RM1043.8 - Family Hub and Start for Life Data Portal

Description

Pre-market engagement Technical recommendations: 1. We could consider the development of a wireframe before a full Alpha build, so that we have a product we can test with senior leadership and users, and implement any changes before the Portal is developed. 2. We could consider other data collection types through the Portal, including functionality to survey service users directly through the portal with hosting a survey page and generating a QR code for LAs to include in promotional materials and provide to service users of Family Hubs. 3. We should consider the future likely scalability and flexibility required of the Portal, which would influence the complexity of the underlying software. Work done so far We have identified the problem with the current approach to data collection, engaged with Local Authority data leads and internal stakeholders on what requirements the data collection is currently meeting and identified opportunities for improvement in both the technical approach to data collection and the specific data items being collected. A Data and Digital Incubator team within DfE has carried out a 10-week project to assess the requirements for the Family Hubs and Start for Life Management Information data and identify options for the collection of the data to be improved. This has included: 1. Business Analysis: Captured and compiled a comprehensive requirements catalogue from all stakeholders involved in the collections process, and developed both AS-IS and TO-BE process models. 2. Service Design: a. Established view of the current process of MI data reporting b. Validated pain points, user needs and processes relevant at each phase across the activity c. Refined understanding of the capabilities and needs a digital portal product will need to deliver 3. User Research: Detailed insights from the experience of the Data Leads and Providers, including an overview of the user journey, pain points, areas for improvements and perspectives on the proposed upgrade of the process. 4. Solution Architecture Artifacts including: a. Technical Feasibility of Existing Tools & Future Options b. Family Hubs Review Of Methods For Sending Receiving Secure Files c. Portal Hosting Options d. Alternate Options to the Proposed Portal e. Options for Analytical Functionality (Placement Inside versus Outside Portal) f. Technical, Organisational and Policy Constraints g. Understand Technical Integration Requirements h. Technical Solution Cloud Architecture Diagram i. Core Domain Data Model Diagram Which phase the project is in Discovery Existing team Family Hubs and Start for Life Data Leads - DfE and DHSC analytical team leads who are responsible for collection and analysis of the programme data including Management Information and Maturity Self-Assessment. Family Hubs and Start for Life Local Authority Data Leads - Individuals within the LA who are responsible for returning data to the programme. DHSC DAC team and programme manager - DHSC's cloud based analytical platform team DHSC Cyber Security team Solution Delivery Team (DfE Technology Group) Families Digital Group DfE Address where the work will be done Work can be undertaken remotely. The DHSC team have offices in London (39 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, SW1H 0EU) and Leeds (Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UE), should in person working arrangements take place. As we will use UK regulatory data, we require data to be kept within the UK. The solution provider will therefore be required to be UK based. Working arrangements The supplier's staff will be expected to be available during the typical working hours of Monday to Friday (9.00am to 5.00pm) to maximise collaboration and knowledge sharing. We require the supplier to conduct the usual agile ceremonies, weekly updates, 'show and tell' workshops, planning sessions, and any additional sessions as required. A supplier that can help develop the internal teams project delivery is also preferred. This will include producing resources and documentation of work undertaken to provide a clear record of what has been done and decisions made. We expect clear and continual communication between the supplier and the DHSC and DfE teams to ensure a joined-up approach. Sessions will take place remotely unless otherwise agreed. Collaborative in person workshops may be arranged as necessary in an appropriate location. Supplier is required to cover travel at their own expense. The contract will be managed in line with DOS 6 call-off contract requirements and using DHSC’s contract management guidance. By integrating the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework guidelines with DHSC's specific contract management guidance, the call-off contract can be tailored to meet the department’s unique needs while ensuring compliance with procurement regulations and best practice. The contract will include a break clause at least between private and public beta. Following agile principles, we will use sprint cycles to progress and agree each stage of the project. Throughout the contract period, we will use established methodologies to monitor timelines, expenditures, and work outputs. Documentation - • A risk, issues, and lessons learned log will be maintained to document and track any identified risks, issues, and insights gained throughout the duration of the project. A risk escalation route will be established at the start of the project. SEE UPLOADED DOCUMENT FOR MORE INFORMATION. Provide more information about your security requirements: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Latest start date 2025-09-30 Enter the expected contract length: 2026 years, 3 months and 31 days Extension period: 2026 years, 9 months and 30 days Write the term or acronym: Family Hubs and Start for Life (FH&SfL): The name of the joint programme being funded, to which this data collection relates Management Information (MI): One of the data collections concerning delivery of the FH&SFL programme Maturity Self-Assessment (MSA): One of the data collections concerning delivery of the FH&SFL programme Department for Education (DfE): Government department Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC): Government department Best Start in Life (BSiL): Best Start in Life, a pillar of the Government's Opportunity Mission SR25: Spending Review 2025 Write the term or acronym: “Price per quality point (PQP) is an evaluation technique designed to fairly compare bids of varying quality and price. PQP is calculated for each bid by - determining the quality score for each bid, expressed as a whole number rather than as a percentage - dividing the bid price by the quality score to give an output price per quality point. Please note, we will be using PQP to evaluate submissions at Stage 2 rather than the 50%/20%/10%/20% split that the DOS forms require us to select. More information will be supplied at next stage. Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 400000 Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Summary of work Overview: Development of a dedicated online Data Portal to facilitate the collection of data from Local Authorities who are part of the FH&SfL programme. Summary of activities: The FH&SfL programme funds 75 Local Authorities (LAs) to deliver early help and support for families with children aged 0-5. Services are primarily delivered through Family Hubs and support families with Parenting, Home Learning Environment, Perinatal Mental Health, Parent Infant Relationships and Infant Feeding. As part of delivering the programme, DHSC and DfE collect data from LAs to monitor and assure programme delivery. Data is also collected to support independent evaluation of the programme and internal analysis of trends and impact. This project is for the development a dedicated secure data collection platform which, following a phased development, will by the end of 25/26 financial year, provide a single platform for LAs to upload all data related to the programme. The portal will seek to replace the current manual processes involved in data collection, through validating data at point of entry and housing data submitted by LAs to support subsequent returns and summary analysis within the portal. The portal will support collaborative efforts within LAs by supporting multiple partners involved in programme delivery within an LA to bring data together and compile each return. Finally, the portal will provide dashboard functionality both for LAs to view summaries of the data they have submitted and track metrics over time and for internal stakeholders to view summaries of all submitted data for quarterly reporting. The portal will be built within existing government cloud architecture. The provider will need to integrate with existing systems and pipelines ensuring compliance with relevant security procedures and information governance. SEE UPLOADED DOCUMENT FOR MORE INFORMATION. Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Who the organisation using the products or services is Name of user: (External) Local Authority Data Leads Name of user: (External) Family Hub and Start for Life commissioned delivery partners Name of user: (Internal) Family Hub and Start for Life Assurance Lead (DfE/DHSC) Name of user: (Internal) Family Hub and Start for Life Analyst (DfE/DHSC) Why the work is being done Goal: Dramatically improve the internal reporting and assurance processes for the FH&SfL programme. Improving our internal understanding and reporting on FH&SfL programme will support the Government's Opportunity and Health Missions, in particular the Best Start in Life (BSiL) pillar of the Opportunity Mission and the ambition to achieve the healthiest generation of children ever. FH&SfL has been identified as a key delivery priority for the BSiL pillar and if we are to understand what works, support evaluation and continually improve programme delivery we must have access to accurate information on programme delivery and impact being achieved. Data should underpin all of our activity in the programme, yet we are currently restricted in our understanding due to poor quality data and a lack of appropriate technology to support analytical efficiency. The project must be delivered by 31 March 2026 so that the portal is in place should the FH&SfL programme be extended through SR25. The business problem you need to solve Bringing all programme data together Improving the data collection Data Transformation Service Improving access to data Risks and challenges Deliverables Alpha (8 weeks) Beta (4 months) PLEASE SEE UPLOADED DOCUMENT FOR MORE INFORMATION UNDER THESE HEADINGS. First user type: Name of user: (External) Local Authority Data Leads First user type: Name of user: (External) Family Hub and Start for Life commissioned delivery partners First user type: Name of user: (Internal) Family Hub and Start for Life Assurance Lead (DfE/DHSC) First user type: Name of user: (Internal) Family Hub and Start for Life Analyst (DfE/DHSC) Questions and Clarifications 0. Good morning, Please can you confirm whether subcontractors would be required to hold Cyber Essentials Plus certification? Kind regards This would depend on what the Sub-contractor is providing, if they are involved in the delivery or design of any part of the project related to the gathering, transmitting, storage or use of data then yes. Especially if any of the data being held has PII or is marked as Official or above. Or if they are providing any security functionality or services. Last Updated: <strong>07 July 2025, 10:53</strong> 1. Good morning, Many thanks for launching this opportunity. If possible, please may we raise the following clarification question: Does the Buyer require a short (i.e. 4 week) Discovery phase to be undertaken as part of this work, or does the Buyer require the Supplier to undertake Alpha and Beta only, using the outputs of the Buyers Data and Digital Incubator teams recent 10-week project to assess the requirements for the Family Hubs and Start for Life MI as the basis for the Alpha phase? Thanks and kind regards We require a 4-week Discovery phase to be undertaken, which can build on the work carried out by the Data and Digital Incubator team (all reports from that project will be made available). Full details of required phases and high-level outputs from each phase should be available in the Word document uploaded as part of this project which can be downloaded from the DOS6 commercial portal. Last Updated: <strong>07 July 2025, 11:08</strong> 2. Hello, We note the Essential Skills and Experience Question in relation to building and deploying cloud based web applications and specifically the text that notes "can easily fit in the DHSC IT infrastructure". From this are we to infer that the solution created must be hosted within the DHSC Infrastructure or would the buyer be open to using an externally hosted cloud service which meets all of the noted functional and non-functional requirements? Thanks DHSC preference would be for something to be built within the DHSC IT infrastructure, but we are open to quotes which include externally hosted cloud services which meet all requirements. Last Updated: <strong>07 July 2025, 15:56</strong> 3. For the avoidance of doubt, can you please clarify whether the supplier (not sub-contractors) is required to have Cyber Essentials Plus, or will Cyber Essentials suffice? Thank you. This would depend on what either the main contractor is providing; similar to the subcontractor, if the main contractor are providing the delivery or design of any part of the project related to the gathering, transmitting, storage or use of data then yes. Especially if any of the data being held has PII or is marked as Official or above. Or if they are providing any security functionality or services. Last Updated: <strong>2025-07-07T16:14:45.43238Z</strong> 4. Question 2 asks for experience in .NET. My question is therefore does the development have to be in .NET? Reason I ask is this could be an ideal development for using OutSystems low code platform, and wondered if this could be an option assuming it meets all the functional / non functional requirements? If .NET has been chosen as the development path can you confirm why this is? To match our standards, we are currently looking at enforcing .NET and a JavaScript based framework (ideally React/NextJS) across every new bespoke application to smooth support provisions in the future. Last Updated: <strong>2025-07-08T09:22:33.82543Z</strong> 5. Good morning, Please could you confirm if this tender is for discovery only? Additionally, could you please confirm/provide further clarification on the definition of Management Information and delivery data in regards to Nice to Have Q1? Kind regards This tender is for the Discovery, Alpha and Beta phases, with expected deliverables from each phase provided in the additional information available to download. The Management Information data is quarterly data collected from local authorities participating in the FH&SfL programme concerning the delivery of the programme. It covers areas including service delivery, workforce, training and outcomes for service users. The Delivery Plans are annual returns by LAs setting out how they will allocate their funding across the programme strands and priority areas. The data is currently collected through excel, with multiple tabs for the different aspects of the data collection, with over 100 total questions/data items for LAs to respond against. Last Updated: <strong>08 July 2025, 10:07</strong> 6. Good Morning Please see below our clarification questions. 1. Does the organisation have a preference on the tech stack they wish to use for this procurement? i.e MFST 2. Will a data cleanse be required or will this be done beforehand? 3. Will the organisation need to follow a security framework i.e ISO or CAF? 4. Will a further discovery be required? 5. Is SC a requirement or is BPSS sufficient? 6. Is it preferred to have UK resources only, or will near shore be considered? Kind Regards 1. To match our standards, we are currently looking at enforcing .NET and a JavaScript based framework (preferably React/NextJS) across every new bespoke application to smooth support provisions in the future 2. We are looking for quotes to include details of migrating our existing data collected through our legacy approach to the platform, as each quarter builds upon the previous one. This may require some data cleansing, to match the legacy data to the new data framework being designed for the portal. 3. We’re implementing the new infrastructure currently to CAF standards. 4. This tender is for the Discovery, Alpha and Beta phases, with expected deliverables from each phase provided in the additional information available to download. 5. BPSS will be sufficient as the data to be handled is largely pseudonymised or aggregated. 6. UK resources only are preferred. Last Updated: <strong>08 July 2025, 10:13</strong> 7. Good Morning Please see below another CQ Please could you confirm what its being built on i.e Azure, AWS? Kind Regards DHSC is a Microsoft based organisation currently on Azure so will be expected to be built on Azure. Last Updated: <strong>08 July 2025, 14:59</strong> 8. Good afternoon, Please can you confirm if the indicated £400k budget is to cover all three stages (Discovery, Alpha and Beta)? Kind regards Yes, the £400k budget is for all 3 stages. Last Updated: <strong>08 July 2025, 15:01</strong> 9. 1. Q: Given the requirement to integrate with existing DHSC cloud architecture, could you provide further details on the specific systems (e.g., APIs, data pipelines) the portal must interface with? 2. Q: Are there preferred .NET/Next.js versions or SQL Server configurations DHSC mandates for compatibility? 3. Q: Could you share the user research findings from the Discovery phase to ensure our Alpha/Beta delivery aligns with identified pain points? 4. Q: Will there be opportunities for collaborative workshops with LA Data Leads during Alpha to validate user journeys? 1. Requirements for integration with existing pipelines is to be determined during Discovery. 2. Latest versions of both, .NET 8 & 9 and NextJS 14 & 15 are currently being used in new platforms, it would be expected that the supplier keeps these patched during the development period. There are no defined standards for data storage, we have experience of multiple different platforms. We are open to NoSQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL or SQL Server. SQL Server would likely be the preferred option as this is the most common we have right now. 3. The report from the specialist DfE team will be made available to the suppliers who are successful at the first stage of procurement and are invited to the presentation stage. 4. Yes, this would be possible and DHSC will be able to support facilitation. We would also encourage workshops with internal stakeholders within DfE and DHSC. Last Updated: <strong>10 July 2025, 15:33</strong> 10. Good Afternoon Please see below our questions. 1. Please could you confirm what assessment you are referring to i.e GDS 2. Please could you confirm if when you talk about Beta, is this private Beta or Public Beta? Kind Regards 1. GDS Service Assessment (both Alpha and Beta) & it will be subject to an IT Health Check and penetration tests. 2. Public Beta. Last Updated: <strong>2025-07-10T16:08:08.14437Z</strong> 11. Hi, we have a number of questions for you please.... 1. At what stage will the pre-work carried out by the Data and Digital Incubator team be provided? 2. Did you have any third-party supplier staff supporting the discovery? 3. Who comprised the Data Hub team, and how does it work? 4. Can you provide the current draft data models and schema documentation produced by the DfE Digital Incubator team to inform accurate scoping, particularly for the MI, MSA, and Delivery Plan modules? 5. Which specific DHSC and DfE systems and pipelines must the portal integrate with (e.g. cloud data platforms, authentication systems)? Are APIs for these systems currently available and documented? 6. Does the £400k budget include Discovery, Alpha, Beta, data migration, and initial training deliverables in full, or is post-Beta support and future enhancements expected to be contracted separately? 7. You mention existing government cloud architecture. Is there a preferred cloud environment (e.g. Azure, AWS, GCP) and are there existing hosting contracts we must deploy within? 8. Can you confirm the security classification of data (e.g. Official, Official Sensitive) to determine encryption, access control, and hosting compliance requirements? 9. The ITT references .NET and Next.js; are these mandatory, or can we propose alternative stacks aligned with GOV.UK and DHSC standards if they deliver faster or more cost-effective outcomes? 10. Can you clarify the volume, structure, and location of legacy data to be migrated into the portal as part of Beta? Is data cleansing expected within this contract? Kind regards 1. The report from the specialist DfE team will be made available to the suppliers who are successful at the first stage of procurement and are invited to the presentation stage. 2. We have received clarification from the DfE team that their initial sprint was an exploration of the problem space ahead of the procurement carried out by a specialist team. It did not constitute a full Discovery, though covered some of the areas which would typically be included in Discovery. 3. Central DHSC & DfE teams currently run the MI collection. 4. The report from the specialist DfE team will be made available to the suppliers who are successful at the first stage of procurement and are invited to the presentation stage. 5. Requirements for integration with existing pipelines is to be determined during Discovery. 6. Post-Beta support and future enhancements will be contracted separately from April 2026. This contract is only for the Discovery, Alpha, Beta, priority data migration and initial training deliverables. 7. To be completely determined, but it is likely it’s going into the DAC – an Azure Tenancy held within DHSC. 8. Official Sensitive. 9. The preferred option is .NET and NextJS, however, full-stack NextJS or potentially NodeJS (which is used in another platform is acceptable) – we would not accept anything outside of either JavaScript or .NET. 10. Exact migration requirements to be determined during Discovery including feasibility assessment of migrating existing data resources. Last Updated: <strong>10 July 2025, 16:24</strong>