w/c 3rd April 12. Within our individual 100-word responses, would you like to see one, more detailed example or multiple examples with less detail? It is up to the Supplier to determine how best to respond to the criteria that provides evidence of capability within the set word count. There is no minimum or maximum example set. 13. Can you give an indication of how the contract value will be split between the different Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability Framework job families. The contract value will not be split between different DDAT job families. Work will be commissioned via Statements of Work containing the required outcomes, and the Supplier will be responsible for determining the resources required to deliver these. We would anticipate the following capabilities are likely to be needed: business analysis, content design, data engineering and data science, delivery management, interaction design, product management, service design, software development, technical architecture and user research. 14. By ‘scale’ do you mean the number of people/resources provided? or size of the client team? Or the scale of the digital service? We believe this question relates to the criteria: "Demonstrate experience delivering performance analysis and insight at scale to inform and influence product direction and design, including pivoting the product strategy where necessary." Scale refers to the scale of the digital service and complexity. For example insights across hundreds of thousands of records, ability to anonymously track user journeys to understand drop off and pain points. 15. Are you going to use a cloud hosting solution? E.g, AWS or Azure A cloud hosting solution will be used and it is Azure.