Consolidated ERP Solution: Unity Programme - Technology (including ERP) & Technical Delivery Partner

Description

In March 2021, Government Business Services launched the 'Shared Services Strategy for Government (SSfG): 2022 and Beyond'. This strategy created the concept of five clusters of departments, each cluster sharing a common set of process, common cloud-based ERP and ancillary systems and a single shared service centre to deliver corporate services across Finance, Procurement, Human Resources (HR) and Payroll. This direction has led each cluster to set up a programme team with associated governance and steering oversight to: 1. Combine the process design and operational model thinking to deliver a centralised single shared service model; and 2. Define and deliver a standard systems architecture that can support the in-scope business process (Finance, Procurement, HR and Payroll). The Unity Cluster programme has been commissioned to deliver the SSfG strategy for the following Departments and their associated agencies and relevant Arms Length Bodies (ALBs): • HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC); • Department for Transport (DfT); and • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The objectives of the Unity programme are to: • Design and operate a centralised Finance, Procurement, HR and Payroll shared service function; • Operate a standard set of processes that are fit for the purposes of all Unity Departments; • Design, build, deploy and operate a standard, single set of systems that are scaled to the future and that deliver performant services underpinning the business processes; and • Migrate data from the Unity Departments' existing systems to the new target Unity systems such that each business process continues to operate without disruption. To achieve this, each department in scope will undertake the following: 1. Business Transformation - deliver the business change to move existing business process & transactional services to a new standard process catalogue in a shared service function, called Unity Business Services ('UBS'); and 2. Technical Transformation - deliver the technical change to move existing technical services and associated data to a new software solution, the 'Unity cluster architecture', that will be supported and managed by a dedicated technical team named Unity Technical Services ('UTS') and its technical partners. This procurement seeks to procure the goods (i.e. Software) and services (i.e. technical professional services) that are required to enable the Technical Transformation of the Unity cluster. The Business Transformation and associated change management, as described above, is NOT in scope for this procurement. The Authority is seeking to procure a combined single instance Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Solution along with a Technical Delivery Partner delivering systems integration services, on behalf of the departments within the Unity Programme, to ensure the delivery of high quality, value for money (VfM), shared Finance, Procurement, HR and Payroll services which meet the needs of service users. In order to meet the objectives of the SSfG, outcomes and user needs of the Departments within the Unity Programme, the Programme is seeking to purchase a Cloud-based service, leveraging the capabilities offered by a SaaS ERP platform and associated technologies. Lot 1: HMRC is the contracting authority for this procurement and will utilise the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation (CPN) to carry out this procurement exercise in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). For the purposes of this procurement, the requirements have been subdivided into two categories. The first of these categories relates to software, which covers the provision of a software package that delivers all the functional and non-functional requirements. The second category pertains to a Technical Delivery Partner (TDP) for system integration, which is required to support the in-scope Unity cluster organisations to transition from their legacy technologies to the new Unity Technology Solution, to be provided by the aforementioned software supplier. HMRC is aware that the organisations who seek to provide software services are likely to be different to those who provide system integration services. Additionally, given the size, scale, and business criticality of the requirements, HMRC is intending to establish strategic working relationships with the suppliers leading delivery of the services (TDP and software). HMRC intends to establish two contracts via this one joint procurement exercise: one system integration (TDP) contract and one software contract. Suppliers are required to submit a joint bid for this procurement and HMRC will only accept consortium bids comprising of one primary software supplier and one system integrator (TDP). Bids that propose alternative contracting models (e.g. a prime contractor model) will not be accepted, however, HMRC reserves the right to implement an alternative contracting model if it is not satisfied with the progress/outcome of joint negotiations including regarding the collaboration agreement, or where it sees merit in doing so. An initial contract term of 5 years (60 months) is proposed for the system integration services (TDP) contract, with a 2-year extension option, allowing for a maximum term of 7 years (84 months). For the software contract, the contract will possess an initial term 10 years (120 months), with extension options of 3 years (36 months) and 2 years (24 months) respectively; this provides a maximum duration of 15 years (180 months). The estimated contract value for the system integration services (TDP) contract is £100m - £115m, whilst the estimated contract value for the software agreement is £355m - £385m. Suppliers are asked to familiarise themselves with the structure of the CPN, which will be applied within this procurement as follows: Stage 1: Suppliers are asked to complete the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ), which will constitute a request to participate in this procurement process. All SQ submissions will be evaluated in line with a scoring matrix (please see further details in procurement documents) and a selection of suppliers will be shortlisted to participated in the subsequent stages of this procurement process. HMRC intends to shortlist a maximum of five bidders at this stage (please see further details in the procurement documents). Stage 2: Those suppliers who have been shortlisted following the conclusion of Stage 1 will be invited to submit initial tenders in line with the requirements of the procurement documentation, which will be provided as part of the invitation to submit initial tenders (ITSIT). All tenders submitted at this stage are to be deemed capable of acceptance and the Authority reserves the right to evaluate these initial tenders and award the contract without any subsequent negotiations. Stage 3: Following the submission of initial tenders, it is the intention of the Authority to conduct negotiations with all bidders. The practicalities of these negotiations will be outlined within the procurement documentation for those organisations who are invited to submit an initial tender. HMRC reserves the right to reduce the number of tenders to be negotiated by applying the award criteria, either prior to and/or during the negotiation phase of the procurement; the use of this approach will be confirmed within the documentation provided by the authority at stage 2 of this process. Stage 4: Following the conclusion of negotiations, bidders will be invited to submit final tenders. These will be evaluated in line with the award criteria to determine the winning bidder(s), subject to agreement on all contractual terms and government approvals. HMRC recognises that there is a limited market offering relevant software solutions, when compared to those who may be able to provide system integration support. System integration providers will not be entitled to submit a bid alongside more than one software supplier, however, there will not be a restriction on the number of system integration providers with whom a software supplier may elect to work alongside for the purposes of submitting a joint bid response to this procurement. HMRC intends to invite up to five of the highest-scoring suppliers, following evaluation of their SQ responses, to submit initial tenders for this procurement. To ensure that the procurement process enables the authority to explore a range of technological solutions, a maximum of three requests to participate will be shortlisted from suppliers who are proposing to utilise the same ERP software solution to deliver the services, regardless of the proposed deployment method and/or configuration. The other organisations to be shortlisted will be sourced from those who possess the highest total SQ score and are proposing the use of an alternative ERP software solution to that which has been proposed by the three organisations whom have already been shortlisted. Additional information: Timelines: Indicative Procurement Timelines are set out within the Selection Questionnaire procurement documents. Contract Structure: Please see Procurement Documents for more information on the contract structure.