TLOT10191 - Local Transport Data Collection Alpha and Private Beta

Description

Work done so far Between November 2023 and February 2024, a Discovery phase led by Lagom Strategy explored how DfT collects data from local authorities and transport operators, focusing on 13 statistical surveys submitted by ~300 local authorities. The goal was to assess the feasibility of a new data collection service to modernise existing processes. Outputs included: a backlog of user needs, technology evaluation, user-tested prototypes, and recommendations for future digital development. Key challenges identified, inconsistent adherence to standards, manual processes and data quality concerns, variable user experience and digital confidence, poor contact management and system inconsistency. The Discovery recommended a centralised, modular, user-centred platform to streamline data collection, improve standards, and reduce burden. It also proposed testing key assumptions in Alpha, including, Whether user-centred design improves data quality, if CRM-like contact management is essential, whether existing DfT tools can be scaled, if Road Haulage Survey infrastructure can be reused. A pre-Alpha phase followed to address urgent funding data needs, resulting in an MVP platform focused on local funding data submissions. Key work included, building a digital front-end for Mayoral Combined Authorities, reusing Road Haulage Survey code (PHP, Symfony), admin functionality to manage users and sign-offs. The Alpha phase will evaluate the MVP’s technical feasibility, usability, and scalability. The new supplier will assess, technical gaps and opportunities, reusability of the MVP, whether to continue building on the current solution or pursue alternatives. The MVP will remain live during Alpha, supported by the current supplier. The new supplier will be expected to assume full responsibility for maintaining the MVP alongside progressing further development in Private Beta. Which phase the project is in Alpha Existing team • Head of Local Transport Statistics - responsible for delivering the project and overseeing its implementation • Deputy Director, TRENDS – provides strategic oversight of the project, ensuring it aligns with broader departmental objectives and policy priorities. • Digital business partners – responsible for oversight of digital projects, ensuring compliance with digital and technology strategies within DfT Digital architects – provides technical guidance and advice on digital projects, ensuring the platform aligns with best practices for architecture, security, and interoperability. • Data engineering team – provides guidance on data infrastructure, data pipelines, and integration with the DfT’s Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environment. Ensures data is ingested, stored, and processed efficiently. • Cybersecurity and compliance teams – ensures the platform meets all security, GDPR, and government data protection requirements, mitigating risks related to data breaches or non-compliance (e.g. Architectural Change Board) • Head of Local Transport Portfolio Analysis – key consumer of funding data, using insights from the platform to inform decision-making and financial planning. • Other statisticians – responsible for administering and managing statistical data collection processes, ensuring data quality and consistency. • Other policy officials – consumers of funding and statistical data, using insights to shape policy decisions and advise on survey/funding collection methodologies • Local authorities and transport operators - the primary data providers, responsible for submitting information through the platform. Their experience and feedback will be crucial for refining the system. Address where the work will be done Work can be undertaken remotely however we expect the supplier to work on-site when required (Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Rd, Westminster, London SW1P 4DR). Working arrangements The supplier is expected to work Monday to Friday and must be available/contactable during core hours, 10am to 4pm. Expenses must align with DfT Travel and Subsistence policy, with no expenses incurred within the M25 corridor with all other proposed travel approved by the buyer prior to mobilisation. Suppliers can provide their preferred working arrangements and exact milestones will be agreed with the supplier when appointed. Weekly status updates (teams meeting, email) detailing achievements of key milestones and issues that may impact timescales and cost should be provided. It is expected that the research questions should be fully answered in a final presentation and report. The project should be completed in line with the GDS Service Manual: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual. Provide more information about your security requirements: Security Check (SC) Latest start date 2025-07-01 Enter the expected contract length: 2 years Extension period: 1 year Special terms and conditions DfT requires the supplier to conform with the following standards: • Technology Code of Practice • Digital Service Standard • Government Digital Standards • Secure by Design • Cloud Security principles • Open Standards principles • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines • Open-Source Code • When code should be open or closed • DfT architectural principles (shared ahead of contract award) • Accessibility requirements • NCSC guidelines • Publishing development code on DfT external GitHub Shortlisted suppliers will be requested to complete the DfT’s Risk Ledger Assessment. Please note, supplementary documentation including the Discovery Report and Personas is available on request. Please email Ollie.Hughes@dft.gov.uk Write the term or acronym: DfT - Department for Transport Write the term or acronym: GDS - Government Digital Services Write the term or acronym: LA - Local Authority Write the term or acronym: GCP - Google Cloud Platform Write the term or acronym: CRM - Customer Relationship Management Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: £1,000,000 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 The Department for Transport (DfT) requires a delivery partner with strong expertise in user-centred digital services that meet Government Digital Service (GDS) and Secure by Design standards. This contract covers Alpha and private Beta phases of a digital platform to improve how transport-related data is submitted, managed, and used, serving users including local authorities, transport operators, and DfT teams. The platform must support a wide range of data collection needs, from scheduled statistical surveys and recurring funding returns to urgent, one-off collections in response to policy or operational priorities. Flexibility is essential to meet real-world government demands and adapt to a dynamic policy and funding landscape. Alpha will test and iterate ideas from Discovery and pre-Alpha work that developed a minimum viable product focused on financial data collection. Beta will build and prove a live platform with real collections. Key objectives include: A central platform for surveys, returns, and funding submissions to reduce fragmentation and admin burden, Self-serve tools for DfT teams to launch/adapt collections without developer input, A user-centred design that meets evolving needs, Higher data quality via structured inputs, validation, and standards, Integration with DfT’s wider data stack (e.g. GCP), Scalability and sustainability to allow the platform to support a growing number of use cases, Compliance with GDS, accessibility, security, and Secure by Design principles. The supplier will: Review Discovery and pre-Alpha outputs, Prototype and test solutions, Build a user-friendly interface for data submission and tracking, Enable DfT staff to configure and launch collections, Embed CRM tools for engagement and issue tracking, Build real-time validation, Ensure secure scalable architecture aligned with DfT governance, Produce a roadmap with documentation, delivery phases, and resourcing, meet delivery milestones tied to ministerial deadlines. Where the supplied staff will work London Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Who the organisation using the products or services is DfT will own the solution and serve as its primary user, with analytical and policy teams relying on it for data collection, contact management, and submission oversight. Outside of DfT, data providers from local government authorities and transport operators will use the system to allocate data completion tasks and submit data, with senior financial staff in these authorities’ providing approval of data submissions through appropriate approval mechanisms. Suppliers will be required to deliver within the agreed timeframe and budget and work in a collaborative, agile manner drawing on GDS best practices and designing solutions with users and stakeholders throughout. DfT reserves the right to de-scope or re-prioritise objectives to ensure the project remains aligned with strategic priorities. Why the work is being done The Department frequently needs to conduct manual, sometimes ad-hoc, data collection activities with local transport operators and authorities, outside of admin or open data collections. These collections serve operational, policy and analytical needs, including resilience response. A DfT Strategic Enabler is Science, Innovation,Technology and Data, and this project reflects efforts to improve data collection using modern digital tools. A more efficient system will reduce burdens on local partners and support the Department’s ability to monitor transport performance, infrastructure, and environmental impacts-key SoS priorities. The 2024 English Devolution White Paper reinforces the need for reform, advocating a move away from fragmented reporting requirements. This project supports those ambitions by enabling streamlined data-collection across policy, statistics, and crisis response. DfT must maintain accurate data on funded schemes for transparency, audit readiness, and compliance with public spending rules, as well as evolving standards like UK GDPR. This system will also support Official Statistics and provide data for policy development, research, public queries, and legal records. Surveys in scope are listed in the Discovery report. These vary in frequency and topic. Current tools like KENDA-SmartSurvey, and Excel, lack integration with DfT’s GCP and are inefficient, inflexible, and not scalable for urgent, bespoke collections. This project will enable statisticians and analysts to rapidly launch new surveys, monitor responses in real time, and manage collections independently. Legacy systems will be replaced by a secure, flexible, cloud-integrated platform designed to better meet user needs. Alpha will address the core pain points identified in Discovery, with a focus on developing a scalable, user-centred solution. We expect Alpha to complete within 12–16 weeks, with Private Beta focusing early development on high-priority features to support Scale-up. The business problem you need to solve DfT relies on data to inform policy, target funding, and produce Official Statistics. Our current approach is resource-intensive and fragmented, relying on multiple disconnected systems, surveys and emails. This results in inconsistent data quality, duplication, limited responsiveness to emerging priorities, and high admin costs for both DfT and data providers. To address this, we are developing a flexible, centralised data collection platform for statistical and funding submissions. The platform will reduce burden, improve data quality via built-in validation, and enable faster deployment of new collections. It will support both statistical and financial use cases and adapt to future needs. Manual processing is a major challenge. Automation will reduce workload by introducing, real-time validation and structured data entry, historical data comparison (via GCP backend), integration with DfT’s analytics-environment (BigQuery). We aim to include self-service functionality, a form builder with pre-populated fields, conditional logic, and audit trails and save/resume and user assignment. The platform must also support provide- needs, multi-user submissions, access-level-controls, account management, version control, export options, validation feedback, and auto-save. Maintaining contact-data is another challenge. We propose, a contact management tool with role-based access and audit trails, automated reminders and notifications. The platform must scale, integrate securely with DfT systems and treat submissions as the source of truth. We expect submitted data to pipeline into BigQuery via established DfT data engineering patterns, supporting secure and efficient data reuse and prepopulation. Discovery/pre-Alpha work recommended building on the Road Haulage Survey model. Suppliers should assess this approach and continue it where appropriate, enhancing integration with GCP. Future design must support large-scale, secure data storage and evolving collection needs. First user type: UN01: As an internal system user, I need to monitor survey completions so that I know which data providers we need to chase. UN02: As an internal system user, I need to have an up-to-date list of the relevant contacts for each survey so that I know we will reach the right person to complete it. UN03: As an internal system user, I need to be able to make changes to existing surveys so that I can quickly get the survey ready to send out. UN04: As an internal system user, I need to be able to set up a new survey so that I can so that I can easily respond to a need for new data. UN18: As a data user, I need to export the data into other formats so that I can report on the data collected. UN19: As a data user, I need to access a granular break down of the data (e.g. bus operator, as well as local authority), so that I can make the best funding and policy decisions. UN23: As a data user, I need to access data from different surveys in one place, so that I can see trends across different surveys and compare and combine the data. UN32: As a data provider, I need access to the data we submitted the previous year so that I can use it to help with completing this year's survey. UN33: As a data provider, I need to download a copy of our responses so that we can save this for future reference. UN34: As a data provider, I need to allow multiple people to contribute to the survey, so that the relevant person can provide information they hold. UN35: As a data provider, I need to specify which questions other users need to complete so that they know which questions are relevant to them. UN37: As a data provider, I need advanced notice of what type of data will be requested so that I can prepare ahead of time. UN39: As a data provider, I need to save a partially completed response so that I can complete it at my own pace