Public Protection and Safe Establishments

Description

Summary of the work A Supplier is required to work with MoJ and its partner organisations to undertake a Beta to replace a legacy application known as the Public Protection Unit Database. Expected Contract Length 12 months Latest start date Monday 8 February 2021 Why the Work is Being Done The goal of this work is to replace an application which is 12 years old and is reaching the end of its lifespan. It is a legacy application fulfilling various requirements for several user groups. Problem to Be Solved A Discovery and Alpha have been conducted which recommend replacing the existing legacy application with four separate products to better meet the needs of users in the following areas: • Manage a parole review • Manage a recall • Manage a move to or from hospital • Investigate a complaint and investigate a death The goal of the Beta is to build and iterate these products to meet the needs of users. Products created during Beta should integrate with other applications within the Probation service as required and by the end of Beta, allow us to decommission the Public Protection Unit Database. Who Are the Users The Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) need to manage the ongoing detention of parole-eligible and recalled prisoners, compile dossiers, handle reconsideration applications for Parole Board decisions, and handle correspondence regarding offenders. The Mental Health Casework Section (MHCS) need to manage offenders from the point they are classified as ‘Restricted Patients’ through to discharge, and track/manage patients detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) who are diverted from custody into hospital. The Parole Board need to manage reviews of parole-eligible prisoners and risk-assess to determine safe release. The Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) need to investigate deaths in custody and complaints made by prisoners, young and immigration detainees, and probation-supervised offenders. Work Already Done The Discovery Phase has been completed. This was predominantly an options analysis examining whether the existing application should be: • migrated ‘as is’ to the cloud • migrated but with some refactoring; or • demised and replaced. The Alpha Phase was completed in October 2020. Alpha examined the viability of demising and replacing the existing application including the: • Creation and testing of hypotheses • Undertaking of activities to prove or disprove assumptions • Researching of alternative ways of working supported by prototypes Existing Team Service Owner Service Designer This is part of Probation Reform Programme which is run as a blended, multi-supplier environment. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Proven track record of design, development, and delivery of digital services to, and/or on behalf of, Government Agencies. • Experience in the development of services from Discovery to Beta, from learnings Discovery to Beta, meeting the Government Service Standard and technology code of conduct. • Evidence of in-depth understanding and experience of presenting clear, compelling, evidence-based recommendations for change based on primary and secondary research. • In-depth understanding of collaboratively delivering rapid/ iterative prototyping (low to high fidelity) using design systems and approaches. • Experience of providing services to build cloud-based web solutions and maintaining accessible web-pages based on user needs. • Proven track record of building products in Typescript, Node, Java and Kotlin. • Experience of successfully migrating data from legacy systems to new services and assisting with remediation where necessary. • Experience of building secure systems and adhering to modern security best practice and standards. • Experience of providing services with a test-driven development, continuous integration and delivery approach. Nice to Haves • Evidence of designing, developing, and delivering case management systems and/or workflow tools. • Demonstrable experience of successfully assisting clients in managing the business transition from legacy systems to new services. • Demonstrable experience of setting up and operating application support for staff facing applications. • Experience working within a large government program of work, with multiple teams, dependencies and stakeholders. Work Location Predominantly virtually, with the possibility of London based physical working, if required. Occasional travel to other locations in the United Kingdom may also be required. Working Arrangments We would prefer co-location onsite for 3 days a week (as soon as Covid-19 allows), most weeks in order to engage with the Probation Reform Programme, building broader engagement with the style of working (eg through show and tells), and capability building activity through activities such as pair programming/design review. However, we also know that remote working is both possible and will also be necessary over the next few months. Security Clearance A minimum of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) standard is required. Where access to live production data is necessary, Security Clearance (SC) may also be required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • How well the approach meets our goal – 10% • Clarity of the approach – 10% • Demonstrate how your approach and methodology for this project will meet MOJ’s requirements and describe how applying this approach and methodology has been successful in a similar project.–10% • Provide an example team structure including skills, experience and relevance of individuals. Provide an accompanying SFIA rate card for each team member and Definitions criteria for each SFIA rating.–5% • Plan for migration/transition from the legacy application to the new solution (including data, business processes, services, support). – 10% • Provide examples of how you have identified and taken ownership of risks, issues, and dependencies and how you have managed their mitigation and resolution.- 15% Cultural Fit Criteria • Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service- 1% • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers in a diverse environment – 4% • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions – 5% • Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes – 5% • Take responsibility for their work – 5% Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can we request for the Discovery and Alpha report? We will share the Discovery and Alpha reports to the 5 Shortlisted Suppliers at evaluation stage. 2. Who delivered Alpha and Beta? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 3. Please can you clarify who completed the Discovery and Alpha. The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 4. Please can you clarify who completed the Discovery and Alpha. The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 5. Could you please advise which organisation(s) completed the Discovery and Alpha phases? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 6. Is there an incumbent in place? There are no incumbent Suppliers contracted to deliver any part of the Beta. 7. Who's on the panel? This is commercially confidential information, and due to the confidentiality nature of the procurement process we are unable to divulge any information about the Evaluation panel for this procurement. 8. I can understand that the business requirements of various stakeholder have changed since the applications were put in place 12 years ago. I am very interested in this opportunity, but have concerns that the time to submit a proposal supports incumbents but less so for new suppliers. Given the project assignment does not start until February 2021 then please can you extend the deadline by another week. This will help you access new suppliers, if that is of interest? Due to the time constraints for this procurement, and the requirement for onboarding this Outcomes team by 8th February 2021, we are unable to extend the proposal deadline beyond the agreed dates published. 9. Could we ask who conducted the Discovery and Alpha phases please? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 10. Who delivered the Disco/Alpha phases, please, and is the incumbent permitted to bid for this opportunity? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). The incumbent Supplier is permitted to bid for this opportunity. 11. Do you have a preference for the technology stack or cloud host for this service? Will you consider solutions built on any of AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform? The strategic hosting platform is our internal MoJ cloud. If a product or service requirements mean that it doesn’t fit on to that platform,  AWS is our preferred hosting provider. 12. Please could you give us more details on the scope of the Disco/Alpha, and whether they covered the specifics of the four proposed services? We will share the Discovery and Alpha reports to the 5 Shortlisted Suppliers at evaluation stage. The Discovery and Alpha phases did cover the four proposed services as outlined in Problem to be Solved section of this requirement. 13. Hi, please could you confirm who the incumbent is for both the discovery and alpha phases? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 14. Who is the incumbent supplier? The incumbent supplier for the Discovery and Alpha phases was The Dextrous Web Ltd (dxw). 15. Can you confirm the budget? In the spirit of competition and driving value for money, MOJ do not intend to share the budget for this procurement. 16. Is there an outline budget for this work? In the spirit of competition and driving value for money, MOJ do not intend to share the budget for this procurement. 17. Is there an outline budget for this work? In the spirit of competition and driving value for money, MOJ do not intend to share the budget for this procurement. 18. Was the discovery and alpha work completed by DXW advertised on DOS? We do not remember seeing this requirement advertised. This work was not advertised on DOS. This was procured through another CCS framework. 19. It appears there is no budget yet allocated. Can you advise how much was spent on discovery and alpha as this will help with estimation for resource needed for this beta. It is important, in responding to an enquiry, that potential suppliers reach their own conclusions about the work required in delivering a solution. We expect that all proposed teams and team sizes for the Beta phase will be provided by Suppliers as part of this opportunity. Information on teams may be found here: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/the-team/set-up-a-service-team 20. Proven track record of building products in Typescript, Node, Java and Kotlin." are all 4 languages an essential requirement or can the supplier have delivered in just one or two of the languages? Yes, all four technologies are essential. 21. Can you please confirm the technology stack for the alpha phase? Details of the alpha will be provided to shortlisted suppliers. 22. Is there any access to the existing source code? There will not be access at this stage. 23. Will you be looking at a DevOps / micro service i.e. "build" approach or would an off-the-shelf iterative case management capability based on a cloud platform i.e. "buy" be preferable? We have a preference for a build approach. 24. Will you be looking at a DevOps / micro service i.e. "build" approach or would an off-the-shelf iterative case management capability based on a cloud platform i.e. "buy" be preferable? We have a preference for a build approach. 25. What is the size of the current data in terms of records or document counts and/or sizes? We are not looking to make a like-for-like replacement of the legacy service so we do not view this information to be relevant. 26. Is there an idea of the size of the existing legacy application in terms of lines of source code / modules etc? We are not looking to make a like-for-like replacement of the legacy service so we do not view this information to be relevant. 27. Is this contract just for Beta and Migration? Or will it include ongoing support and maintenance or will that be a separate requirement? This contract is for beta, which includes migration from the legacy service 28. Given one supplier has been working on this project for both the Discovery and Alpha phases how will MOJ ensure a fair selection process? As per the requirements for the CCS DOS4 Framework, this requirement has been published as a competition, and is open to all Suppliers to apply. Suppliers will be evaluated based on our evaluation criteria and our published requirements. 29. Would you be interested in a combined system or are four separate products the goal? What are the interconnectivity requirements? It will be for the selected supplier to provide an outcome which meets business and user needs. The goal is to meet these needs rather than to build four separate products. 30. Are supplier permitted to use multiple examples within each answer? Yes. As per the DOS Framework guidance, Suppliers are required to provide one example for each ‘skills and experience’ requirement. Suppliers may reuse examples across different skills and experience requirements.