Delivery partner to work on HMPO digital service to report lost/stolen passports

Description

Summary of the work A team is needed that can iteratively design, build and implement a digital service supporting British passport holders reporting their passport lost or stolen and enable HMPO to automate cancellation of these passports. The team must put an emphasis on understanding and meeting user needs of passport holders and HMPO. Expected Contract Length 12 months with the possibility of 2 years for delivery of an integrated end to end service. Latest start date 01/04/2017 Budget Range £1.87M per annum. Why the Work is Being Done HM Passport Office has an organisational goal to streamline the process customers use to report lost and stolen passports and automatically cancel documents where appropriate. Problem to Be Solved The British passport is a valuable document and in the wrong hands can be used for a variety of criminal purposes. Our current reporting mechanism require a member of staff to cancel the passport so is limited to hours of work. We would like to introduce automatic cancellation where possible to reduce the time taken to cancel the passport and therefore reduce the value of a lost/stolen passport. When automatic cancellation is not possible a solution is needed to support exception handling undertaken by HM Passport Office employees. Who Are the Users As a passport holder who has had a passport lost or stolen, I need a way to report this to HM Passport Office so that my passport is cancelled. As a passport holder who has reported my passport lost or stolen, I need to kept informed as how the request is proceeding. As an HMPO employee, I need to be able to see any exceptions that cannot be automatically cancelled, so that I can resolve any issues preventing timely cancellation. Work Already Done A discovery phase has been completed generating some user needs. We have the expectation that further investigation into user needs will be completed particularly the user needs of passport holders. Discovery documents can be shared with shortlisted suppliers. Existing Team There is a small team allocated to this work formed of 1 project manager, 1 BA and business change experts. Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • Have demonstrable experience of successfully understanding user needs and designing services to support them. • Have demonstrable experience of user centric development and how this is balanced against business and technology considerations. • Have demonstrable experience of successfully integrating systems via APIs, including on-premise and other cloud-based services. • Have demonstrable experience of successfully delivering digital solutions that collect and manage personal and/or sensitive information with appropriate controls and protection. • Have demonstrable experience of successfully working with other suppliers/3rd parties/other partners in the delivery of public sector digital services • Be able to mobilise the required multi-disciplined team to begin engaging on 01/04/17 • Have demonstrable experience of successfully assessing Discovery phase outputs and iteratively developing and improving them using Agile methods and practices. Nice to Haves • Have demonstrable experience of delivering digital solutions that meet Level AA of the W3C WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards • Have demonstrable experience of successfully delivering bi-lingual digital solutions. The solution must be available in both Welsh and English • Have demonstrable experience of successfully and collaboratively working, coaching and sharing knowledge with Public Sector client teams, particularly those with limited agile development experience. • Have demonstrable experience of successfully integrating digital solutions with Government platforms, such as Government Gateway, Verify and Notify Work Location 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF Working Arrangments "We expect the supplier to work collaboratively with existing in house project teams that are transforming how applications are submitted and processed by HMPO. Work is based in London and will involve the supplier being on site 4 days per week to work collaboratively with HMPO teams; travel and expenses remains the responsibility of the supplier. Service design and development must align with the HM Passport Office strategic technical architecture and technologies. Security Clearance SC clearance is required. HMPO will support the clearance process. Additional T&Cs Breakpoints to assess progress and quality will be set at the end of alpha and beta phases. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets user needs • How the approach or solution meets the organisation's goal • Estimated timeframes for the work • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Take responsibility for their work • Can work with clients with low technical expertise Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 15% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. You state that Discovery phase has been completed. Please can you advise whether an external company helped you deliver these, the name of the company and whether they will bid for the role of delivery partner? Thank you. The discovery has been completed internally. 2. Good morning, we have a few questions please: 1) Will there be a supplier briefing at some stage? 2) We are assuming that the next stage will be request for evidence, do you know what the word limit will be for these and whether it will be a request for evidence or a request for case studies? 3) Will a proposal be requested with the evidence or will that be later? 4) Can you share the HM Passport Office strategic technical architecture and technologies? 1. Yes, mid-Feb in London 2. Evidence of capabilities and experience 3. HMPO will give further context on delivery approach at supplier briefing 4. Tech stack and hosting details: Node.js, Java (and some pre-existing Scala services), RabbitMQ, Jenkins, Puppet, AWS 3. Would suppliers be required to meet any minimum size standards, eg for their turnover to match a percent of the proposed contract value? HMPO don’t have minimum standards but will need to be confident the chosen supplier can deliver the defined outcomes flexibly. 4. Is this an Alpha where the Discovery has already been done? If so are there any outputs and who is the incumbent supplier? Discovery output has been completed and will be shared with the shortlisted suppliers (suitably redacted where appropriate). 5. Do you envisage the roles supplied within the contract as coming within IR35? No. 6. Is this a re-compete to decide if to continue or replace an existing supplier? If so who is the existing supplier? This is not a recompete. We have no incumbent supplier. 7. Will there be a supplier briefing for this and if so when? We will hold a supplier briefing, mid-February in London. 8. £1.87million for 12 months implies a level of complexity which is not immediately obvious from the Opportunity text. Can you elaborate further on where you are expecting the challenges to be, or otherwise give a rough breakdown of the estimation cost? As with many government projects, this work has several complex integration points and must satisfy several internal and external audit processes, including service assessments and stringent security assurance process. 9. May we please request a copy of the next stage documentation now so that we can commence preparation of our response to this opportunity? This isn’t yet available. More details will be given at the supplier briefing. 10. Hello, I have submitted an response for this opportunity already but one of the questions was answered incorrectly. We said 'No' for the following: Have demonstrable experience of delivering digital solutions that meet Level AA of the W3C WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards We can actually provide experience in this area. I am unable to edit the question as it has been submitted. Digital Marketplace has suggested I use this facility to inform you of the mistake. I hope that this response can be amended when we are considered for shortlisting? Noted. 11. You reference in the notes that there is already a PM on the existing team. Would that person be filling the role of Scrum Master? If not, would you be providing one, or is the supplier expected to provide one as part of their proposed team? HMPO anticipate that the successful supplier will supply delivery lead/scrum master capability as appropriate. 12. Would you be providing a product owner or is the supplier expected to provide this role as part of their proposed team? HMPO will provide product ownership, though the successful supplier may consider proposing a product manager if they feel this is appropriate. 13. With regard to the exceptional circumstances, where a request cannot be processed automatically, do HMPO have any existing work or job management system with which you would like the solution to integrate? Yes. There are a number of new and legacy systems with which to integrate. 14. Please can you advise whether any external companies helped HMPO deliver any aspect of DIscovery? If so, which companies were involved and what was their remit? No. HMPO completed this work. 15. Beyond the government platforms mentioned, what other systems might the solution have to integrate with? Are there any relevant technical constraints? Suppliers should expect to be able to demonstrate the skills and experience necessary to integrate with a range of new and legacy systems. 16. It is stated that existing in-house teams are actively transforming how applications are submitted and processed. Does HMPO have a technical strategy and/or any preferred system architectures with which the outcome ought to align? If so, could some high-level information related to this be shared? This work is a discrete component of a wide-ranging transformation programme of works which includes new and legacy systems. Teams at HMPO delivery using modern software delivery approaches and suppliers should expect to be able to demonstrate their capabilities in this area eg. knowledge of micro services architectures, high levels of automation, continuous delivery etc 17. The Opportunity text states a contract length of 12 months with a possible additional year, and there are also references to Alpha and Beta phases. Would you mind sharing your thinking around expected timing of the Alpha and Beta, and expected outcome of year 1 vs year2? The Alpha and Beta stages are the standard cross-government GDS approach to delivering new digital service. The supplier will work with HMPO to define goals and timelines for these stages. 18. How does this project relate to the current online Beta service on www.gov.uk/report-a-lost-or-stolen-passport? Are you looking to replace the current beta solution, or to further extend, streamline, integrate and automate it? This service will replace the current service. 19. Do you envisage the majority of the supplier’s team to be based at HMPO four days a week, or primarily project management and ad-hoc expertise? We anticipate the team will be co-located with other HMPO delivery teams in London full-time or 4 days a week. 20. Are you looking for the supplier to own the process of conducting market research and inviting the general public to take part in the user-led research and UX/UI testing, or is this process largely managed by HMPO or in collaboration with other GDS teams? User Research will largely be owned by HMPO. HMPO designers and researchers will be embedded within the supplier team. The successful supplier should expect to work closely with members of design and business architecture teams. 21. Is the overall project scope and integration points already fairly well-defined though a completed Discovery phase, or will there be room for the supplier to carry out further Discovery to propose additional features and integration points which we think may add even more value to the overall solution and service? Suppliers will be expected to carry out technical discovery and inception activities. 22. • How many persons of each skill would be required and by when? • Does the supplier need to program manage or will the team work under HMPO Programme Manager? • Would all resources provided need to be SC cleared? Or only those needing to work with live data? • Please provide the supplier specific KPIs/success criteria. • We are the end to end supplier of one of the largest passport services globally and believe there is value in discussing this project approach in more detail. Would HMPO be open to such a discussion? Suppliers are expected to supply a cross-functional agile team. This project is part of a large-scale transformation plan and there is a HMPO programme management function. All staff should be SC cleared in order to be able to work on-site. This project is to deliver a discrete component of the UK passport service and the team will be expected to deliver alongside several other cross-functional agile teams. 23. How does this project relate to the current Beta online service for lost passports? This service will replace (and extend) the current service. 24. Does automatic cancellation cover passports lost in the UK and abroad? Yes. 25. Will this service also include replacement of lost passports or applications for emergency travel documents? This service will integrate several other services. This may include the systems described. 26. How do you currently get user input / user feedback? Via several methods. HMPO have a user research team, which the supplier will work with. There are also customer insight teams, data and analytics teams etc. 27. Are you anticipating an incremental delivery approach? Can subsets of features be released as separate increments? HMPO expect suppliers to be experienced in continuous delivery approaches. 28. Do you have any specific plans for user engagement during this project's delivery? No specific plans, but HMPO follows the ‘GDS’ approach described on GOV.UK and elsewhere. 29. What is your current thinking on assisted digital support for the new service? Assisted Digital support will follow patterns being researched, designed and developed in other teams. This will be delivered outside of this work by HMPO teams. 30. How are you planning to obtain user feedback (particularly during Beta) to support evolutionary development and / or continuous improvement after initial launch? How will this be managed? No specific plans, but HMPO follows the ‘GDS’ approach described on GOV.UK and elsewhere. HMPO user research and other insight teams will own this and work alongside supplier teams. 31. Is there a preferred system operating environment that the system should be built for? If so, please can you advise on details (e.g. operating system, databases, middleware, etc)? Tech stack and hosting details: Node.jsJava, Scala, RabbitMQ, Jenkins, Puppet, AWS 32. Will the solution need to integrate with any other HMPO / UK government systems? If so, please could you give an overview of the likely integrations? Suppliers should expect to demonstrate a depth of skills and experience in integrating with a variety of systems. This service will form an integral part of the overall UK passport system. 33. You mentioned collaborating with other suppliers / 3rd parties - how many other organisations are likely to be involved and what will their roles be? This service is part of the overall HMPO transformation programme. There are several other teams from both HMPO and other suppliers delivering complementary services and systems. The supplier team are expected to integrate with other teams’ efforts but will work independently along with HMPO business design and user research/design staff. 34. Will short-listed suppliers be able to ask clarification questions about the Discovery products you are planning to share? Yes. Although suppliers should expect to show their experience and capability of delivering similar services rather than focusing on planning and/or design solutions. 35. Do you currently run continuous integration or continuous delivery? If so, what specific tools are you using? Yes. Suppliers can expect to demonstrate their experience and skills in this area using a variety of tools / technologies. HMPO don’t anticipate choice of tool to have any bearing on supplier choice. HMPO will select supplier based on breadth and depth of experience of work in continuous delivery environments using current DevOps, software development etc techniques. 36. Will the system operate at an elevated level of Information Security Classification - i.e. above OFFICIAL? No. 37. Do you currently use any automated test tools? If so, which specific tools are you using? Yes. Suppliers should expect to demonstrate skills and experience in continuous delivery. HMPO don’t anticipate specific tools to be a factor in supplier choice. 38. Are there any future legislative / policy changes that might impact delivery? None known at present. 39. Are there any other significant risks for delivery that suppliers should be aware of? None known at present. 40. Will this contract include on-going support for the service in Live? No. At a certain point, this service will be integrated into wider HMPO live services. 41. What are your key performance measures for the proposed service? How will you measure success? HMPO will measure success based on a range of metrics including user satisfaction metrics, qualitative user research reports and standard conversion/success/transaction cost metrics. Some of these metrics will depend on how the service is designed and delivered. KPIs are focused on ease and speed of reporting and subsequent cancellation. HMPO will also ask suppliers to demonstrate ability to deliver progress against plans and defined outcomes. 42. Can we please confirm that it is just the Yes/No response that you require by the 6th February? Yes. 43. • Have you considered re-using an existing Lost & Stolen solution (such as driving licence or credit card) as a base solution or must you develop a new bespoke service? • Are you aiming to work with a supplier with experience delivery of services or are you aiming to procure staff augmentation resources only? • Please detail the procurement process and any chances to meet with the Head of this Programme? • GOV.UK currently hosts a digital service (in beta) to report lost/stolen passports. How does this initiative relate to this existing service (loststolenpassport.service.gov.uk)? This service will replace and significantly extend the existing Lost and Stolen service. HMPO are using the Digital Outcomes Framework for this procurement. 44. • “……design, build and implement a digital service…….” In light of the existing service already hosted on GOV.UK (in beta), would the scope of work involve design and development of the user interface as well? • “….delivery of an integrated end to end service.” – are the web services/interfaces with the respective systems available or are they to be developed / being developed • What are the technology and tools being used to develop the service? • What would be the specific technical skills required from the supplier? The supplier will work alongside HMPO interaction designers but are expected to supply front-end developers with a strong focus on design and accessibility. Some web services / interfaces have already been developed and some are being developed. The supplier team will build upon existing design work and style guides / pattern libraries. Tech stack is discussed elsewhere in this document. Suppliers should expect to show breadth of experience and depth of expertise in continuous delivery using agile approaches. 45. What is the preferred tech stack at this stage? Which systems will the LSP system need to integrate with? When is the Alpha phase due for completion? What has been developed during the Alpha phase? Alpha will be completed by the supplier and timelines will depend on what the Alpha is seeking to prove / demonstrate. 46. Please can you share the size and composition of the team that you envisage? HMPO are seeking an agile, cross-functional team. 47. Is the value of £1.8M for the development alone? Or for the dev plus the potential 2 years support? Development alone. The successful supplier will support the product until development is complete. 48. Can you please outline steps and dates in the procurement timetable, up until supplier award i.e. Proposal or presentation dates See answer elsewhere. 49. Has the Discovery phase provided any outputs with respect minimum duration for Alpha? No. 50. Has Discovery identified either 1) likely team roles that might be deployed during Alpha? 2) Any novel team roles that must be covered during Alpha? The team is expected to be a cross-functional agile team. Suppliers should also be able to provide agile BA capability. 51. We note that "there is a small team allocated to this work formed of 1 project manager, 1 BA and business change experts.". Will these roles be dedicated full-time to HMPO digital service during Alpha? Does HMPO have a Service Manager / Product Owner identified for Alpha? Will the Project Manager be undertaking the Delivery Management role? Yes, full-time. Yes, there is a Service Manager. No, suppliers should supply delivery management capability. We should also note that supplier is expected to supply agile BA capability to work alongside the HMPO business analyst. 52. We note that work must align with the HM Passport Office strategic technical architecture and technologies. At a high-level, what is HMPO's strategic technology stack and key technologies? Attached. 53. Is there an existing supplier who has undertaken the Discovery for/with you and if so who is the existing supplier? No. 54. Has Discovery identified the security threat model applicable to this project? Suppliers will work alongside HMPO security architects and deliver to standards/approvals developed as part of the wider HMPO delivery programme. 55. Will Discovery outputs be shared automatically with short-listed suppliers at the same time that successful suppliers are notified? Some of the Discovery outputs can be shared with short-listed suppliers who have demonstrated capability to deliver the outcomes defined. Though suppliers should focus on demonstrating capability rather than attempting to enter into discussions on specific designs or solutions. HMPO’s approach is user-centred and agile, so the chosen supplier will selected for their breadth of experience and depth of expertise rather than specific delivery recommendations. 56. For avoidance of doubt, can we please confirm that the Alpha team will colocate at Marsham Street, London? The delivery team will be co-located with other delivery teams at HMPO in central London. 57. Is there a particular reason HMPO only foresee 4 days on site needed? Is it possible to work on-site 5 days per week? It is possible to work 5 days on-site. HMPO would like to be able to attract the best possible staff and suppliers and this option is one other teams in the passport programme make use of. 58. Do the Discovery outputs outline the purpose and responsibilities of "in-house project teams" and also any dependencies between HMPO digital service to report lost/stolen passport? Otherwise can this be provided? There are several dependencies and integrations. The Lost and Stolen capability is a discrete component which will be closely integrated with the wider UK passport service. Supplier teams will be able to investigate these dependencies during their own inception activities once selected. To be clear, HMPO are seeking suppliers with breadth of experience, depth of expertise and a mature agile delivery approach. 59. Is this service expected to be offered on the GOV.uk website? Yes. 60. Will this service undertake the GDS Service Assessment for the subsequent phases? Likely. 61. Whilst the procurement notice indicated a "per annum budget' and 12-month contract length, is it correct to assume that costed proposals should be limited to Alpha at this stage - to enable apples-for-apples comparison? HMPO are seeking the capability to deliver this specific outcome but haven’t specified the solution. Suppliers should assume a team on-site for a year and then HMPO will use this as a base cost. 62. We note a need to begin engaging on 01/04/17. Is it correct to assume that this is an illustrative date, and that it would be acceptable to target engagement on either 31st March 2017, or 3rd April 2017 and specifically that HMPO do not have a need to begin engagement on a Saturday (01/04/17)? That is correct. Suppliers should also note start dates are dependent on security clearance procedures. 63. Hi, do you have any available metrics / statistics on the volume of reported lost / stolen passports through this process? Specifically interested in the volume of those that would require the 'exception handling' that is highlighted in the problem statement. Thanks. Exception handling is handled by operational services. Numbers are in the hundreds of thousands overall and a key outcome of this project is to reduce numbers of exceptions overall. 64. For a project of this scale, with challenges around identity verification and integration with potentially legacy API’s, it would be difficult to provide an accurate cost estimate until further into the delivery process when a number of assumptions have been successfully resolved. Is there a preferred costing model that would factor these in? HMPO are seeking the capability to deliver this specific outcome but haven’t specified the solution. Suppliers should assume a team on-site for a year and then HMPO will use this as a base cost. 65. Given that there has already been progress made with this project, are there any commercial or contractual constraints that need to be considered by suppliers? No. 66. The opportunity mentions issues with timely cancellation of passports, and the need for an exception process. Are there metrics available that detail likely numbers and reasons for failures? Yes, there are metrics. But none HMPO can share due to security sensitivities. A key outcome of the delivery will be to reduce number of exceptions. 67. The non-functional requirements of the system will drive a number of cost considerations. Are there details available to describe the likely volumes of cancellations, and the availability requirements for the system? Suppliers will need to work to HMPO NFRs and deliver to the HMPO platform (delivered outside supplier teams and managed by DevOps, Technical Design Authority etc). HMPO are looking for an indication of how suppliers will approach collaboration with these teams and to focus on cost of delivery over time. 68. Presumably there is an existing investment in infrastructure and platforms for other systems. Is there an expectation that this product will be built on those same platforms, and if so would it be possible to share details in terms of hosting and tech stack? "Tech stack and hosting details: Node.jsJava, Scala, RabbitMQ, Jenkins, Puppet, AWS" 69. The opportunity mentions integration with API’s. Would it be possible to provide more detail or technical documentation on the API’s that need to be integrated with? Assume a range of integrations ranging from legacy systems to more modern RESTful APIs. 70. Good morning, we have a few questions please: 1) Will there be a supplier briefing at some stage? 2) We are assuming that the next stage will be request for evidence, do you know what the word limit will be for these and whether it will be a request for evidence or a request for case studies? 3) Will a proposal be requested with the evidence or will that be later? 4) Can you share the HM Passport Office strategic technical architecture and technologies? 1. Yes, mid-Feb in London 2. Evidence of capabilities and experience 3. HMPO will give further context on delivery approach at supplier briefing 4. Please find the Tech stack and hosting details attached.Please ignore the response provided for question 2 and refer to the above for the correct guidance. 71. Is there a preferred system operating environment that the system should be built for? If so, please can you advise on details (e.g. operating system, databases, middleware, etc)? Please find the tech stack attached.Please ignore the response provided for question 31 and refer to the above for the correct guidance. 72. Presumably there is an existing investment in infrastructure and platforms for other systems. Is there an expectation that this product will be built on those same platforms, and if so would it be possible to share details in terms of hosting and tech stack? Tech stack attached.Please ignore the response provided for question 68 and refer to the above for the correct guidance. 73. Tech Stack Summary Tech StackSummaryA core set of technologies has been chosen. All services are expected to use these by default. Exceptions need to be approved via the Technical Design Authority. 74. Tech Stack Summary (continued) Programming Language -Java 8Server Side (REST) - DropwizardClient Side - Node.js HMPO FormsClient Side Form Development-- (https://github.com/UKHomeOffice/passports-form-wizard)Architecture- MicroservicesSCM- GITSCM Repo- GitlabGit Branching model- GitHub FlowJSON Serialization - Jackson (Java)Workflow- Activiti (BPM)Dependency Injection- SpringDatabase (Relational)- PostgresDatabase (Non-Relational)- MongoDBObject Relational Mapping (ORM)- Hibernate (Java)Unit Testing- JunitLogging Facade- SLF4JLogging Framework- LogbackBuild Tool- MavenREST API Documentation- SwaggerUI Unit Testing- Selenium HtmlUnit driverCI- JenkinsConfig Management- PuppetHosting- AWSPerformance Testing - GatlingMetrics- Graphite/GrafanaLogging- ELK (Elastic Search, Logstash, Kibana)