Strategic Delivery Partner to Iteratively Develop NHSBT’s Cloud Data Platform’s Reporting Capability

Description

Summary of the work NHSBT require a Strategic Delivery Partner to accelerate implementation and adoption of a Data Platform. The partner will bring their expertise, experience, methods, and frameworks, engage stakeholders to analyse reporting requirements, distil them into Data Platform implementation backlog, and subsequent reports to be created supported by the Strategic Delivery Partner. Expected Contract Length End of March 2024, with checkpoint at end of March 2023 Latest start date Friday 1 July 2022 Budget Range £450,000 – £750,000 per annum pro rata, with commitment to come as the Statement of Works are defined Why the Work is Being Done NHSBT wants to enhance the insight that it can gain from its donors, patients, and operations to underpin and enhance outcomes. NHSBT uses a wide variety of systems that each contain their own datasets. The organisation uses an unsupported platform for some of the analysis and reporting pipelines. Therefore, the need for a next generation reporting platform has led to NHSBT implementing a Data Platform on the Azure stack that will allow the capability to centralise the datasets, as well as cleanse, simplify, and enrich in an automated way, and expose them for a variety of uses. Upon implementation of the technical foundational part of the Data Platform, work will be undertaken to engage with stakeholders to elucidate their requirements, ingest the relevant data into the Data Platform, and expose access to these datasets to allow analysis to be conducted as well as reports/dashboards to be created, in particular allowing the option of self-service analysis for the business. Thus liberating the data for the business stakeholders to use to enhance the efficiency of the organisation in all the various areas. Problem to Be Solved NHSBT is embarking on a new journey to centralise its datasets on a cloud platform. Whilst our internal resources have conducted Data Warehousing-like projects before, this is the first time NHSBT is deploying this to the cloud. NHSBT is looking for a Strategic Delivery Partner to accelerate this delivery, as well as to reduce the risk by using the partner’s experience of processes and best practices, including proven governance and management processes. NHSBT has limited internal resource to gather the requirements for the reporting outcomes that the business stakeholders require, identifying Data Platform requirements (including defining cleansing, transforms, and calculations for cleansed and enriched data viewpoints), and subsequently produce the requested reports and dashboards. The Strategic Delivery Partner will be able to fill out these resource gaps and work alongside NHSBT internal resource, e.g. providing Data Engineers, Business Analysts, and/or Information Analysts as required based on the demand. In summary, the Strategic Delivery Partner will bring their resources, experience, expertise, and best practices to accelerate NHSBT’s transition to a cloud-based centralised data store by reducing the risk and increasing the transfer of current reporting to the new components. Who Are the Users As a business user, I need to be able to access the data gathered from within the organisation, and external datasets, so that I can analyse the data and gain insights. As a business user, I need to have the relevant data ingested into the Data Platform, so that I can create relevant reports/dashboards for ongoing use. As an organisation, we need to identify the required insights and data to be prioritised for ingestion into the supported Data Platform and exposed to business users, so that it will aid in the adoption and roll-out of the Data Platform as the central place for analysis and report/dashboard source for the whole of NHSBT and move off unsupported technology. As a Data Platform Delivery Team, we need a Strategic Delivery Partner to provide resource, expertise, knowledge transfer, proven governance and management processes, and production of relevant support documentation, so that NHSBT can accelerate the roll-out and ongoing maintenance of the Data Platform to business users. As a Data Platform Delivery Team, we need to be able to understand the cleansing and calculations required on data sources, so that a clean, enriched, and trusted dataset can be created for analysis users to use. Work Already Done A Data Platform, with a technology architecture based on previous Proof of Concept work, will be implemented on an existing NHSBT tenancy that has the ability/capability to land source data as raw “bronze” data, to clean and enrich the data as “silver” data, and “gold” data for creating KPIs, dashboards, and undertaking analysis. This will form the basis of the data flow and the source for the analysis, business intelligence, and reporting capabilities. Existing Team Programme Team, Internal Data Engineering team, Delivery Lead, Solution Architect, Product Manager, Head of Blood Tech Continuity and Assurance, Quality Assurance, Business SMEs/Stakeholders, Infrastructure, Networks, Security, Information Governance, and other disciplines as required. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • 1. Demonstrable relevant experience in working with, and handling, large datasets originating from Critical National Infrastructure assets / Mission Critical Systems • 2. Recognised, accredited, and experienced Microsoft Partner • 3. Significant demonstrable experience in transferring knowledge (including requirement elicitation, creation of data ingestion, and transformation pipelines) to the internal teams • 4. Significant demonstrable experience and expertise in building reports and dashboards in similar organisations to NHSBT who have evolving and sometimes ambiguous requirements • 5. Demonstrable experience and expertise in defining business and technical requirements for data ingestion, transformation, and pipelines in similar organisations to NHSBT and in an Azure architecture • 6. Demonstrable Azure expertise, in particular the Microsoft BI stack including PowerBI expertise • 7. Demonstrable experience and expertise to accelerate NHSBT’s reporting and governance capabilities to best practice principles, including process materials and templates • 8. Demonstrable experience and expertise of data-centric requirement elicitations from varying stakeholders, varying stakeholder abilities, and varying and conflicting stakeholder needs • 9. Extensive agile experience, specifically Scrum and Kanban (supported by appropriate accreditations) of delivering projects and programs, with suitably qualified resources Nice to Haves • 1. Significant experience of handling, working with, and transforming national scale healthcare datasets • 2. Experience in healthcare datasets and messaging structures • 3. Proved availability of resources ready to start the delivery from the latest start date shown above Work Location Remote working locations (i.e., from home etc.) and NHSBT locations in England including but not limited to: Filton Blood Centre, 500, North Bristol Park, Filton, Bristol BS34 7QH NHSBT, Fox Den Road, Stoke Gifford, Avon, Bristol BS34 8RR Birmingham Donor Centre, 65 New St, Birmingham B2 4DU West End Donor Centre, 26 Margaret St, Marylebone, London W1W 8NB Working Arrangments The supplier will be required to work remotely and within NHSBT's core working hours. Occasionally a face-to-face meeting may be required (location to suit attendees: London, Birmingham, or Bristol) Work will be conducted primarily via Microsoft Teams Individuals must comply with the NHSBT Expenses Policy which outlines travel and subsistence allowances etc. and will be provided at contract signature. Subject to any changes in policy, and where appropriate, the resources will be expected to provide their own devices for use on NHSBT premises. In this case, NHSBT provides secure access to its network as required. Additional T&Cs As resources are requested, suppliers will provide a minimum of two relevant and available candidates for each role requested by NHSBT within 10 working days. These will be costed against an agreed SFIA based rate card. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • 1. Evidence of experience and expertise of data-centric requirement elicitations from varying stakeholders, varying stakeholder abilities, and varying and conflicting stakeholder needs • 2. Evidence of experience and expertise in defining requirements for data ingestion • 3. Evidence of experience and expertise in defining requirements for data transformation • 4. Evidence of experience and expertise in creating data ingestion and transformation pipelines on the Azure architecture • 5. Evidence of experience and expertise in creating reports and dashboards • 6. Evidence of experience and expertise in Azure components for Data Platforms • 7. Evidence of experience and expertise in Data Bricks • 8. Evidence of experience and expertise in Data Factory • 9. Evidence of experience and expertise in DevOps strategies • 10. Evidence of experience and expertise in branching/development strategies • 11. Evidence of experience and expertise in PowerBI • 12. Evidence of experience and expertise to accelerate NHSBT’s reporting and governance capabilities to best practice principles, including process materials and templates • 13. Evidence of experience in analysis languages, for example SQL, R, Python, PowerQuery • 14. Evidence of experience in knowledge transfer of various topics, including requirement elicitation, creation of data ingestion, and transformation pipelines • 15. Evidence of experience in delivering incremental value using agile frameworks, specifically Scrum and Kanban • 16. Evidence of experience in designing and delivering event-sourcing patterns Cultural Fit Criteria • 1. Embrace, in word and deed, diversity, equality, and inclusion culture and ways of working • 2. Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • 3. Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • 4. Collaborative ways of working throughout all aspects of delivery • 5. Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes • 6. Take responsibility for their work • 7. Share knowledge and experience with other team members Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Could the Authority share the high-level procurement timelines? Including Shortlisting, ITT, Presentation and results? Stage 1 DateFinal Clarifications 27th May 2022Stage 1 Closing Date 3rd June 2022Evaluation and shortlisting of suppliers w/c 6th June 2022Feedback issued to unsuccessful suppliers w/c 6th June 2022Stage 2 DateInvite issued to shortlisted suppliers w/c 13th June 2022Evaluation and shortlisting of suppliers w/c 27th June 2022Supplier presentations (if required) w/c 4th July 2022Contract award 11th July 2022Standstill period 11th July to 21st July 2022Please note, this timetable is subject to change 2. Please can you confirm if the submission date is the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday, Friday, 3 June. Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022. 3. As it is the Extended Jubilee Bank Holiday Weekend from Thursday 02.06.2022 and the Bid Deadline is Friday 03.06.2022. We request an extension to Tuesday 07.06.2022 for submission. Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022. 4. The deadline falls on a public holiday. Practically this means suppliers will need to submit responses by the 1st (less than the agreed 2 week period) or work over the bank holiday which from a wellbeing perspective is not acceptable. Will you consider extending the deadline? – this can be done by removing the advert and releasing a copy with a new two week response period. Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022 as per rules from the DOS framework. 5. Just noticed that the deadline is a bank holiday, has this been taken into account? Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022 as per rules from the DOS framework. 6. Due to Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd of June both being bank holidays, we would request an extension is necessary to allow the standard 10 working days for a DOS response to be submitted. Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022 as per rules from the DOS framework. 7. As this stage 1 bid is due over the extended bank holiday can you please consider an extension Unfortunately, due to limitations within the Digital Marketplace and the strict timescales we are working towards on this project we are unable to extend the closing date of this tender. The tender closing date will remain Friday 3rd June 2022 as per rules from the DOS framework. 8. Can you please confirm if you already have a data platform in mind. Would you be open to using a data platform that is already hosted on Azure as a starting point? Yes, we have done a PoC on Azure Data Lake and Azure Data factory to populate. 9. Can you please confirm if you already have a data platform in mind. Would you be open to using a data platform that is already hosted on Azure as a starting point? Yes, we have done a PoC on Azure Data Lake and Azure Data factory to populate. 10. Is off-shoring allowed? Yes, off-shoring person resource is allowed, provided the data does not leave the platform 11. Is there any requirement for SC-clearance/SC-eligible or will BPSS cleared staff suffice? No 12. What are the required Roles for this project? The specific roles will be defined as part of NHSBT's discovery and communicated at the next phase. For the purposes of the tender response please provide specifications for a common / usual deployment of this nature 13. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? Deputy Chief Information Officer, Product Manager, Head of Data Engineering, Programme Lead 14. Will stage 1 scores be carried forward to stage ? No 15. Hi. Could you please confirm if you have already implemented Azure and also have many business users this will impact? Yes, implemented Azure, NHSBT is an organisation of ~6,000 people 16. Who built the Proof of Concept and the Data platform and is the PoC already hosted in Azure? NHSBT built the PoC/Data Platform in partnership with Microsoft, already hosted in Azure 17. Are there currently any 3rd party suppliers involved in the NHSBT Data platform services? Not currently 18. Is the current Digital Delivery Partner planned to be involved in the R&M of the Platform? No 19. Are you looking for a single case study for the essential criteria as per standard stage 1s No, it can be multiple, at least one 20. Please could you clarify what you mean by “similar organisations to NHSBT”? How would you characterise a “similar” organisation in the context of this ITT? Delivered to an organisation size of ~6,000 people, ideally healthcare organisation 21. Please can you provide information on the what work has been done to date on the Data platform? Ongoing work to deliver a Foundation platform in Azure for the Data Platform 22. Can you please confirm who the incumbent(s) are for the current Data Platform work? None 23. Can you please provide examples of the types of ‘varying stakeholders’ you have? Clinical, production, manufacturing, testing, supply chain, medical, technical, human resources, finance, etc. 24. Can you confirm what systems and datasets are in scope? All systems within NHSBT, initial focus on core blood system, others include national transplant database, patient system, human resource system, finance system, etc. 25. Can you please confirm if your use of the term ‘Azure Stack’ means that your applications are not hosted on premise? No, some source systems are on-premise, Data Platform is Azure 26. When you refer to a ‘similar organisation’ in a few of the questions, are you referring to a similar organisation in terms of scale, or in terms of the type of work? Primarily scale, ideally also sector as well 27. Please can you clarify how you are defining “healthcare datasets” in this context (in the nice-to-have questions). For example, is this datasets with patient data? Or might it also be operational/staffing related NHS data? Donor, patient, supply chain primarily. Secondarily the rest that you have listed 28. Recognised, accredited, and experienced Microsoft Partner – will ‘yes’ suffice, or is 10 word explanation needed? Preference of short explanation 29. We are assuming that we will have access to the appropriate solutions architects within NHSBT so that we can ensure we are up to speed with the systems. Please could you confirm this assumption is correct? Yes, assistance to helping understanding our existing infrastructure 30. We are assuming that we will have access to the appropriate solutions architects within NHSBT so that we can ensure we are up to speed with the systems. Please could you confirm this assumption is correct? Yes, assistance to helping understanding our existing infrastructure 31. Can you please confirm that you wish bidders to follow the guidance for responding to questions with a single case study?We are concerned about how to respond to the final question: Proved experience of resources ready to start the delivery from the latest start date. This doesn’t lend itself to a case study response – please can you advise what you are seeking here? Multiple examples / case studies are suitable as long as any word limits set by DOS are not breached. The response needs to provide confidence that the organisation is able to provide suitably experienced and / or qualified staff for the start of the project. We are looking to mitigate the risk of organisations providing CVs, and representations, in the bidding phase that are very distinct from the resources that are deployed onto the project. 32. Will the Strategic Delivery Partner, at any point, be exposed to or process any Patient Level Information, or will all in-scope datasets be pre-anonymised/pseudonymised? Primarily this will be identifiable information (donor, patient etc.) 33. Will data from Critical National Infrastructure assets / Mission Critical Systems be available offline or is there a requirement to access these systems directly? The data ingestion from Critical National Infrastructure will come from copies, these data will then be available via the Data Platform for analysis 34. Please describe the current proof-of-concept solution, and whether this approach will meet NHSBT needs? Proof of concept is being stood down, Data Platform is being stood up, hosted in Azure (Data Lake etc.) 35. For the question “9. Extensive agile experience, specifically Scrum and Kanban (supported by appropriate accreditations) of delivering projects and programs, with suitably qualified resources.”, what “appropriate accreditations” are expected? Those accreditations associated with Scrum and Kanban proficiency e.g., PSK1, relevant GDS Academy accreditations or equivalent. 36. In the essential skills and experience section, 2. Experience in healthcare datasets and messaging structures – please can you define what you mean by messaging structures?Many thanks Experience of dataset returns, e.g. SUS or equivalent large scale data returns, and/or experience of messaging standards, e.g. HL7, FHIR 37. Is the work that’s already been done limited to a Proof of Concept Data Platform? If so, can you share the details of this proof of concept. If there are elements of the Data Platform in live, what are they? We will provide details of the POC once the contract has been awarded. 38. If known, what is your desired target architecture? This is an evolving view and will be informed by this piece of work. Any current positions will be made available upon the contract start date 39. The proposal criteria measure experience in Databricks, but what about Azure Synapse? Azure Synapse experience is desireable 40. What’s the size and experience of the existing team, by role? What will be the nature and extent of their involvement going forward? Roles of individual people as listed in the original requirements specification as well as team of 5 Data Engineers. All internal teams will be involved ongoing in partnership with the new Partner to support and build out the Data Platform 41. What are the key deadlines for the programme? Data Platform will be in place before the Partner is onboarded, initial delivery reviewed at the March 2023 checkpoint, continued delivery to March 2024 42. The information provided suggests requirements for both regular and ad-hoc reporting. Does NHSBT have any data science / ML / AI ambitions? We will share strategic view of the direction of travel for skills etc. upon project initiation 43. Can you give us any information on the data sources: number, volume and size, file/database types, frequency of changes/ingest, quality, complexity etc.? Partner to discover this as part of the initial SoWs that are defined, priority areas will be defined from the discoveries. Ongoing scope can include priority-identified areas across the organisation