External partner for Lewisham Council’s Resident Experience programme (Lot 1)

Description

Summary of the work We are seeking an external partner for up to six months to support us with the discovery and design phases of our organisation-wide Resident Experience programme. The successful supplier for Lot 1 will deliver a series of cross-Council reviews and work collaboratively with internal resources to develop key programme enablers. Expected Contract Length Up to six months Latest start date Monday 21 March 2022 Budget Range £80,000 to £100,000 (split between Lots 1 and 2) Why the Work is Being Done Improving resident experience is one of Lewisham Council’s key strategic priorities. Our Chief Executive is the sponsor of the Resident Experience programme, which is an organisation-wide initiative for driving transformation and culture change, user-focused service design and digital innovation across all services. The ultimate aim of the programme is to improve outcomes and advance equality for all Lewisham residents by understanding their needs, listening to and learning from their experiences (both directly and through insights from our members and frontline staff) and focusing on what matters most to them. Problem to Be Solved Our objectives for the discovery and design phases of the programme are to: - Understand our current position in relation to resident experience and identify opportunities for improvement (including optimising access channels, end-to-end resident journeys and delivery models) - Develop the organisational capacity, capability and tools for change - Define our future vision for resident experience and set out what we need to do collectively to achieve it These objectives will be delivered through four core workstreams (WS1: Current State, WS2: Programme Enablers, WS3: Future State and WS4: Programme Management), with a series of work packages sitting beneath them. Lot 1 covers WS1 and WS2. The external partner will be required to directly manage the delivery of four detailed cross-Council reviews and gather robust quantitative and qualitative data to inform our evidence base for change. They will also need to provide us with appropriate specialist support to create a set of resident personas and user stories and further develop our service design methodology. Who Are the Users We have developed a clear set of definitions to guide our work: - Residents are people we serve as a Council, whether they live, work, learn in or visit the borough - An interaction is the way that residents engage with the services we provide, from access to outcome - A service is a set of processes and activities undertaken by the Council to deliver an outcome - Resident experience is the sum of all the different interactions that a resident has with the Council and, most importantly, their perception of those interactions These definitions will be tested and further refined during the discovery and design phases of the programme. Work Already Done Work to develop the programme has been led jointly by key service areas (IT & Digital; Insight, Transformation & Organisational Development; Corporate Customer Relations and Programme Management Office). Engagement with members and senior officers between May and November 2021 generated a significant amount of feedback, which was critical in shaping the focus of the discovery and design phases. A detailed approach for the delivery of these phases was agreed by the Chief Executive in December 2021. Existing Team Governance arrangements are in place, with the SRO (Chief Executive), Deputy SRO (Director of Planning), Strategic Leads (IT & Digital, Insight, Transformation & Organisational Development, Corporate Customer Relations and the Programme Management Office) and Programme Manager all appointed. Additional internal resources (equivalent to 2 FTE) have also been identified. The external partner will be expected to work collaboratively with these resources as part of a multi-disciplinary programme delivery team. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Demonstrable understanding of the local authority context in which the work will be delivered (i.e. relationship between the Council, residents and the wider community; political environment) • Recent experience (i.e. within previous twelve months) and proven track record of achievement in undertaking relevant work at a similar scale • Demonstrable application of the core capabilities required (including business analysis, user research and service design) • Specific experience of successful user research with seldom-heard individuals and groups • Specific experience of agile delivery, including within an overall hybrid project and programme methodology • Evidence of previous successful handover of work and delivery of assets to clients Nice to Haves • Experience of identifying and developing service and organisational improvements that create efficiencies and reduce costs • Experience of supporting sustainable culture change and new ways of working Work Location Remotely and from our main Council office (Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London, SE6 4RU). Working Arrangments Some flexible and/or in-person working may be required (e.g. to conduct effective user research or engagement with members and residents), but most activity will take place remotely within standard hours. Microsoft Teams should be used as the preferred communication tool. Additional T&Cs There are two Lots available for this opportunity (external partner for Lewisham Council’s Resident Experience programme). Suppliers can choose to bid for Lot 1 only, Lot 2 only or both Lots 1 and 2. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology for meeting the specified requirements • Proposed team structure, including skills/experience/accreditations of team members and how individuals will work together • Opportunities for and approach to knowledge transfer and upskilling of Lewisham Council staff, including both programme delivery team members and wider service areas • Ability to deliver within the required timescales, mobilise the team quickly and scale up and down resources as needed Cultural Fit Criteria • Ability to lead and work collaboratively with internal resources as part of a multi-disciplinary programme delivery team • Ability to engage effectively with the wider programme team and stakeholders across the organisation • Outcome focused, with an ability to work at pace • Strong commitment to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 40% Cultural fit 10% Price 50% Questions from Suppliers 1. Please could you confirm the budget split between the two lots – should we assume £40k-£50k for lot 1 and £40k-£50k for lot 2? There is no formally agreed budget split between Lots 1 and 2. However, the resourcing requirements for Lot 1 are likely to be larger than Lot 2, so we would expect this to be reflected in the quotes provided by prospective suppliers. 2. Regarding question “Specific experience of agile delivery, including within an overall hybrid project and programme methodology” – please could you confirm what is meant by ‘hybrid’? Do you mean a mix of face-to-face/office working and home working? In this context, ‘hybrid’ means a project and programme methodology that utilises the strengths of both agile and waterfall approaches. For example, agile principles could be adopted for the management of specific work packages (such as cross-Council reviews), with more traditional waterfall practices used at workstream and programme management level. Information about remote and in-person working arrangements for this contract can be found in the ‘Work Setup’ section of the requirements.