Test and Trace - Data Platform Services

Description

Summary of the work Data and Analytics Platform Services: Maintain, Deliver, Manage and Consultancy Service, Comprising three Service Elements (Service Maintenance, Service Delivery of Capability and Features, Consultancy) Expected Contract Length 12 Months with the option to extend for an additional 3 months Latest start date Monday 12 July 2021 Budget Range It is estimated that the work can be delivered within the budget range of >£5m to <£15m Why the Work is Being Done In the immediate term, the JBC’s objectives are to break the chains of COVID transmission. Key to this is the ongoing management of its technical platform for Data Ingestion, Storage, Governance, Data Exploration and Visualisation. The JBC is soon to become a critical part of the new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) which will be responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats, and also providing intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level as well as on the global stage. Excellence in data science and data exploration will be at the heart of this new organisation, and so the JBC’s data platform will be critical to its success Problem to Be Solved The high level requirements are for the delivery of: Service Maintenance (Environmental Maintenance, Service Management, User Management, Development Operations), Service Delivery of Capability and Features (Application Maintenance, Data Ingestion and Management, Management of Technical Debt, Business Engagement and Requirement Management), Consultancy (Technical and Business Consultancy and Knowledge Management, Platform Maintenance and Enterprise Architecture). Who Are the Users Data Scientists within the JBC Organisation and Partnership Organisations, Administrative Roles (Platform Management Team, Product Teams, Evolution Team, Initiatives Team), Information Security Roles (DHSC Security Team, DHSC Chief Information Officer, Cyber Defence Operations Centre, Security Ops Team) Early Market Engagement A pre-market engagement event was held on 7 May 2021 to provide all interested suppliers with more detailed background on the requirements. Work Already Done The Data Science Hub (DaSH) has been live since summer 2020, and is now used by over 400 data specialists across the UK. It has been built on the AWS cloud platform with various native and COTS integrations. The platform is in the process of being migrated from the incumbent's AWS account and infrastructure to an AWS account and infrastructure owned by the buyer. Existing Team The immediate buyer team the supplier will be working with will consist of: a Product Owner, a Technical Architect, a Business Requirements Analyst, a Platform Hosting Lead, an ITSM Lead and a Business Change Lead Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Proven experience in designing, continuously deploying and operating mission critical and complex AWS Cloud services with high public profile • Public sector experience designing and operating AWS S3 stores from multiple ingest paths, including steps taken to test data on arrival • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years experience in cloud platform delivery using Azure DevOps, CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with reference to the end-to-end process and tooling • Demonstrate significant experience in architecting, managing and optimising AWS based Data Science platform • Demonstrate significant experience in managing visualization tools (ie. Qlik Sense) and in managing Machine learning & model building using AWS SageMaker • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years’ experience of delivery a fully managed service with full integration with the Customer and Suppliers Service Desk for cloud platform delivery • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years’ experience of delivery a complex service management solution that involves multiple suppliers / vendors • Demonstrate experience of successfully taking over the provision of cloud management and delivery services from an outgoing supplier • Demonstrate examples of applying novel approaches to technical and business change management and methods in rapidly emerging environments. What works best and why in a highly secure public sector environment • How have you demonstrated open and collaborative delivery across suppliers in a complex delivery model with high public profile, going above and beyond in terms of value add, with examples? • How have you ensured that you provide specialist expertise in delivery as opposed to simply resource augmenting? • Ensure effective knowledge transfer of a complex and rapidly developed platform with no impact on time or complexity in the ongoing delivery to the client ongoing priorities Nice to Haves • Describe any accelerators or frameworks that will help you to evaluate, run and operate the services required • Can you describe the business contexts in which you operated in? • The product roadmap will necessitate support and maintenance of new components which may include; Azure Virtual Windows desktop, High Performance Computing (HPC) support on AWS. Summarise your experience • The product roadmap is likely to include containerization of Machine Learning/AI models. Summarise your experience and strategy • Demonstrate how you would transition the service from another supplier into your own organisation Work Location Department of Health & Social Care, 39 Victoria Street, London SW1H OEU Working Arrangments The supplier staff will be required to work standard business hours which are Monday to Friday starting work by 9.30am, 7.5 hours per day + lunch time. There will also be a requirement for some people working on this outcome to provide out-of-hours IT Service Management support. It is expected that remote working will prevail until otherwise notified. All workers must be resident in the UK and working from there. Security Clearance Minimum level of clearance for any User accessing the Platform is BPSS Any role requiring enhanced security privileges like Administration require SC Test and Trace do no allow access to the platform from overseas locations Additional T&Cs All expenses must be pre-agreed between the parties and must comply with the Cabinet Office (CO) Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy. All vendors 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/ No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Demonstrate proven experience in deploying and operating mission critical and complex AWS Cloud services with high public profile -12% • Demonstrate proven Public sector experience in designing and operating AWS S3 stores from multiple ingest paths, including steps taken to test data on arrival -12% • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years of proven experience in cloud platform delivery using Azure DevOps, CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code with reference to the end-to-end process and tooling -7% • Demonstrate proven experience in architecting, managing and optimising AWS based Data Science platform -7% • Demonstrate proven experience in managing visualization tools (ie. Qlik Sense) and in managing Machine learning & model building using AWS SageMaker -7% • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years of proven experience in delivering a fully managed service with full integration with the Customer and Suppliers Service Desk for cloud platform delivery -8% • Demonstrate a minimum of 4 years of proven experience in delivering a complex service management solution that involves multiple suppliers / vendors -8% • Demonstrate a proven experience in successfully taking over the provision of cloud management and delivery services from an outgoing supplier -8% • Demonstrate a proven experience in applying novel approaches to technical and business change management and methods in rapidly emerging environments, in a highly secure public sector environment -7% • Demonstrate a proven experience in delivering, openly and collaboratively, across suppliers in a complex delivery model with high public profile, going above and beyond in terms of value add -8% • Demonstrate a proven experience in providing specialist expertise in delivery as opposed to simply resource augmenting -8% • Ensuring effective knowledge transfer of a complex and rapidly developed platform with no impact on time or complexity in the ongoing delivery to the client ongoing priorities -8% Cultural Fit Criteria • Work in a collaborative way in a multi-supplier environment , supporting product development initiatives and integration work -25% • Manage delivery in a complex Agile environment (using DevOps and Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment approaches) -25% • Share knowledge, experience, documentation and skills with other team members and with the client so as to build sustainable capability -25% • Approach to proactive issue management, problem resolution and improving ways of working -25% Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. For evidence of “effective knowledge transfer of a complex and rapidly developed platform”, are you looking for evidence of taking on or handing over a platform, or is either acceptable? We would expect the supplier to outline the appropriate knowledge transfer approach as per the DOS Proposal Criteria. 2. Please could you confirm whether Suppliers are permitted to use multiple examples for each answer The guidance on DOS States: Suppliers are required to provide one example for each ‘skills and experience’ requirement. Unless you have asked for several examples, you should not score suppliers higher or lower because they gave more or less examples than another supplier. Suppliers have also been told they can reuse examples across different skills and experience requirements.Therefore 1 example is sufficient 3. Would it be possible to receive a copy of the slides from the industry day on 7th To get a copy of the slides, please send an email request to: Neil.Galbraith@dhsc.gov.uk and Paul.Albeza@dhsc.gov.uk 4. As a supplier, would we be able to install or connect our’s and 3rd party tools to maintain and monitor the platform? Or are there any provided platform monitoring / operations / security tools we must use? Suppliers will have to use provided platform monitoring tools (e.g. Microsoft CDOC, Splunk, AWS native tools such as CloudWatch and CloudTrail) 5. Can the Authority please confirm the intent of using Azure DevOps, as on the “supplier initial presentation” document this is just referred as DevOps? It is expected that suppliers will use the Azure DevOps provided by the Halo platform 6. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? Test and Trace will not provide individual names. However the evaluation team will consist of, as a minimum: Service Management specialist Technical Architect Business AnalystProgramme Manager 7. Can you please advise the timelines of this procurement (e.g. shortlisted companies notified, anticipated contract award)?Also, can you confirm if shortlisted suppliers will have the opportunity to present? As shared on the supplier engagement day, the indicative timelines are: ▪ Advertisement released on DOS: 07 May▪ Deadline for asking Questions: 14 May COB▪ Closing date for applications: 21 May COB▪ Notification of 5 suppliers to move to stage 2 of the tendering process: 26 May▪ Stage 2 tender released: 27 MayOnly suppliers at second stage evaluation could be invited to presentation stage, further guidance on this will be provided following stage 1 evaluation 8. who is the incumbent? Niaxo 9. Can you describe the business contexts in which you operated in? The phrase ‘operated in’ is in the past tense. Is the question asking us to describe the business contexts which our organisation operates in; e.g. sectors, supporting CNI, mission critical, life cycles etc? Examples of business context are: sectors, industries 10. Ensure effective knowledge transfer of a complex and rapidly developed platform with no impact on time or complexity in the ongoing delivery to the client ongoing priorities Is this question referring to ‘receiving’ or ‘delivering’ effective knowledge transfer of the on-going service? The direction will help us understand how best to pitch our response. We would expect the supplier to outline the appropriate KT approach as per the tender requirements. 11. The presetnation regarding this opportunity was sent out marked Offical Sensitive but was not encypted. Is this an error on the presentation or it is OS? This an error 12. Can you provide a breakdown of roles and numbers on the existing team? This will be shared at stage 2 13. Q2 for Nice to have skills and experience (Can you describe the business contexts in which you operated in?). Is this a follow on question from Q1 Nice to have skills and experience (Describe any accelerators or frameworks that will help you to evaluate, run and operate the services required) or is it a standalone question. If a standalone question, can you provide some context around the detail required for the question? It is a standalone question. Examples of business context are: sectors, industries 14. The Proposal Criteria appears to match the Essential Skills and Experience at evidence stage exactly. Can you confirm if this is an error and also confirm how the proposal stage will be progressed/conducted? Each proposal criteria section contains an element of technical criteria that will be assessed. The proposal stage will be progressed/conducted in line with the DOS guidance. 15. Can the Authority please highlight the difference between these two questions:• Question: Demonstrate how you would transition the service from another supplier into your own organisation• Question: Ensuring effective knowledge transfer of a complex and rapidly developed platform with no impact on time or complexity in the ongoing delivery to the client ongoing priorities Response to Q1 : we would like to understand what steps and processes you would undertake when you transfer a service from one supplier into your own organisation.Response to Q2: We would like to understand what type of information (knowledge etc) you obtained from the supplier who is currently delivering the service and how you would obtain this ensuring that it doesn’t impact the current service or your transition / onboarding activities.