FRC Website Redevelopment (FRC ref FRC2022-0181)

Description

Summary of the work Please refer to ITT Expected Contract Length Please refer to ITT Latest start date Saturday 1 April 2023 Why the Work is Being Done The FRC needs to procure a new website Content Management System (CMS) to ensure continuity of service beyond October 2023, when our current platform reached end-of-life. We are also looking to use this opportunity to solve key challenges with the current platform, bring the website up to best practice, and conform with Government and legal requirements /standards. Please refer to the ITT for full details :- http://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/itt http://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/tender-response Problem to Be Solved The FRC’s website (https://www.frc.org.uk) is the organisation’s public face to the online world. In many cases it will be a stakeholder’s only direct interaction with the us. Please refer to https://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/appendix-4 Who Are the Users In order to show the FRC as a strong, competent, transparent regulator we need a best practice website that delivers the following core functions: • Provides relevant, timely content • Allows quick access to information • Demonstrates the breadth and quality of our work Early Market Engagement In November 2022 we conducted a Pre-Tender Market Engagement. The Pre-Tender Market Engagement was seeking to gain market insight and information in some key areas relating to the planned website redevelopment project. We were seeking to tap into market knowledge to facilitate and inform the attainment of the project’s objectives. Suppliers were randomly selected to participate from the Digital & Outcomes Specialist 5 framework. The following information was made available to these suppliers: http://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/pre-tender-market-engagement-document https://forms.office.com/r/LFCy8u3vBP The insight from the Pre-Tender Market Engagement is captured https://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/appendix-3 Existing Team Please refer to the ITT Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience Please refer to ITT Nice to Haves Please refer to ITT Work Location Please refer to the ITT Working Arrangments Please refer to the ITT Security Clearance Please refer to the ITT No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 4 Proposal Criteria Please refer to ITT Cultural Fit Criteria Please refer to ITT Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 58% Cultural fit 12% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you please provide the details of the budget? We are proposing an overall budget range of £393,500 to £493,500 (excluding VAT) with £250,000 to £350,000 allocated to cover the Discovery, Alpha and Beta phases. The following additional costs, covering the 24-month duration of the contract, make up the remainder of the budget.Please see Page 4https://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/appendix-4 2. Re: KenticoAre you considering moving away from Kentico? / Would your preference be to stay with Kentico? The FRC’s preference is open source. 3. Re: KenticoAre you considering moving away from Kentico? / Would your preference be to stay with Kentico? This question has already been asked and answered. Please refer to the response to Question 2. 4. Re: Response approachPlease could you confirm the format of responses for Stage 1 (shortlisting)? Do you require suppliers to respond to essential and nice-to-have criteria in no more than 100 words via Digital Marketplace, as per the usual process under DOS5? Or do you require suppliers to self-rate in 5 areas within the response template? Do the justifications for self-rating have word/character limits? We apologise that the requested self-rating does not fully align with the usual process under DOS5. The five questions are considered essential therefore can Suppliers provide an overall Rating and justification capped at the DOS5 word limit. 5. Re: TimelinesPlease could you confirm the timelines? There are some discrepancies between the dates published and the dates within the ITT documents. We are working based on the ITT dates; however, we are double checking with Digital Marketplace that there will not be a system barrier / closedown restricting you from submitting your response. 6. Re: Tender submissionIt is not possible for suppliers to submit responses via Digital Marketplace in the format you specify in the ITT (for either the first or second stages). How should suppliers proceed? Please see response to Q4. 7. Re: Access to documentThe documentation at the following URL http://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/tender-response is not accessible. Would it be possible to check this please? We have checked this link and there is no issue i.e. the document should be accessible, however also try changing the start of the link from http to https (i.e. https://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/tender-response rather than http://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/tender-response) 8. Re: Essential skills and experience” and “Nice-to-have skillsCan the FRC confirm how they wish suppliers to respond to the “Essential skills and experience” and “Nice-to-have skills and experience” as these do not appear to correlate with instructions around Stage 1 within the ITT document? Please clarify. Please see response to Q4. 9. Re: Essential skillsCan the FRC confirm if it is permissible to use more than one reference example as evidence of Essential skills and experience and Nice-to-have experience respectively? Please see response to Q4, subject to the Digital Marketplace restrictions (for example, word limit) you may use more than one reference example. 10. Re: Confirmation of the TimescalesPlease can you confirm the timescales as detailed in page 4 of the Statement of Requirements and Functional Requirements Specification? It appears that the number of working days against the duration of Discovery, Alpha and Beta does not align. Apologies, it should be It should be:• Discovery: 03/04/23 – 26/05/23• Alpha: 29/05/23 – 21/07/23• Beta: 24/07/23 – 13/10/23 11. Re: Related to tender submission clarification with the Digital marketplaceThe ITT states that: Tenderers must submit their tender response within the deadline via the Digital Marketplace. However, the platform does not allow for the upload of files. Usually, at this stage, we need to answer 100 word questions on the platform, then the shortlisted suppliers are required to submit a response to tender. Can you please clarify how to submit a response? Please see response to Q4. 12. Re: Related to submission Format via Digital MarketplaceIn order to submit a bid via Digital Marketplace suppliers are limited to 100 words without attachments for the Skills and Experience specified. Please can the authority share how they expect our Stage 1 response as shared in the ITT to be carried out in this format? Please see response to Q4. 13. Re: Related to confirmation of tender submission deadlineThe ITT states a deadline of the 3rd to submit the initial response via Digital Marketplace however the Digital Marketplace ad states a deadline of the 26th. Please can the authority confirm which is correct? Please see response to Q5. 14. Re: Related to Answer format submissionPlease can provide details on how you wish the answers to be submitted, There are several questions on the ITT but only 1 box to provide answers. Please see response to Q4. 15. Re: Related to Open source platform and Platform flexibility1) Would a non Open source platform be considered?2) Are the license fees referenced fixed or is there flexibility depending on the platform? Yes, however as per Q2 The FRC’s preference is open source.There is flexibility. 16. Re: Submitting responseHow do we submit a response to stage 1 of the ITT? The ITT indicates that we should respond via the digital marketplace, however the stage 1 questions haven’t been listed there and it seems impossible to attach documents to a response (I don’t think the marketplace has this functionality?) The stage 1 submission deadline is also confusing – it’s listed as 26th Jan on DM and 3rd Feb on the ITT doc. Can you clarify both the dates and how to submit a response please. Please see response to Q4 & Q5 17. Re: ResponseCan you confirm if it is only the Stage One part of the ‘Tender-Response-Final’ word document that needs to be completed for this stage? Yes. Stage one only, however please see response to Q4. 18. Re: Word limitShould suppliers adhere to the 100-word limit for answers in the stage one response doc? If not, could you confirm whether there is a word limit? Please see response to Q4. 19. Re: Submitting the tender responseThe ITT document states that tenderers must submit their tender response via the Digital Marketplace however the website doesn’t lend itself to submitting attachments. Can you confirm how suppliers should submit their responses? Please see response to Q4. 20. Re: Tender response submission document formatPlease clarify how suppliers should submit the Stage 1 tender response documents – it’s not possible to submit through Digital Marketplace in your specified format. Please see response to Q4. 21. Re: Word limit for answer justificationAre their word limits for the ‘Justification’ answers? Please see response to Q4. 22. Re: Tender response dates confirmation Please clarify clarification and submission dates which are different in the ITT and on Digital Marketplace. The main page and the ITT document show different deadlines.Please could you confirm which are the correct dates. Please see response to Q5 23. Re: Registering an interestThe ITT mentions registering interest but I cannot find any link for this. This is Not Applicable. Digital Marketplace will capture the relevant interest. 24. Re: Skills and experience clarification requirement This DOS opportunity has two questions to respond to: 1) Essential skills and experience, 2) Nice-to-have skills and experience. The 01-Final-ITT.pdf doc contains details on 5 key requirements (see Stage 1, page 5) which I assume we need to respond to in “Essential skills and experience.” Is this correct?It is not clear what we need to respond to for “Nice-to-have skills and experience.” Please see response to Q26 (which is forthcoming / below). 25. Re: Difficulties in fully answering question. Clarification needed.Within the 100 word limit to respond to all 5 key requirements, it is not possible to fully answer your requirements. E.g. “Please provide details of the Team Structure, Key personnel and Account Management”And “You should demonstrate that an established robust methodology will be applied to address the requirement and this methodology / timeline can realistically produce a minimum viable product by mid-October 2023.”Please can you advise? Please see response to Q26 (which is forthcoming / below). 26. Re: RESPONDING The FRC notes all the concerns raised about submitting responses to Stage 1 therefore please see below... Considering the limitations Suppliers should answer two questions only. Please self-rate and justify for area 2 & 3 i.e.“With regards to the headline functionality (as per page 19 of the Statement of Requirements and Functional Requirements Specification Appendix 4) our self rating ..”And“We acknowledge that key to successful delivery is robust and effective approach(es) and methodology. Based on our experience and vision for this project we rate …”We are mindful that the word limit will restrict the level of detail. PLEASE DO NOT SEND RESPONSES DIRECTLY. THESE CAN NOT BE CONSIDERED. 27. IMPORTANT TIMELINESReferring to the Question 5 and response please see important note below. IMPORTANTWe have been advised by Digital Marketplace that their dates supersede any dates in our ITT because their platform will automatically prevent submission. Therefore, the last day suppliers can apply is Thursday 26 January 2023 at 11:59pm 28. Re: Message from FRC - All tender queries Please note all tender queries have been logged and is also available online. All Q&A have also been captured - https://www.frc.org.uk/document-library/web-projects/tenderquestions 29. DEADLINE REMINDER This is a DEADLINE REMINDER from the FRC. The last day suppliers can apply is Thursday 26 January 2023 at 11:59pmPlease submit your response via the Digital Marketplace platform before the deadline.