RM1043.8-1-Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy- Redesign of the CHPQA Portal for compliance to current gov.uk Standards- BETA PHASE

Description

Summary of work To redesign and build a new online portal for users of the CHPQA programme following on from Discovery and Alpha. This is a complex programme with approximately 1400 schemes. The new portal must be in line with current UK Government Digital Standards. This portal must - Allow Responsible Persons (RPs) to add, update & submit details of their CHPQA schemes, and the current meter readings data. As part of these submissions, allow supporting documentation to be attached and allow RPs to send, and respond to, queries to Technical Assessors. Allow Technical Assessors (TAs) to review and validate the current submission data for RP schemes, allowing supporting documentation to be attached and to raise and answer queries to RPs. Allow TAs to log audit recommendations. Allow Administrators to assign schemes to TAs. Allow the Department to view and approve schemes and to issue appropriate certification. Allow independent auditors to export all scheme data so that appropriate auditing of the data can be done, including raising queries to RPs. Allow Net Zero Policy Analysts to run appropriate business reports on all scheme data. Allow data subscribers, (both internal and external to the Department) to export appropriate data, for further analysis and reporting. You will need to work closely with relevant teams to update the guidance on gov.uk to reflect the new service. The successful candidate will be expected to scope out any links to existing policies and government services, and ensure the solution is future-proof. The new service will need to be ready for the 2025 certification window, which takes place January – March. Where the supplied staff will work London Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Why the work is being done In order to deliver a good service to the public, the UK Government has digital standards that Services must abide by. The current CHPQA portal needs to be redesigned to meet the current Government Digital Standards and deliver a better service to users. This will allow the new service to be accessible to everyone, and to make sure data is submitted securely. As part of the redesign, the Department are bringing the service in-house, so the case management system is owned by the Department on gov.uk. The business problem For full details of each section please see annex A(attached) Combined Heat and Power (CHP) CHPs are efficient engines or turbines that capture and utilise waste heat from the generation of power, providing approximately 30% primary energy savings compared to separate heat and power generation. CHPs have a variety of uses, from hospitals and leisure centres to industrial sites. Current Situation The current CHPQA portal (https://www.chpqa.com/) is a transactional digital service which digitalises a paper based self-assessment form process. It was designed approximately 20 years ago. The portal is not compliant with government digital standards. Work needs to be undertaken to ensure that the CHPQA system is secure, and meets all current privacy, security, accessibility standards and legislation. The Department has previously procured for and completed a Discovery and Alpha phase to tackle this problem. Beta At the end of the Beta phase, we require a product that meets the service standard and can be used to successfully host and certify all 2025 submissions (including both new submissions and re-certifications) and used to access data for audits. This will involve ensuring that all data and users are transferred from the legacy system to the new system. We require a service that enables the submission process to be easier for RPs, moving away from the current time intensive forms process, towards a user-based submission journey, and requiring less bespoke support through the mailbox for completion. We also want to streamline the assessor journey and give our third-party suppliers and the Department more flexibility within the system. The Department and the third-party supplier need to have full access to the data, with usable and effective reporting. The new service will be part of the wider landscape on Government support for business energy transformation (including industrial decarbonisation and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme). The Department wants to understand the relationship between the CHPQA service and other business services (Climate Change Agreements and Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) to improve user experience where a user has multiple profiles across more than one platform. As the service is a legacy service there will also need to be consideration of how existing users (those with CHPQA profiles containing certification data) are transferred onto the new service. A communications plan including any early onboarding and where users can find training and support will need to be developed. The CHPQA certifications cycle across a year. The IT portal opens for certifications on January 1st and closes at the end of June approx. The majority of applications (circa 1400) have to meet this deadline to comply with HMRC tax regulations as the certificates awarded can ‘passport’ the holder to tax relief and subsidies. Non- regulatory certifications are processed from approximately June – September and audits are carried out from July - November. The existing IT system is shut down in December for updates and maintenance, and for new process changes relevant to the next years cycle of certifications. The service will support outsourced policy delivery through a third party/ parties (as it is done now). Work will need to be done to develop a case management system owned and hosted by the Department. We expect the service to be hosted on gov.uk. The successful candidate will need to conduct user research in order to have a steel thread for all users. The Department will require the supplier to engage with all internal governance, boards and assessments. Phases The beta project should be split into two phases of work- private beta and early public beta with a gateway of 4 weeks between both to allow for assessments and clearance to proceed to public beta. At the end of public beta, we would expect a working system hosted on gov.uk that meets the service standards and the requirements above. The system will have undergone testing with all CHPQA user types, and the team will have developed iterative improvements in line with agile working. For the outcomes we require from private and public beta, please see the attached annex A. The team will be involved with and contribute to internal governance and final assessments. We would expect the system to be easily transferrable to subsequent team, and work will be undertaken to ensure that transferal is seamless. The successful candidate will be expected to scope out any links to existing policies and government services, and ensure the solution is future-proof. In the final stages of the contract, the supplier will submit a post-beta plan detailing the activities and considerations needed to futureproof the service, including but not exclusive to ongoing maintenance, hosting, data strategy and service desk. The people who will use the product or service User type: Responsible Person (RP) Definition: I need to : Create a CHPQA account Login to new service View a list of their CHP schemes View individual schemes View current and historic submissions Manage and delegate RP’s for their organisation Add and update scheme details Raise queries on their submissions Bulk upload scheme data Upload supporting documents Submit their scheme View their schemes certification Register a new scheme Transfer a CHP scheme Manage a CHP profile Raise an appeal against a decision made on a scheme Request the removal of a scheme Transfer from the old service to the new service User type: Delegate RP Definition: I need to : Add and update scheme details on behalf of an RP User type: 1st Technical Assessor (TA1) Definition: I need to: View a list of submitted CHP schemes View a single submitted CHP scheme View historic submissions Validate schemes Raise queries Answer queries Upload supporting documents Log audit recommendation/s Approve or reject a scheme submission User type: 2nd Technical Assessor (TA2) Definition: I need to : Approve or reject a scheme submission User type: DESNZ Certifier Definition: I need to : View a list of schemes View a single scheme Issue certificate User type: Auditor Definition: I need to : Download Submission data View list of Schemes View single Scheme Update audit status View Audit History Communicate with RP User type: Data subscriber Definition: I need to : Download Submission data User type: DESNZ Policy Data Analyst Definition: I need to : View list of BI reports View BI report Create new report Save new report View / modify report template Delete report template Share report template Download report User type: System Administrator Definition: I need to : Assign Schemes (to TA1 or TA2) Configure service emails Work done so far The CHPQA programme already has a database and portal. The successful supplier would have access to the existing database schema, if helpful. The CHPQA programme has undertaken a Discovery and Alpha phase, which has passed the Cabinet Office service assessment. A prioritised backlog, code for the Alpha prototype (written in C#) stored on GitHub, and detailed handover pack for Beta will be available to the successful supplier subject to award. Which phase the project is in Beta Existing team The supplier will work with a team who will provide Policy input into the phases. This team includes a product manager and contract manager. There will also be input from the wider Industrial Decarbonisation and Emissions Trading Directorate(IDET) team from a policy and analytical perspective. An external supplier manages the current portal. Address where the work will be done The majority of work will take place remotely. With the contracting authority team hybrid working, it is expected the supplier will do the same. This means the supplier’s team would need to travel to the Department Offices in Whitehall, London for meeting(s)/workshop(s) approximately every 2-4 weeks Working arrangements The supplier’s staff will be expected to be available during the typical working hours of the policy team (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm) in order to maximise knowledge transfer. The team will also work with civil service governance teams, digital colleagues and external CHPQA contractors working on the delivery of the core programme and auditing functions. We require the supplier to conduct the usual the Agile ceremonies and a weekly update/as well as ‘show and tell’ sessions for Department stakeholders and retrospectives with the CHPQA team. These sessions will take place over MS Teams or face to face. The supplier must be able to work on MS Teams when required. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero currently use both Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 for other services, and this is the preferred platform for the new CHPQA service. Security and vetting requirements Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Latest start date 20 November 2023 Expected contract length Contract length: 1 years 5 months 0 days Special terms and conditions special term or condition: Break clause between Private and Public beta to allow for assessments and the Contracting Authority to terminate the contract at private beta phase should it not be successful. Budget Indicative maximum: £3300000 Indicative minimum: £2800000 Contracted out service or supply of resource? Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Terms and acronyms Term or acronym: CHP Definition: Combined Heat and Power Term or acronym: CHPQA Definition: Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance Term or acronym: DESNZ Definition: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Term or acronym: IDET Definition: Industrial Decarbonisation and Emissions Trading Directorate