IT17533 UK Space Agency Digital Licensing Service - Alpha phase

Description

Summary of the work Driven by UK Government’s commitment to space industry growth, the UK must be ready to license space launches from 2020. The UK Space Agency will need a digital service to be developed for operators to apply and be granted licences for UK space activities via a simple-to-use web portal. Expected Contract Length Alpha phase - 3 months Latest start date Monday 26 February 2018 Budget Range Alpha phase £395,000.00 Excluding VAT. Why the Work is Being Done The digital licensing service will support operators applying for licences under the Space Industry Bill and Outer Space Act. The Space Industry Bill is going through Parliament in this session and is expected to be laid in early 2018. The licensing service needs to be at a public beta phase ready for the first spaceport and launch operators in the summer of 2018. Problem to Be Solved The UK Space Agency will be the regulator for these activities (together with support from the Civil Aviation Authority and Health & Safety Executive) and will grant licences to spaceport and launch operators. Space industry operators need a straightforward “single front door” into UK government regulators; the UKSA wishes to manage licensing via a Government Digital Service. A joined-up approach to licensing and regulation is important for operators and will make the UK a less bureaucratic and more attractive place for conducting launches and spaceflight activities than other launching nations. Who Are the Users As a Spaceport Operator, I need a licence to operate, so that I provide safe and regulated launch facilities. As a Range Control Services Provider, I need a licence, so that I provide a regulated zone of exclusion for UK launches. As a Launch Vehicle Operator, I need a licence to launch, so that I undertake regulated space missions from the UK. As a Payload Operator, I need a licence so that I can operate a payload in orbit. As a Regulator, I need to oversee licence applications, so that I can permit UK spaceflight activities in accordance with legislation. Early Market Engagement No market engagement for the alpha phase has been undertaken. Work Already Done Pre-Discovery work was completed in October 2017. A Discovery phase will be completed on 31st January 2018. The Discovery phase has produced user needs matrix, pen portraits and a draft service blueprint, concentrating on the Regulator and Payload Operator users. Existing Team The UK Space Agency team will include a product owner, service manager and part time support from the regulatory reform and policy team. Subject matter experts will be available from the UK Space Agency, HSE and Civil Aviation Authority. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • 1. Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to • Simplifying complex (but well understood) business work-flows into designs for a simple-to-use web based interface and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 8 points • Undertake user research with a niche group of technical experts from the space industry and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 6 points • Migrate your development environments on to a production environment hosted by a third party cloud provider and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 3 points • Create web-based dashboard designs that are clear and uncomplicated and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 6 points • Reduce any training burden for users and managers of the digital licensing service and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 6 points Nice to Haves • 1. Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to: • Work at pace and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 3 points • In working with similar technology & innovation based government departments to provide digital services and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 1 point Work Location UK Space Agency, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon and occasionally at the Dept. for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Victoria Street, London Working Arrangments Weekly (1day) face to face meetings onsite in Swindon or London during Alpha Phase. Attendance at several industry engagement events and workshops scheduled over the Alpha phase to undertake further user research and validation of any alpha prototypes. These events will be typically one or two day duration. Some visits to potential operators’ premises at various locations in the UK, including Scotland and South West England. Remote working/teleconferencing where possible. Security Clearance BC and Disclosure Scotland required. Additional T&Cs Not Applicable No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution - 4 points • How the approach or solution meets user needs - 8 points • How the approach or solution meets your organisation’s policy or goal - 8 points • Estimated timeframes for the work - 1 point • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them - 2 points • Team structure - 4 points Cultural Fit Criteria • 1. Demonstrate how you will collaborate with the UK Space Agency to prioritise user needs based on research in the Discovery phase –5 points • 2. Demonstrate how you will demonstrate designs to the UK Space Agency that address specific user stories based on research – 10 points • 3. Demonstrate how you will provide updates on risks to the project and report on progress of work to the UK Space Agency – 5 points Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Who is undertaking the Discovery phase cxpartners are undertaking the Discovery phase. 2. The stated budget of £395k sounds very high for the scope and length of the contract. Can you confirm whether this figure is correct? This figure is correct. This reflects the scope of the work envisaged under the Alpha phase 3. Question 1 appears unclear, please could you check what the 100 word response should refer to? Please do not provide a response to that statement as it is not a question that will be scored. Due to the word limit when posting criteria the question has been split into two parts. 4. Will the scope of the Alpha phase also focus on the Regulator and Payload Operator users? The Alpha phase will include all users of the service including Regulator and Payload Operators 5. Will further research be needed to define processes for the other users as part of Alpha or will these be added later? Yes, it is expected that further user research will be conducted for Spaceport, Range and Launch Operators in Alpha 6. Is there a platform established for Alpha or is that at the supplier's discretion? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. 7. In relation to the requirement: "user research with a niche group of technical experts from the space industry" As a organisation we have plenty of experience of doing this with technical experts from a large range of industries. Do you specifically require space industry experience? The requirement is to provide evidence of a supplier's ability to assimilate and implement information on complex technical subjects quickly and accurately into their service designs. 8. Is it possible to arrange a short supplier phone call this week to get a better understanding of the requirement and clarify any questions? This is not possible at this stage of the process. Additional information will be provided to shortlisted suppliers. 9. Please can you advise who is undertaking the Discovery work? cxpartners are undertaking the Discovery phase. 10. Some government agencies that we work with provide their own user researcher. Just to confirm, are you expecting the supplier to provide this resource? Yes - we are expecting the supplier to provide user research resource 11. Given that this opportunity is identical in wording to the Discovery phase, is the expected outcome for Alpha the same - ie more user experience research, or are there any technical outcomes expected. For instance, is there a desire to demonstrate technical feasibility of a particular solution in a cloud environment with associated CI/CD pipeline and clickable prototypes, or more focus on non-functional prototypes and user testing. The expected outcome of the Alpha phase is different to the Discovery phase. Specifically in the Alpha phase the requirement will be to build prototypes of the service,test the prototypes with users and be able to demonstrate that the service we want to build is technically possible 12. It says that "BC and Disclosure Scotland required." Will you sponsor this? If not, when must this be in place for and can company personnel undergo this process without being sponsored? All personnel must have BC and Disclosure Scotland before start of contract. We will not sponsor this, however application for basic disclosure does not need sponsorship. Please see https://www.mygov.scot/basic-disclosure/apply-for-basic-disclosure/ for further details. 13. What are the expected team roles you expect the supplier to provide? We would like bidders to tell us how they would propose resourcing this project, and the approach they would take. The UK Space Agency will provide Product Owner and Service Manager resources. 14. Can the supplier choose which technology stack to use? Yes, subject to the service standards expected from GDS, information assurance, open government licensing rules, any interoperability constraints or commercial procurement rules. 15. The opening statement for the Essential and Nice to Have questions require a 100 word response as part of the application - however those parts do not have any evaluation points allocated to them. How should suppliers respond? e.g. Qu 1 of the Essential Skills asks "Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to:" This in itself is not a question but requires a 100 word response. How should suppliers respond? Please do not provide a response to that statement as it is not a question that will be scored. Due to the word limit when posting criteria the question has been split into two parts. 16. Could you please confirm that we are not required to provide a 100 word answer against the first bullet point, starting “1. Demonstrate how you will …” Please do not provide a response to that statement as it is not a question that will be scored. Due to the word limit when posting criteria the question has been split into two parts. 17. You refer to multiple work locations, could you please clarify where you expect the team to be principally based (eg, Swindon, 1 Victoria Street, supplier offices) beyond specified meetings / site / conference visits? It is expected that the team will be able to work remotely for the majority of the time and that the majority of face-to-face meetings will be in London, although some meetings will take place in Swindon or at user premises around the UK. 18. Could you please clarify the expected outputs of the Alpha phase and their state of completion. Is it a validated design or a deployed digital service? "Specifically in the Alpha phase the requirement will be to build prototypes of the service,test the prototypes with users and be able to demonstrate that the service we want to build is technically possible. Before any service is deployed, it will require assessment at a subsequent Beta phase not within scope of this Alpha procurement" 19. If shortlisted, will suppliers have access to the Pre-Discovery / Discovery findings and artefacts to help formulate an approach to Alpha? Yes. The Discovery phase output will be shared with shortlisted suppliers. 20. As well as the user needs matrix, pen portraits and a draft service blueprint, will there be a prioritised list of user stories from Discovery? We wont be providing a copy of the draft service blueprint, we will be providing the final copy with shortlisted suppliers. 21. Was there any technical architecture or planning work done in the Discovery phase? Yes. A high level architecture has been generated. This will be shared with the shortlisted suppliers. 22. Can you clarify why the Regulators and Payload Operators have been prioritised in the Discovery phase? The Discovery phase has done a basic level of research across all users of the service. Regulators and Payload Operators have been addressed earlier to synchronise with the timings for the development of legislation and the availability of users for research 23. Can you provide more information on the draft status of the service blueprint? Is it draft because of additional discovery work required on the other three users? The Discovery phase is still in progress and will complete at the end of January. Further work is still to be done on the service blueprint during this period which is why it is still in draft. 24. Has there been any discussion or definition during Discovery of the MVP to be delivered for the public beta in Summer 2018? There has been some discussion of the MVP, although the work required to demonstrate the feasibility of the service is in the scope of the Alpha phase not the Discovery phase. 25. What is the basis coming out of Discovery for suggesting 3 months for the Alpha phase? The duration for alpha is based on the experience gained during Discovery on the scope and scale of the service 26. Two of the outputs of Discovery should be a plan for how to meet government accessibility requirements, and an outline of the assisted digital requirements – will these be available at the start of the Alpha phase? All aspects of the Digital Service Standard, including Assisted Digital have been considered during the Discovery phase and this will be made available to shortlisted suppliers. 27. What would the handover arrangements from the Discovery phase vendor involve? A complete and comprehensive package of Discovery artefacts will be available to the Alpha phase supplier 28. What specific success criteria for the Alpha phase were determined in Discovery? The Alpha phase requirement will be to build prototypes of the service, test the prototypes with users and be able to demonstrate that the service we want to build is technically possible 29. Will the Alpha solution have to cover for all users’ taskflows, or only the two prioritised in the Discovery phase? All users' taskflows will be addressed during the Alpha phase 30. As the Regulator and Payload Operator users were the focus of the Discovery phase, will the other three users be similar enough that that research can be applied to them as well, or will they require additional discovery? There is commonality between the user stories for all users of the service. The specific areas of difference between them will be researched further during Alpha 31. What is the preference as to whether the outputs of Alpha should be technical prototypes demonstrating system integrations, or limited to interactive prototypes that demonstrate fulfilment of user requirements? Both types of output would be desirable for the Alpha phase 32. What regulations additional to those from UK Space, HSE and the CAA need to be taken into account? E.g. GDPR. In addition to the regulation originating from the Space Industry Bill and Outer Space Act, the service will address all of the criteria in the Digital Service Standard. Understanding security and privacy issues (point 7) which includes taking into account GDPR is an essential part of the service. 33. Is the portal design expected to be responsive and/or mobile-friendly? Yes, this is in accordance with the Digital Service Standard criteria. Specifically making the user experience consistent with GOV.UK 34. What quality metrics for Alpha phase prototypes have been defined during Discovery? The Alpha phase requirement will be to build prototypes of the service, test the prototypes with users and be able to demonstrate that the service we want to build is technically possible. The quality metrics for these outcomes are in accordance with the Digital Service Standard 35. Please confirm that users of the digital licensing service will access it via GOV.UK? Yes, the service will be designed in accordance with the Digital Service Standard 36. What is the preferred technology stack for the Alpha/Beta phases? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 37. If different vendors are selected for the Alpha and Beta phases, what level of ongoing support involvement should the Alpha vendor expect to contribute, if any? The Alpha and Beta phases are being procured separately. There is no expected level of involvement of ongoing support expected from the Alpha supplier, other than a structured handover to the Beta phase supplier. 38. Will the UK Space Agency team require additional Agile education and training? No formal training is envisaged at this time. 39. Please confirm when you are expecting to use the points system in the evaluation process? Evaluation for each stage will be completed in accordance with the Digital Outcomes and Specialists Buyers Guide. 40. At the shortlisting stage, are the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience weighted equally? If not, can you please provide the weightings for each. Evaluation for each stage will be completed in accordance with the Digital Outcomes and Specialists Buyers Guide. 41. What are the expected dates for the Presentations of those shortlisted? W/C 12th February 42. Has the pre-Discovery and Discovery activity been undertaken by UKSA independently or with a partner? If the latter, are you able to confirm who the partner is? The supplier for the Discovery Phase is cxpartners 43. Has your work to date directed you towards any particular technology solution? Particularly, are there any technologies that you would be excluding from your assessment process? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 44. Please can we see a copy of the pre-Discovery report for this project? There is no pre-Discovery report for the project, although there are a number of artefacts that were created before Discovery. As expected, the Discovery phase has built on these and adapted our thinking about the service. It would be more informative to use the outputs of the Discovery phase going forward into the Alpha. These utputs will be shared with the shortlisted suppliers. 45. If there is anything that can be shared of the Discovery report already, please can that be communicated, for example the pen portraits and draft service blueprint? We wont be providing a copy of the draft service blueprint, we will be providing the final copy with shortlisted suppliers. 46. If the selected agency could start before February 26th, would this be acceptable? The procurement schedule has an estimated contract award for Alpha phase planned for 23rd February. It is not possible for the contract to commence prior to this date. 47. In the section "Why the work is being done", it is noted that the service must be in public Beta in summer of 2018. Is there any more accurate view as to the deadline for launch of the Public Beta? There is no more accurate view for the precise date of Beta at this time. 48. Will the service be going through the standard GDS Assessment at Alpha and Beta phases? Yes. It is expected that assessments of the service will happen before we proceed to a Beta phase. 49. Are there any existing systems into which this service needs to integrate with or exchange data with, for example any existing master Operator database / data warehouses? No. There are no existing systems. 50. Will regulators belong to the UK Space Agency? Are the posts already in place to manage this service? Yes. UK Space Activity will be regulated by the UK Space Agency in partnership with other regulators, specifically the Civil Aviation Authority and Health & Safety Executive. The UK Space Agency will be the Service Manager. 51. Are there any other government departments, agencies or third-parties engaged in the issuance of the various licenses, or consultation leading to issuance? Yes. There are several organisations involved with the regulation of UK Space Activity. These include the Civil Aviation Authority and Health & Safety Executive. All information on the Space Industry Bill is publicly available. 52. To what extent will the creation of the service include ways of working, i.e. true end-to-end service design? The service will be built in accordance with the Digital Service Standard. Specifically point 10 which requires evidence of an end-to-end service and an effective deployment environment. 53. Have any technology decisions already been taken? If so, please could these be shared? If not, are there favoured technologies within the UK Space Agency that should be adopted? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 54. Has a decision been taken on the third-party cloud hosting provider? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 55. Would it be possible to get some clarity on the following question, "Migrate your development environments on to a production environment hosted by a third party cloud provider and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project.". Is this about the migration of development from one cloud provider to another or the service transition from development/test into production (on an existing or our choice of Cloud provider)? This refers to the requirement for the service to be migrated from a development environment to a production environment. No technology stack or third part cloud provider has been chosen during the Discovery phase intentionally. 56. Please confirm that the first response box on both parts is or the response is an error and can be ignored? Please do not provide a response to that statement as it is not a question that will be scored. Due to the word limit when posting criteria the question has been split into two parts. 57. Is the research for the Alpha phase building on existing research from Discovery or with a completely new set of users? If possible, can you please provide a approximation of the amount of research and geographical spread of the technical experts? The Alpha phase will build on the existing user research conducted in Discovery. In accordance with the Digital Service Standard, there will be ongoing user research during the Alpha phase. Service users are geographically spread across the UK, although our experience during the Discovery phase has shown that most users spend regular amounts of time in London, or at venues such as the Satellite Catapult in Harwell. We expect several different operators for each licence type to take part in the user research. 58. With regards migrating the development environment to production on the cloud, do you have a third-party cloud provider in mind or will this be a requirement of the Supplier to identify the best solution for the UK Space agency? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 59. Are you able at this stage to provide a high level overview of the key business work-flows and user actions that the web-based interface will provide for operators? This is one of the outcomes of the Discovery phase and will be provided to the shortlisted suppliers. 60. You have listed several users (Spaceport Operator, Range control Services Provider, Launch Vehicle Operator etc.) in the RFP. Are these also the niche group of technical experts from the space industry that will form the user panel for user research? If not, please confirm who will. Yes these are the niche group of technical experts. 61. The Discovery phase has produced user needs matrix, pen portraits and a draft service blueprint, concentrating on the Regulator and Payload Operator users."" Has this work been completed by process actors/representatives, or business improvement specialists? Similarly, can you please explain what methods and techniques have been used and the level of details completed e.g. processes mapped to APQC level 3?" The user research has been conducted with the operators who will be using the service in the future. A mixture of industry-standard user research techniques have been used to undertake the research. 62. A Discovery phase will be completed on 31st January 2018" - can you please confirm if a supplier is engaged with supporting this Discovery phase? The supplier for the Discovery Phase is cxpartners 63. Will you be providing a Q&A session for prospective suppliers? If so, when will this take place? This is not possible at this stage of the process. Additional information will be provided to shortlisted suppliers. 64. Please advise if an official project plan is available with indicative timescales for delivery? A high level plan for the different service development phases has been generated. It is expected that the supplier of the Alpha phase will generate the detailed project plan as part of the work. 65. As part of this process, will we be allowed to meet the UK Space Agency stakeholders to understand what key decision makers see as a successful outcome for this engagement and how to best approach the project – both technically and commercially? This is not possible as part of this procurement process. The UK Space Agency are actively involved with the Digital Licensing Service as part of their Regulatory Reform programme. A product owner for the service will be provided by the UK Space Agency throughout Alpha. 66. Is there an agreed enterprise/digital architecture available for UK Space Agency that we can review? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally. This will be available to the shortlisted suppliers. 67. Will UK Space Agency support application for security clearance if not available today? All personnel must have BC and Disclosure Scotland before start of contract. We will not sponsor this, however application for basic disclosure does not need sponsorship. Please see https://www.mygov.scot/basic-disclosure/apply-for-basic-disclosure/ for further details. 68. Please can you clarify what will be the controlling scope that determines the completion against a capped T&M payment approach? A Product Owner for the service will be provided by the UK Space Agency throughout the Alpha phase. The Product Owner will control the scope for this phase in accordance with the Digital Service Standard 69. Have existing third party suppliers been working with UK Space Agency to help shape your thinking on this project? If so, who has been involved to date? Yes, the supplier for the Discovery Phase is cxpartners 70. Will a GDS compliance assessment be undertaken during the project? Yes. The project is operating in accordance with the Digital Service Standard 71. "Weekly (1day) face to face meetings onsite in Swindon or London during Alpha Phase." Who are the face to face meetings aimed at regarding vendors ? Project Managers?, Developers? Programme Managers? Testers? What is the objective of these meetings? Will these meeting be available online and or collaborative software with shared environments (Slack, Yammer, Jive, type social software?)" These will be regular stand-up type meetings for the Product Owner and Delivery team, in accordance with an Agile delivery approach. Online and collaborative software tools that support an agile approach are welcomed. 72. "Attendance at several industry engagement events and workshops scheduled over the Alpha phase to undertake further user research and validation of any alpha prototypes. These events will be typically one or two day duration." Is this wireframe, user experience type individuals(UX) or Analyst/Dev or Project Manager or maybe whole team? These events will be attended by the most appropriate members of the team. It is expected that they will be used to conduct user research, prototype testing and to allow the supplier to interact and immerse themselves within the user community 73. "Some visits to potential operators’ premises at various locations in the UK, including Scotland and South West England." What is meant by operator? In this context the operators mean the users of the service. Four main categories of operator will be eligible to be licensed to undertake UK Space Activity under the Space Industry Bill and Outer Space Act. (Payload operators, launch service providers, range control service providers and spaceport operators) 74. "Remote working/teleconferencing where possible." Will you provide the security devices? Will separate secure encrypted laptops/PC's be required for development? The development of the service will require the supplier to be able to manage and assure working with official information. There is no requirement for the handling of higher classified material. The development and production platforms used by the service will be on government assured platforms in accordance with the Digital Service Standard. 75. Can you please provide a complete list of technical constraints for designing web-based interfaces? e.g. What Browser and version? HTML5? Any restrictions of technology Javascript? Responsive Web Design for Mobile Browser? This information is expected to be generated as part of the Alpha phase, in accordance with the Digital Service Standard - specifically point 10 regarding the testing of the end-to-end service. 76. Are you able to provide a Terms of Reference for what's in and out of scope? Is there a Stakeholder who can validate inclusion versus non-inclusion A Product Owner for the service will be provided by the UK Space Agency throughout the Alpha phase. The Product Owner will control the scope for this phase in accordance with the Digital Service Standard 77. Do you want an Agile Framework adoption and if so have you a preferred methodology for vendors to use? (SAFe for example)" It is for the bidders to propose the appropriate methodology in accordance with the Digital Service Standard. 78. Migrate your development environments on to a production environment hosted by a third party cloud provider and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 3 points Do you have a preferred cloud environment? AWS, AZURE etc.? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally. This will be available to shortlisted suppliers 79. When you say cloud do you want a virtual machine running on cloud server or truly multi-tenanted solution using features widely available on cloud platforms such as database, content distribution, encryption of data at rest? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally. This will be available to the shortlisted suppliers. 80. Do you practise the and adhere to the Government Design Principals for Accessibility etc? Yes. All aspects of the Digital Service Standard, including Assisted Digital support have been considered during the Discovery phase and will be implemented in the future development of the service 81. Reduce any training burden for users and managers of the digital licensing service and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 6 points Without seeing the designs its difficult to comprehend to what level training and enablement might be required. Are there any restrictions from using Computer Based Training and/or Wizard like to training technology to help users populate data with meaningful and correct data? No, there are no restrictions on the type or scope of training or technology used to support users. The Alpha phase will explore this aspect of the service design in more detail as part of the ongoing user research. 82. Reduce any training burden for users and managers of the digital licensing service and how this will ensure the successful delivery of this project - 6 points" Is there an appetite for Robotic functions if data population from existing systems where data may reside but is difficult to extend (green screen mainframe for example)? At this phase, there are no restrictions on the type or scope of training or technology used to support users. The Alpha phase will explore this aspect of the service design in more detail as part of the ongoing user research. 83. Do you envisage the budget stated to be used for user research and analysis and the design and development of prototypes, i.e. it doesn't include creative UI design or build costs? "The budget for the Alpha phase includes provision to build prototypes of the service,test the prototypes with users and be able to demonstrate that the service we want to build is technically possible" 84. Who will do the creative design and web development for the portal? Will this be a separate tender opportunity? It is expected that the supplier for Alpha will do the creative design and web development for the service. There will not be any separate tender for this. 85. Was the pre-discovery work done by an agency who are able to submit a response to this tender? The Pre-Discovery work was completed by the UK Space Agency 86. Do you have easy access to the user type participants or do you expect the budget to incorporate a user recruitment strategy? The UK Space Agency has easy access to the users of the service. 87. ⁃ Is there an incumbent carrying out the Discovery? The supplier for the Discovery Phase is cxpartners 88. Who is carrying out the discovery? cxpartners are undertaking the Discovery phase. 89. Are the workflows to be developed expected to be static and hardcoded journeys through a defined set of steps, or dynamic and changing based on user responses? The user journeys will have a combination of defined steps with dynamic elements based on usr responses. 90. What has been the rationale for focusing on the regulator and payload operator users to date? With reference to this, do the spaceport operator, range control service provider and launch vehicle operator users exist yet? The Discovery phase has done a basic level of research across all users of the service. Regulators and Payload Operators have been addressed earlier to synchronise with the timings for the development of legislation and the availability of users for research 91. Will this Alpha go through a formal service assessment? Yes 92. Will the new service need to take payments? Has this been considered from a technical perspective as part of discovery? Yes 93. Will this be put on the existing UK Space Agency hosting infrastructure and website or independently? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally. This will be available to the shortlisted suppliers. 94. What level of authentication will be required by licence applicants to use the service In accordance with the Digital Service Standard, the service will take into account the user data and information that is provided, stored, the legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service. This forms the basis of the requirement for the level of authentication required to access the service. 95. What level of authentication will be required by UK Space Agency regulators to oversee and manage licence applications? In accordance with the Digital Service Standard, the service will take into account the user data and information that is provided, stored, the legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service. This forms the basis of the requirement for the level of authentication required to access the service. 96. Can you clarify what you mean by “dashboard designs”? Dashboard designs refers to te requirement for users of the service to have simple, easy-to-use interface to understand metrics about the service specific to their need. 97. We would like to confirm how the first stage evidence answers will be marked. We note the guidance on how to evaluate (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-shortlist-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-suppliers) explains how we are to give one example of where we have previously demonstrated the skill listed and that this will be scored from 0-3. Is this correct? Evaluation for each stage will be completed in accordance with the Digital Outcomes and Specialists Buyers Guide. 98. From the DOS guidelines (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-shortlist-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-suppliers), we expect to provide evidence of our companies specific skills and experience to the criteria listed. The skills listed seem to ask for our proposed approach to that skill as opposed to evidence of our previous experience in it. Can we ask which you would prefer from suppliers in this first round? Please respond as per the question in the Digital Marketplace. 99. Will the scores form the first stage (evidence answers) be taken forward to the final evaluation scores? We may use the scores from the first stage (shortlisting) within the final evaluation, if so all shortlisted suppliers will be asked for their permission for this to occur. 100. Question 1 (Demonstrate how you will apply your skills and expertise to) appears to be incomplete. Can you provide more detail / clarity? Please do not provide a response to that statement as it is not a question that will be scored. Due to the word limit when posting criteria the question has been split into two parts. 101. Has the third party cloud provider been chosen? A high level technical architecture for the service platform has been created. This will be used to inform the establishment of the platform required during the Alpha phase. No preferred technology stack has been chosen in the Discovery phase intentionally 102. Will you provide the extant results of the discovery to shortlisted agencies? [if the discovery agency is bidding - whether alone or in partnership - they will currently have a flying start on pitching. The more so as the Discovery and Alpha procurements are worded extremely similarly] The Discovery outputs will be shared with shortlisted suppliers.