Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) Live

Description

Summary of the work DHSC, with its Delivery Partner Skills for Care are commissioning resources to continue the development and evolution of the ASC-WDS service. Skills for Care require the provision of specific technical roles within the multi-disciplined team with the skills outlined in the following sections. Expected Contract Length 2 years with a 6 month extension clause Latest start date Monday 3 October 2022 Budget Range The budget is fixed and will not exceed £1.2m. (Capped Time and Materials) Why the Work is Being Done The ASC-WDS service helps DHSC carry out their responsibilities with regard to the adult social care sector. The data gathered by the service feeds workforce models that allow DHSC to understand the size and structure of the adult social care sector and its workforce. The service also evidences issues affecting the sector e.g. recruitment and retention, pay levels, qualification levels, effects of the pandemic, etc. The service will also play a key role in monitoring the effectiveness of the three-year social care reform programme of work. The service is relied upon by DHSC policy leads and analysts. Problem to Be Solved ASC-WDS is run to meet the 14 GDS standards and the team deliver in a fully Agile way. Over the duration of this contract the service will need to be maintained and developed to meet known and new user and business needs. The service must be responsive to evolving government policy and a sector that is dynamic – where new job roles emerge, and new qualifications are developed. We also want to ensure we continue to learn from users and iterate existing features that they rely upon. The service ultimately delivers insight to DHSC, Government and other stakeholders. Who Are the Users Users of the ASC-WDS service are providers of Adult Social Care (ASC) in England – this includes those regulated by CQC as well as services that are not CQC regulated (including organisers of social care such as local authorities). ASC providers range from very small independent providers to large scale national providers. Within these ASC providers there are different user types e.g. those who need to collate and input data and those who need to use the management information that the service generates. The service needs to meet the accessibility needs and digital skill levels of a broad range of users. Early Market Engagement Market engagement is longstanding in this area. The NMDS-SC online system (legacy service) collected data from November 2007 to July 2019. Engaging with users has formed part of the daily work of Skills for Care for fifteen years. Skills for Care therefore has a lot of subject knowledge with regard to engaging with the market - both in terms of organisations inputting into the service and those using the intelligence derived from the service. We have been part of two discoveries which also provided valuable information on our users. We follow a user-centred approach with a full-time user researcher forming part of the team. We are responsive to user needs both in terms of new functionality and iterating existing user journeys. We have passed assessments with GDS and NHS X. Work Already Done Since the two discoveries about the service (over 2017/18), the team have taken the service through Alpha, private beta, public beta and in January 2021, we became a fully Live service after successfully passing our assessment with NHS X. As a team we remain committed to following the 14 GDS standards and taking a user-centred approach to everything that we do. There are exciting times ahead for the service as we work with DHSC on the social care reform program and continue to meet evolving user needs and iterate our key journeys. Existing Team The existing team comprises of a Service Owner, Delivery Manager, Product Owner User researcher Full Stack Developer Subject matter experts. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Expert, proven full-stack development skillset, using Gov Paas and AWS • Expert, proven knowledge of designing data models and working at the database level with Postgres. • Proven knowledge of core programming concepts such as MVC (Model View Controller) and Object-Oriented design. • Experience working with the NodeJS framework • Proven ability to define and create testing strategies and automate the testing of code. • Experience creating bespoke web applications and secure authenticated APIs • Significant experience and expertise in Javascript using ES9 • Experience and expertise in using Angular and TypeScript • Experience in writing WCAG AA compliant templates • Proven experience of resourcing and delivering projects using the agile project management methodology. • Experience working with GDS frontend toolkit • Experience working with GDS standard technologies including GOV.UK Cloud Platform as a Service, and Notify. • Experience writing code that meets the GDS standards. • Experience of using Open source technologies • Experience of using GitHub • Experience of using and deploying AWS alongside PaaS • Experience of using Cloudfoundry • Proven knowledge and experience of developing services with effective User Interaction / Experience (UI) designs. • Proven knowledge and ability to define and implement user-centric content and content structure Nice to Haves • Knowledge or experience of User Research methods and practises • Knowledge or experience of Content Design • Knowledge and experience of developing services within an adult social care context and setting. • Knowledge and experience of wider health and social care data led projects • Knowledge of working with Circle CI, CI/CD • Knowledge of ORMs i.e Sequelize • Knowledge of Docker Work Location Skills for Care are based at Skills for Care office (LEEDS: West Gate, 6 Grace Street, Leeds LS1 2RP). The successful supplier will be able to work from their own premises with some travel to Leeds if required. Working Arrangments The supplier can be based anywhere but would be expected to be able to easily work in Leeds alongside Skills for Care's Product Owner, Delivery Manager and technical experts when required . Equally the supplier should be able to accommodate 2 - 3 Skills for Care staff working at their premises when required. We aim to be one team working in a combination of co-located and virtual arrangements using technologies and tools to underpin collaborative working. They would be included within rituals and attend Daily Stand-ups, Retrospectives, sprint planning etc and operate within scrum teams. Security Clearance Individuals /Teams must fulfil satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Checks (DBS) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria • Technical knowledge and experience (outlined) together with understanding the requirements • Approach and methodology (Incl. Agile PM, Kanban, GDS Standards) • How the process and end deliverables will meet the user needs. • Timeframe estimation • Use of tools and techniques for working collaboratively over multiple sites. • Team structure (including operating within an existing multi-disciplined team) • Value for Money and Pricing Cultural Fit Criteria • Experience working with public sector and arms length bodies. • Work transparently, collaboratively and as an extension to our team throughout the Beta. • Work flexibly and have the ability to adapt to specific cultures. • Co-locate as part of a multi-disciplined team where appropriate • Work collaboratively across multiply locations using relevant tools and technologies. • Attend ceremonies and meetings. Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Are the current Product Owner and Delivery Manager roles at Skills for Care full time / dedicated to the ASC-WDS service? Both roles are fulfilled by full time Skills for Care staff. They spend most their time on ASC-WDS but also work across Skills for Care as needed. 2. Could you give an overview of the rough team structure / roles you’re expecting a supplier to provide to complement / augment your existing team? We are looking for developers to work as part our multi-disciplinary existing team 3. You list user research and content design under “Nice-to-have skills and experience”. Do you envisage suppliers providing UR and CD team members? No, we do not require these roles to be provided by the supplier just an understanding of the importance of these roles within a multi-disciplinary team. 4. Do you currently have (or ever had) an external supplier providing the required technical roles for this contract? we have an incumbent supplier 5. Which external suppliers have been involved at any point since Discovery? Sopra Steria and Made Tech 6. If this contract is awarded to a new supplier, would they be replacing any existing suppliers, or would they be in addition to existing suppliers? The new Supplier would be replacing the incumbent Supplier 7. For the supplier that would be awarded this contract, what resources do you expect them to provide throughout the contract term. Please confirm job titles, quantities of each, durations for each etc. We appreciate that you may not have exact figures at this stage, but estimates will suffice. The contract is to provide full time developers x 3 to begin with but must have the ability to upscale or downscale as the need arises. 8. Who is the incumbent supplier? Made Tech