Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP) - Delivery Partner

Description

Summary of the work To work in partnership with the Insolvency Service to deliver a Digital First service for a new debt management product, Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP). SDRP will be introduced by legislation, with a fixed implementation date. The implementation date is to be confirmed but is anticipated to be June 2024 Expected Contract Length 2 years (plus 25% extension if required). Latest start date Monday 1 August 2022 Why the Work is Being Done The Debt Respite Scheme, also known as Breathing Space, was a 2017 Government manifesto commitment to help those in debt. The Breathing Space Scheme (BSS) was launched on 4th May 2021. The next phase is to implement the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP) which will enable someone in problem debt to enter a statutory agreement to repay their debts to a manageable timetable. Individuals, would receive legal protections from creditor action for the duration of their plan. The Insolvency Service has been tasked with administering the service which involves delivering and running a (Digital First) service for debt advice organisations, debtors and creditors in England and Wales, and carrying out associated administrative tasks within the Insolvency Service. The Insolvency Service will also act as a payment distributor as part of the scheme, taking regular payments from debtors via different payment channels and then distributing the monies to creditors. The maximum length of a SDRP is 10 years. It is projected that the number of plans per annum will increase from c. 50,000 in year 1 (2024/2025) to c. 125,000 after 10 years. Each plan could have multiple debts associated. Debtors will make monthly payments until the SDRP is repaid. Problem to Be Solved To create a Digital First service for use by debt advice providers, debtors and creditors in order to meet the legislative needs of the new SDRP service. This will comprise: -A Digital Portal – hosted on GOV.UK and aligned to Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) standards to allows debt advisers and creditors to propose, set up and manage clients in repayment plans. -A case management system for use by staff within the Insolvency Service to manage SDRP cases and administer the scheme. -A payment receipt and distribution solution to receive payment via a variety of channels from debtors and distribute these to creditors. -Integration with the Insolvency Service’s ERP system for accounts payable, accounts receivable and wider Chart of Accounts services. The Insolvency Service requires a supplier to work with the Agency in delivering this digital service. The Supplier would be free to design the solution using their expertise, though certain decisions on technologies have already been made and will be documented. The core technologies are: -Azure -Dynamics 365 -C# / ASP.NET The Supplier will provide MI modelling and reports on the Insolvency Service Azure data warehouse. The supplier will also support evaluating user journeys through web-based analytics. Who Are the Users As a Debtor I need to access debt advice through a debt advice provider So that I am able to understand if SDRP is right for me and the protections and obligations it provides. As a Debt Advice Provider I need to be able to collect debtor and debt information AND submit my client into an SDRP So that my client is covered by an SDRP AND I am able to manage objections and variations, conduct plan reviews, work with creditors and receive notifications As a Payment distributor I need to be able to understand what and how the debtor needs to pay and to which creditor(s) So that I can collect the money from the debtor and distribute it to the creditors As a Creditor I need to be able to check my debt details and work with the DAP to ensure that my debts are recorded correctly So that during payment distribution I receive my fair share, I can raise objections, request reviews and receive notifications As an Insolvency Service administrator I need to be able to manage my obligations regarding objections and perform service administrative tasks So that I meet my obligations to the Secretary of State. Early Market Engagement An early market engagement session was carried out via MS Teams. The outputs of the Q&A session and the artefacts presented in that session are available on request. Work Already Done An internal project team has completed a Discovery phase and an Alpha phase is ongoing. The intention is for suppliers to be on-boarded from Private Beta onwards. Prototypes have been produced for some Digital front-end user journeys. Key technology guardrails have been agreed upon. Existing Team The Insolvency Service has a project team established and is progressing the Alpha Phase. The team will continue during the Beta Phase. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Have experience of building CDDO compliant portal services on GOV.UK which meets the CDDO (formerly GDS) Service Standards. • Be a Microsoft Gold Partner with proven Dynamics 365 and Azure competencies • Have extensive experience with Azure technologies, including Azure API manager, Azure ESB, Azure Relay • Have experience in designing and integrating systems responsible for the setup and ongoing management of Direct Debits. • Have experience in designing and integrating systems responsible for regular receipting and distribution of payments across a variety of payment channels beyond Direct Debit • Have experience of configuring MS Dynamics 365 to deliver case management workflow services. • Have experience of integrating into financial ERP systems for accounts payable, accounts receivable and wider Chart of Accounts services. • Have experience of designing modern architectural patterns such as micro-service architectures and system event-based systems. • Have experience with web service technologies, specifically REST services, JSON and the OpenAPI specification • Have experience of C# and ASP.NET. • Have experience in modern DevOps principles and patterns including fully automated deployments for Dynamics 365 • Have experience in running requirements workshops, collating requirements catalogues and defining user stories. • Have experience of data ingestion, data cleansing and data manipulation, and designing and delivering Power BI based reports through an existing modern Azure data warehouse. • Have experience of deployment including go-live, early life support, training, user guides, service calls. • Have experience of delivering and developing training for end users and train-the-trainer. • Have experience building accessible websites adhering to legal standards for externally facing websites e.g. WCAG standards, PECR. • Have experience of quality assurance through system testing, user acceptance testing, automated end-to-end testing, code quality checks etc. • Have experience of delivering performance testing, scalability testing, operational acceptance testing and wider non-functional requirement testing. Nice to Haves • Have experience of delivering project adhering to government IT security standards and patterns such as those provided by NCSC and CDDO (formerly GDS) Technology Code of Practice • Have experience of supporting assurance activities through Architectural Review Boards, CDDO (formerly GDS) Service Assessments and OGC Gateway Reviews. • Have experience of supporting the system handover to a suite of service providers under a SIAM model including knowledge transfer. • Have experience of participating and chairing stakeholder engagement events across internal and external users. • Have experience in configuring and using web-based analytics to analyse web-based user journeys. • Have experience of creation of delivery plans and roadmaps. Work Location All work will be completed remotely and the supplier will be responsible for the location of their staff. There will be a regular requirement for key supplier personnel to attend the Insolvency Service offices in London (Stratford) and Birmingham as required. The supplier will periodically be invited to attend and present at key stakeholder meetings, both remotely and at the Insolvency Service offices. Working Arrangments Initiation workshop(s) will be organised to kick-off the engagement, agree working practises and create a plan which will be tracked and used to prioritise and manage all tasks and activities. VCs will be utilised for remote team communications and there will be the ability to securely remotely login into the appropriate Agency’s infrastructure platform for deployment. Work with Insolvency Service team including the product owner, technical lead, project managers and key business stakeholders for sprint ceremonies, ‘Show & Tells’, development of plans etc. The supplier will also be expected to participate in project boards, assurance assessments and stakeholder meetings. Security Clearance Minimum BPSS, limited engagements may need SC. Supplier must be willing and able to undergo to SC clearance and provide suitably cleared personnel, if or when required under this contract. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Your approach to designing and delivering the SDRP solution meeting all government digital standards. • Your proposal for how you will use Azure and Dynamics 365 to deliver the solution. • Your proposal for designing and delivering the payment distribution solution. • Your proposal for delivering the MI modelling and reports on our Azure data warehouse. • Your approach to quality assuring the solution against functional and non-functional requirements. • Your approach to designing and delivering the SDRP solution while following the appropriate NCSC Cyber Security Guidance as closely as possible. • Your approach to collecting requirements and engaging stakeholders, managing Agile backlogs, sprint planning, estimation and prioritisation. • Your proposed delivery plan and roadmap and how you will report ongoing progress and status. • Your proposed resource profile for project delivery and how you will structure the project team. • Your approach for training of operational staff, handover to technical support and transition for ongoing support. Cultural Fit Criteria • Your approach to optimising the user journey to minimise the environmental footprint (for example; optimising download / export formatting for efficient printing, minimising click-throughs to reduce system engagement time). • Your organisation’s approach to demonstrating a commitment to Carbon reduction (in line with PPN06/2021). • Your organisation’s approach to working in partnership with customers and stakeholders. • Your organisation's approach to tackling workplace inequality through training, employment, skills and the reduction of pay inequality Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? There will be representation from interested parties across the Insolvency Service. This includes technical, project and commercial colleagues. 2. Who is the incumbent and how long they have been the incumbent? There is no incumbent supplier. 3. Can you please provide an anticipated timeline for this procurement that includes dates for: 1) Shortlisting Notification for Stage 2 2) Submission Deadline for Stage 2 3) Presentation 4) Evaluation period 5) Award Notification Indicative target timelines are:1. Shortlisting notification for Stage 2: Monday 11th April 20222. Submission deadline for Stage 2: Thursday 28th April 20223. Presentation: Thursday 5th May 2022 OR Friday 6th May 20224. Evaluation period: Friday 29th April to Wednesday 11th May5. Award notification: Estimated end of May 2022Intention to Award will occur end of May, however ratification through governance routes will need to take place prior to formal award and contract commencement. 4. Can you confirm if shortlisted suppliers will have the opportunity to present? Yes - please see answer above, we expect shortlisted suppliers to present at the beginning of May as part of Stage 2. 5. Has any external supplier been involved in the initial scoping work? If so, who? No external supplier has been involved to date. 6. Can information be shared about the findings and output from the Early Market engagement exercise ? During the Early Market Engagement event questions and answers were captured. If any suppliers are interested in receiving a copy please email SDRPproject@insolvency.gov.uk. 7. Please can you give an indication of budget? We are unable to share the budget at this time. 8. Please can you confirm if there is an incumbent and who that is? There is not an incumbent supplier. 9. Please can you confirm the budget envelope for this project We are unable to share the budget at this time. 10. What is an SIAM model ? SIAM being a Service Integration And Management to manage multiple suppliers. 11. Do you need a Microsoft Gold Partner with any competency or specific to Dynamics 365 and Azure competency ? The Agency is looking for a supplier with a proven track record of designing and delivering services based around the Microsoft technology stack listed. Microsoft partner competencies are one such way to demonstrate a proven track record, though the Agency is open to other suggestions to demonstrate proven ability in this area. 12. What is the Budget for the Programme ? We are unable to share the budget at this time. 13. Please state your commitment formal business biding for the Project ? We are unclear on what this question is asking. Please resubmit if not answered already. 14. Please clarify on the Gold Partner status and the competencies The Agency is looking for a supplier with a proven track record of designing and delivering services based around the Microsoft technology stack listed. Microsoft partner competencies are one such way to demonstrate a proven track record, though the Agency is open to other suggestions to demonstrate proven ability in this area. 15. Was there any external supplier engaged at Discovery or Alpha? No external suppliers were engaged during Discovery or Alpha. 16. Can you please clarify if the scores from the this initial 100 word stage will be carried through to the shortlist stage and form part of the final score to determine the successful supplier? As per the framework rules for DOS5, we will score Stage 1 and the 5 highest scoring will pass through to the Proposal stage. At that point scores will reset to zero for all suppliers who have been progressed. 17. Re response to Q12, any reason why budget cannot be released ? Is this a T&Outcome based approach ? All Statement of Works will be capped T&M based. 18. Can you provide details of the ERP System that you propose to use? Is the ERP Service fully delivered and the Chart of Accounts defined? The ERP system is Unit4 Business World. The platform is in production with an active Chart of Accounts.