Contracted out managed services for Ingres and OpenROAD support

Description

Summary of the work ONS requires a contracted-out Service requirement for support of live Ingres, ABF and OpenROAD systems. This includes the technical support and Ingres / OpenROAD admin (DBA) for key ONS systems. Expected Contract Length 2 years Latest start date Monday 28 February 2022 Why the Work is Being Done ONS has a requirement for support of live Ingres, ABF and OpenROAD systems. This includes the technical support of key ONS systems and: (1) Ensuring the robustness and reliability of existing systems. (2) Identifying any risks pertaining to the maintaining the ONS Ingres and OpenROAD systems in scope and take specific actions to reduce these risks in line with the ONS strategic business plan and risk appetite. (3) Resolving incidents and requests raised on Service desk. (4) Managing Change requests that meet strategic, legislative, fix-on-fail, or automation criteria. (5) Responsibility for all Ingres and OpenROAD admin, including installing and configuring software, managing and restoring backups in line with the ONS ITDR policy. (6) Supporting legacy uplift and transformation work for legacy systems as guided by ONS Problem to Be Solved ONS has a large and complex Ingres/OpenROAD estate and high number of business users. These live systems support key ONS outputs. ONS has a requirement to ensure we have sufficient capability to support and administer these existing systems as part of BAU until they are transformed. This includes working closely with key business stakeholders and managing requests that are legislative, strategic, or fix-on-fail and automating repeatable tasks where appropriate and the effort to do so can be absorbed within BAU. The supplier will be required to closely follow Actian’s maintenance and upgrade path for Ingres and OpenROAD releases ensuring these systems remain in support. Who Are the Users As an Ingres/OpenROAD business user, the Authority needs to be assured that the systems supporting the processing of Business Survey data is appropriately configured/administered to meet the security needs of my data and ensure system availability. Existing Team The developer team will work with internal stakeholders across ONS to support business deliverables and key statistical outputs reliant on Ingres and OpenROAD. Working closely with a business Product Manager and their support team, to triage requests and solve incidents raised through ServiceNow. The Ingres/OpenROAD admin role (DBA) will work with both developers and DST Operations. The team will collaborate with by an ONS Delivery Manager overseeing day to day management of the whole support team and acts as an escalation point when required. Whilst the commercial relationship with Actian is managed by ONS, engagement with Actian will be required. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of extensive knowledge of RDBMS, Ingres, ABF and OpenROAD • Provide evidence via a successfully delivered contract of the ability to provide operational support for applications written in Ingres and ABF • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of advanced knowledge and experience of Ingres SQL and admin level operating system knowledge • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of installing and configuring Ingres and OpenROAD software on servers and laptops • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of monitoring and Administration using Ingres monitoring and admin tools • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of checkpointing databases and restoring from checkpoints • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of knowledge of SSH/SCP for moving files between servers and also WinSCP for moving files between Linux and Windows • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of troubleshooting software issues under daily running and during Ingres shutdown and startup • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of understanding of operating system level backups in order to collaborate effectively with Veeam/Netbackup team • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of knowledge of relationship between application servers and database servers using Netutil and the concept of ‘bridge servers’ • Experience of supporting business applications via a helpdesk and resolve incidents in line with Service Level Agreements (liaising directly with business stakeholders as required) • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of able to work on their own initiative, within agreed parameters and standards • Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of ensuring system documentation is consolidated, evolved and maintained, with knowledge transfer and support across wider technical teams Nice to Haves Provide evidence via a successful delivered contract of experience with Agile and DevSecOps techniques and methodologies Work Location Remote or flexible working as agreed by ONS in line with our hybrid working policies, or at supplier premises in Newport, London or Titchfield. In current circumstances, working from home is also an acceptable option as well as registered supplier business offices. This will be reviewed as government guidelines and policies change regarding home working. Some on site working may be required by prior agreement and in line with ONS hybrid working policies. Working Arrangments The team can operate from our office in Newport or remotely in line with our hybrid working policies. Some on site working or working outside IT SLA may be required by prior agreement and in line with ONS hybrid working policies. Expenses must be agreed in advance on a case-by-case basis in line with the ONS Travel and subsistence policy. Operational Support hours are currently 08:00-17:30, Monday - Friday. Meetings, telephone calls and collaboration work will be on Microsoft Teams. Security Clearance BPSS and SC Clearance required Additional T&Cs Please register on ONS e-sourcing platform In-tend. If your company is successful at the shortlisting stage, then the proposal will be issued via In-Tend https://in-tendhost.co.uk/ons/aspx/Home No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • The supplier must onboard no later than 28/02/22 and will be expected to undertake ONS mandatory training e.g. Security training • Provide evidence of how they will work with ONS to configure local software for each user to ensure the required access is at the appropriate level for each system • The systems support monthly, quarterly, or annual Business Surveys. Supplier to evidence how they would understand the scope of current Ingres and OpenROAD systems and how these meet user expectations. • Demonstrate the approach knowledge transfer, which will take up to 5 months, for each agreed role in the team structure, for both the front-end and back-end activities • Supplier to demonstrate how they collaborate with the ONS Delivery Manager and Product Owner and IT Operations staff to share, manage and prioritise live Service Desk requests and incidents • Supplier demonstrate how they would collaborate with ONS Delivery Manager and IT Operations teams, to manage any risks, issues and project deliverables that fall outside of the scope of BAU. • Supplier to demonstrate how they would engage with and measure the success of non-technical tasks, such as meetings with business representatives or in team planning meetings • Demonstrate how the supplier would work in conjunction with incumbent supplier’s Exit Plan, as defined in the SOW that specifically covers this, whereby a 5-month handover process will be followed. • The supplier to identify and support training needs for their staff to ensure familiarity with Ingres, ABF and OpenROAD are used in ONS for both front-end development and back-end admin. • Demonstrate a level of technical capability that in Ingres and OpenROAD, including DB Admin that adheres to our Corporate IT SLA of 8:00am - 5:30pm, Monday to Friday • The supplier will be expected to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the Divisional Business Continuity Plan and relevant system touch points in the IT Disaster Recovery Plan Cultural Fit Criteria • Supplier to indicate how they will work as team with our organisation and other suppliers • How will the supplier be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Supplier must demonstrate how they will take responsibility for their work • Supplier to explain how they will share knowledge and experience with other team members • Supplier to illustrate how they will work with business stakeholders with low technical expertise, practices and communication used • Supplier to attend and participate in agile ceremonies as required, supplier to demonstrate how they will support Agile delivery Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method Reference Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 15% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? "The evaluation team are all permanent ONS employees consisting of ;Head of IT ApplicationsHead of IT OperationsDelivery Manager - Collection SupportIT Operations Manager (Database, UNIX, Storage and Enterprise Admin)" 2. Who is the incumbent and how long they have been the incumbent? Diegesis Limited - 1 year and 11 months 3. Could you give an indication of budget please? ONS can provide an indictive non-committal budget of £2,000,000-£4,000,000. 4. 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? Key dates for this tender are;26/01/2022 - Shortlisting Notification Stage2/2/22 - Deadline for proposal submissionONS has decided not to undertake presentation for this requirement 17/07/2022 - Award Notification 5. Can you confirm if shortlisted suppliers will have the opportunity to present? As indicated within the advert there will be a proposal and then a reference request, there is no presentation requirement. 6. Has any external supplier been involved in the initial scoping work? If so, who? The scoping has been undertaken by permanent ONS employees only which are the stakeholders for this requirement. 7. With a required start date of the 28th February 2022 specified, does this mean that the current incumbent’s contract will now run until July 2022 with service commencement for the new provider from 1st August 2022? Yes. ONS is using the 25% extension (2 years plus 6 months) to ensure a complete handover is undertaken. The new provider will be expected to start the contract from 28th February 2022 working with the incumbent provider whilst their formal exit plan. The end of this transition period will be the 30th September 2022 where the new supplier will be sole supplier. 8. Under this contract, will TUPE apply in respect of the in-scope services? No 9. What percentage of the work relates to Development and Change vs BAU? Is this likely to increase, decrease or be stable over the contract term? It is likely that development and change work is to be a very small percentage as there no intention to increase development work beyond the scope of the current support requirement and over the duration of the contract. Any development work of this nature is likely to decrease. The only exception, is work which the developer team may be required to undertake to aid other ONS projects, such as supporting infrastructure upgrades, or supporting strategic transformation work that reduces the reliance on Ingres or OpenROAD, as deemed appropriate. 10. Are there any major change projects underway or planned? There are no major change projects underway, or planned, that fall within the scope of this support requirement. 11. Can the Authority provide further detail on SLAs required for services and outline if there has been any current service performance issues encountered or areas for improvement identified? "ONS has an IT SLA that follows our Operational Support hours of 0800-1730 Monday - Friday. Any work required outside of these hours will be undertaken with prior agreement of ONS and the supplier in line with our current hybrid working policies.There are no current service performance issues. The developer support team may identify improvements, such as manual tasks which could be automated, which are acceptable providing they support the robustness and reliability of existing systems and align to the Digital Services and Technology (DST) Technology Strategy. 12. We note that both BPSS and SC are required. Can you detail the roles and amount that require SC Clearance? To align to the ONS security strategy all staff members, including temporary staff or contractors must have a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check performed which allows them access to Official assets. Security Check (SC) is mandatory for all the roles within this developer support team which will involve working with sensitive data, in bulk through large extracts and/or with entire live data sets. 13. Can you detail the current team supporting the system by roles and quantity? The existing team structure is currently two Lead Consultants, one Senior Developer who also holds the Project Manager role, and seven Developers. 14. Can you please advise why TUPE will not apply to this contract? ONS can confirm that TUPE - does not apply from Buyer to SupplierSecond generation TUPE may apply between Supplier to Supplier.