RM1043.8-1-The National Crime Agency - Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Beta Delivery Partner

Description

Summary of work The National Crime Agency is seeking a delivery partner who can provide teams to work with the Agency to proceed through Beta to deliver the end-to-end SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) digital service. The Agency has completed Discovery and is in Alpha, developing prototypes and testing hypotheses to inform and shape the design of the end-to-end digital service. Individual statements of work (SoW) will be agreed and aligned to the discrete delivery activities require 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 There is a need for a flexible delivery partner to work collaboratively with NCA teams and other delivery partners to develop the remainder of the end-to-end service covering: receipt of SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports), triage, enrichment and sharing with related law enforcement organisations as part of the country’s fight against money laundering relating to serious organised crime and terrorist financing. The Agency is relatively new to agile delivery of digital services in the cloud but has recently delivered two new submission channels for SARs, an online portal and an API for bulk submissions. The Agency has completed a Discovery phase which has informed and shaped Alpha, due to complete mid-October 2023 The Agency requires, through this contract, capabilities to support the Agency through the Beta phase including development and initial support of the resultant digital service. It is currently anticipated that between two and three Scrum teams will be required, but welcome Suppliers’ input on the scale of proposed delivery and resource needs based upon similar experience from elsewhere in the public sector. The core capabilities for the proposed contract are: user research service design delivery management software development security architecture solution architecture data analytics This contract will satisfy an immediate need for agile delivery capability to meet the requirement of a specific business area whilst the Agency is transforming its DDaT capabilities and sourcing arrangements for service towers, including Application Development and Management Support. It is anticipated that longer term support and CI/CD delivery will transfer to the new ADMS provider. The business problem Serious organised crime and funded terrorism present real threats to UK society and the economy. Part of the Agency’s responsibilities includes working with law enforcement bodies, other parts of Government to identity threats and reduce harm by disrupting such activities. The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) is responsible for receiving, processing and sharing reports of suspicious financial activities with law enforcement partners in support of their efforts to disrupt and reduce serious organised crime and terrorist activity. The people who will use the product or service User type: Reporters and Law Enforcement Users Definition: The users of this service fall in to three broad communities: Reporters; UK Financial Intelligence Unit and wider NCA users; and law enforcement users in Regional Organised Crime Units, police constabularies, other government departments and agencies. The SARs regime seeks to make available at the earliest opportunity, high quality intelligence that can be used to combat threats from serious organised criminal and terrorist groups by disrupting their lines of money laundered funding. The users of the digital service need to: share detail of suspicious financial activities with the UK Financial Intelligence Unit, who in turn need to prioritise and enrich the data before sharing wider with law enforcement to contribute to inflight investigations or trigger new investigative activities. Quality, timeliness, enrichment and feedback to inform continuous improvement are key features of the service. Any pre-market engagement done Market engagement commenced in Autumn 2020 when an initial DOS competition was run to deliver the first part of the service. This focussed on data quality through the delivery of two new digital channels (an online portal and API for bulk) for the submission of SARs. Autumn 2022 saw a further DOS competition to secure additional capabilities required to assist the Agency through Discovery and Alpha for the development of the rest of the end-to-end digital service. This competition overlaps with the completion of Alpha to maintain delivery momentum. Work done so far The Agency has developed and implemented an initial release focussed on data quality through the delivery of two new digital channels (an online portal and API for bulk) for the submission of SARs. To ensure that the team are addressing the contemporary business problem, a Discovery has been completed which has shaped the Alpha phase that is currently in progress. Alpha is progressing with a multidisciplinary team in accordance with Service Manual guidance and will culminate in an end of Alpha Service Standard Assessment. User research has informed the high-level backlog of user needs, the service vision and roadmap. Technology choices are being tested through Alpha in accordance with the Technology Code of Practice, the Agency’s technology roadmap and legacy technology landscape. The winning Bidder will join the Agency team to progress Beta for the development of the rest of the end-to-end service. The SARs service is the first development in the Agency’s Microsoft Azure Cloud platform and bids are welcomed from suppliers that have experience working with clients in the early stages of their cloud adoption Which phase the project is in Alpha Existing team The supplier will work as part of a multidisciplinary team comprising colleagues from the NCA, contingent labour and other delivery partners. There is a wide range of stakeholders and users from both private and public sector and governance arrangements have been shaped accordingly to ensure wide participation and sponsorship. The Agency is seeking to develop enduring capability in the development and operation of contemporary digital services to ensure continuous evolution of services. Capability development and knowledge transfer will continue to be key aspects of this delivery. The Agency has developed product ownership and management capabilities which will continue to be drawn on from business areas. Over the period of the contract the Agency is procuring and on boarding new suppliers as part of the new service tower model, so the successful bidder will be required to work collaboratively with a range of incumbent and incoming service delivery partners. Address where the work will be done The SARs delivery team is primararily based at the NCA’s Vauxhall office in London, with team members, users and other stakeholders being based elsewhere around the country, so travel to other locations may be required occasionally. Like most organisations hybrid working in the office and remote is supported. The primary base will be detailed in each Statement of Work (SoW) and expenses will not form part of the cost unless the supplier is asked to work from a secondary location instead, e.g. If the SoW primary base is Vauxhall then no expenses will be paid for Vauxhall. Provision of service in the UK. Confirm that all work will be undertaken within the UK with no transfer of data, designs, services outside of the UK. Working arrangements Suppliers will deploy teams, or part teams, to deliver the outcomes defined in the agreed SoW. Whilst hybrid working is supported the teams are committed to fostering collaborative working and the need for colocation when the task and activities require it. Typical Beta teams will consist of: User Researchers, Service Designer, Interaction Designer, Product Manager, Delivery Manager, Technical Architects, Solution Architect, Developers, DevSecOps Engineers, Performance Analyst and Testers. We anticipate two or three scrum teams delivering concurrently with some roles potentially shared across teams. Security and vetting requirements Security Check (SC) More information about the Security requirements: Resources must be security cleared to the Agency’s Enhanced Security Clearance (SCe). If not currently held the resources must meet the criteria and be willing to go through the process. Existing SC or DV clearance whilst useful to inform the enhanced clearance, will not be sufficient to undertake this work for the NCA. Latest start date 14 February 2024 Expected contract length Contract length: 2 years 0 months 0 days Optional extension: 1 years 0 months 0 days Special terms and conditions special term or condition: The Agency will take forward up to five (5) Bidders through to the further assessment stage. All Bidders at this stage will need to complete and return an NCA 'Security Aspects Letter', which relates to the confidentiality and sensitivity of The Agency. Bidders who do not complete a Security Aspects Letter may have their bids rejected, and also will not receive answers to Bidder clarification questions that the Agency deems to be sensitive in nature. special term or condition: The Call-Off Contract will contain the Agency's "Special Terms and Conditions for Call-Off Contracts", which deals with the additional security requirements that the Agency has. A copy of these is available in teh documents section of the procurement gateway portal. special term or condition: All suppliers are obliged to provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures so that the processing meets the requirements of GDPR and ensures the protection of the rights of data subjects. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website:https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/ special term or condition: All expenses must be pre-agreed with between the parties and must comply with the NCA’s prevailing Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy Budget Indicative maximum: £9000000 Indicative minimum: £7000000 Contracted out service or supply of resource? Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply