Digital Trade Finance Service - Discovery, Alpha, Beta

Description

Summary of the work A Service Design agency to help UKEF deliver a new DTFS service to meet user needs and GDS service standards though discovery, alpha, beta to live. Expected Contract Length 2 years with option to extend 6 months Latest start date Monday 6 January 2020 Budget Range £400,000 Why the Work is Being Done UK Export Finance (UKEF) offers a digital service to five partner banks; the Digital Trade Finance Service (DTFS). A recent third party audit of DTFS established that the current service does not meet user needs or comply to GDS service standards. The audit recommends a GDS approved service design process to understand the business and users needs and redevelop the service to meet those needs and pass GDS service standards. To achieve this we aim to work with a service design agency to redevelop DTFS through a discovery, alpha, beta and live service Problem to Be Solved DTFS is not currently meeting the government’s 14-point Service Standard and will fail any future GDS service assessment. The service will not currently meet new legislation on accessibility coming into force on 23 September 2020. This means the service will be breaking the law. The service has been developed from stakeholder-led business requirements and does not effectively address user needs, either internally or externally. UKEF lacks service and UX design expertise to transform the service to meet these requirements. Who Are the Users Pre-discovery work so far has identified the following users Maker (Bank) - Provides export finance to the bank’s customer (exporter) and requests additional cover from UKEF. Checker (Bank) - Reviews finance deals raised by the maker and approves applications to UKEF. Underwriter (UKEF) - Reviews a deal request and approves cover. Inputter (UKEF) - Inputs deal information to internal systems. Approver (UKEF) - Ensures input data matches the deal. Post-issue management (UKEF) - point of contact for the banks after the point of issue. Deals with any amendments needed, as well as any general queries. Risk team member (UKEF) - Makes risk-based decisions on trade finance. Work Already Done We have commissioned research into accessibility and content design of the existing portal. We commissioned an agency to review DTFS and recommend an approach to take DTFS forward. Both of these projects were competed for through DOS and awarded to Cogworx A discovery report will be distributed to shortlisted suppliers. Existing Team UKEF have a small existing service team made up of product manager, delivery manager, BA, user researcher, developers, service owner and senior responsible owner. This team maintains the current DTFS service and will also work on the project from January. Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Demonstrate experience of successfully designing complex services using a pragmatic Agile service design approach • Demonstrate UX design experience aligned to GDS service standards, design patterns and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines • Demonstrate user research and content design expertise in aligned to GDS service standards • Demonstrate your service design approach to the discovery and alpha phase of a digital service project. • Demonstrate experience of collaborative working with a client's ‘in-house’ teams, including coaching and mentoring, and knowledge sharing. Nice to Haves • Demonstrate experience of transforming a digital service within the public sector • Demonstrate experience of transforming a digital service within the financial sector Work Location UK Export Finance 1 Horse Guards Rd, Westminster, London SW1A 2HQ Working Arrangments The supplier will work as part of a multi-disciplined matrix team in agile sprints, predominately in our London office Security Clearance All staff should have minimum CTC level security clearance in place before work is started or be prepared to undergo security clearance process. Additional T&Cs Pricing will be based on capped time & materials but the Buyer will reserve the right in the contract to use alternative payment mechanisms e.g. T&M or Fixed Price for future SoWs. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Detail your Discovery approach, including timescales and sprint plan and how you will ensure the outputs can be used for any potential Alpha phase • Describe your approach to research and understand the case management landscape across both public and private sectors • Detail your approach to Alpha including timescales and sprint plan and how will present this to decision makers with UKEF • Detail your approach to Beta, including timescales and sprint plan and how you will ensure skills and knowledge are transferred to UKEF • Detail how you will validate and expand on the identified user needs and personas • Demonstrate your approach to mapping user journeys and creation of user personas • Describe your approach to change the mindsets and culture of stakeholders at all levels of UKEF while transforming the service to be compliant with GDS Service Standard • Describe your approach to transforming the non-compliant service to a service compliant with the GDS Service Standard Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate your ability to deliver in an open, collaborate, agile way according to the principles outlined in the Government Service Design Manual • Demonstrate how you will build capability within the existing service team • Demonstrate your ability to adapt your approach when dealing with blockers Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is the budget stated for the discovery phase alone or is this budget for all phases up to live? The £400,000 budget is for Discovery, Alpha and Beta 2. Are you expecting that the supplier team will supplement the existing team with mainly a delivery team (full stack developers) or a full scrum team? How do envisage this co-working? We hope the supplier team will supplement the existing team with service delivery and UX design skill and also user research and content design support. The development team will be procured separately. 3. How many people do you see working under the budget specified for 2 years? What kind of roles these individuals would hold? Would you still be using your in-house development team? The development team will be procured in a separate procurement. We expect the supplier to provide Service design and UX design resource for two years. It is up to the supplier to propose the working patterns for each project phase. We also hope for UR and content design support for the period. 4. The brief mentions pre-discovery work and a discovery report. Will discovery have been completed by the time this contract commences? A small discovery has been completed to help inform this procurement. We expect a full conclusive discovery to be completed as part of this project. 5. What are the planned timings for the project phases? Currently a 3 month discovery is planned. Timings for phases should be proposed by the supplier 6. Are there any technology constraints or preferences to be aware of for future phases? No known technology contraints. 7. Is the £400,000 budget realistic to deliver all three phases? The £400,000 budget is for Discovery, Alpha and Beta 8. How likely is it that a potential change of government could deprioritise this piece of work? We believe this is an unlikely outcome. 9. Is it possible to see documentation of the pre-discovery work mentioned? Short listed suppliers will have access to the pre-discovery report 10. Please can you confirm if the budget quoted (£400,000) covers Discovery and Alpha only or covers Discovery, Alpha and Beta? The £400,000 budget is for Discovery, Alpha and Beta 11. Is the budget inclusive or exclusive of VAT? Exclusive of VAT 12. What roles are you expecting suppliers to provide? In addition, are you expecting all roles to have the ability to be full time? We'd like the supplier to provide Service design and UX design roles and help our own staff with UR and content design 13. In order to compare suppliers like for like, how will price be evaluated? Price will be evaluated by a combination of role/grade rate card and overall estimated costs. This will be confirmed with shortlisted suppliers at the request for proposal stage. 14. Will the scores from the evidencing round be taken through to final evaluation? Or will they only be used for the purposes of shortlisting suppliers? Scores will be taken through to the 2nd round. 15. What roles are UKEF expecting to provide and will these be full time? We'd like the supplier to provide Service design and UX design roles and help our own staff with UR and content design. We expect the supplier to propose appropriate working hours for each role depending on the project phase. 16. Will you be providing a Product Owner and will they be full time? Yes, we will have a full time product owner 17. Are you able to recruit and provide access to users for the purpose of user research? Yes, we will be able to recruit users for UR. 18. Is there a preferred technology stack within your estate? No 19. Is there an expectation for how long during a week you would like suppliers onsite? We'd like suppliers to be on-site as much as possible to work in a multi-disciplined matrix team. 20. Will you be able to organise access to stakeholders throughout the project? Yes 21. Are you looking for an organisation with GDS assessment experience or just certain individuals proposed in the supplier team? Ideally organisation wide experience but valid experience of individuals is acceptable 22. For the first evaluation round (evidence), what would you expect to see from an answer for it to be deemed 'exceeding' and score 3 marks? As per the guidance on the Digital Marketplace https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-sell-your-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-services we would recommend SMART answers (or similar) when providing your evidence. To exceed the criteria suppliers should be able to demonstrate relevant examples that go above and beyond what is requested in the criteria. It is not for DIT to specify exactly what constitutes a 3, but rather for the supplier to show exceptional skills and experience in the specific area. 23. As per DOS guidelines 'You should only provide one example for each essential or nice-to-have requirement', are you only requesting one example per skills and experience question? Yes 24. How would you like suppliers to present expenses (separate rechargeable or included in day rates based on assumption for travel)? Included 25. Do you either require or prefer that public sector examples are cited rather than private sector examples? Or, if we have a relevant private sector example, will it be given equal consideration to a public sector example? We would prefer public sector examples but relevant private sector examples will also be considered. 26. Are the outcomes of the third party Audit the same as the discovery report findings that will be shared with the shortlisted suppliers? If not, can this be shared? Yes 27. Could you please explain the rationale for CTC level security? Would you sponsor CTC for the awarded supplier? CTC clearance is required to work on-site at UKEF offices. 28. This requirement is for Discovery through to Live. However, you are only asking for experience in Discovery and Alpha. Would you find it more valuable to have experience delivering services from Discovery through to Live? Yes 29. Cogworks are an incumbent provider. Are you able to explain how will you ensure a fair and level competition? The incumbent supplier completed a high level discovery, of which the discovery report will be shared with shortlisted suppliers. 30. Is this budget to cover Discovery through to Live? If not, which phases is it expected to cover? The budget covers all phases although the resource profile is likely to be heavier in some phases than others. 31. You have highlighted that the initial Discovery was completed by Cogworx. Are we to assume that Cogworx is part of the ongoing procurement? No, we are unable to see which suppliers are applying for the opportunity until it closes. The incumbent has had no involvement in the procurement. 32. Is there an incumbent supplier who has been involved in this project so far, in any capacity? The incumbent supplier completed a high level discovery, of which the discovery report will be shared with shortlisted suppliers. 33. Has there been any pre-market engagement and if so which suppliers have been engaged? No pre-market engagement has been carried out with suppliers. 34. Has any incumbent supplier been involved in any capacity (e.g., helping to draft the specification for this opportunity) or will they be involved in the selection process? No, we are unable to see which suppliers are applying for the opportunity until it closes. The incumbent has had no involvement in the procurement and is no longer working on site. They will not be involved in the selection process. 35. Are you using standard scoring and, if so, how does a supplier achieve a 3 versus a 2 on this opportunity for the essential and nice-to-haves? If you are not using standard scoring, can you please explain your scoring methodology? The framework scoring matrix will be used. As per the guidance on the Digital Marketplace https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-sell-your-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-services we would recommend SMART answers (or similar) when providing your evidence. To exceed the criteria suppliers should be able to demonstrate relevant examples that go above and beyond what is requested in the criteria. It is not for DIT to specify exactly what constitutes a 3, but rather for the supplier to show exceptional skills and experience in the specific area. 36. Has this opportunity been advertised before and, if so, why was it not successful? No, this has not been published before.