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Procurement details: RM1043.8-1-BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY - SharePoint design, development and implementation of a Digital Workspace for Bournemouth University

1

Applications submitted

£100000

Indicative Budget

Outside scope

Off-payroll status

08 March 2023

Application Closing Date

1. Context and requirements

About adding context and requirements: test
Pre-market engagement: We completed a market investigation in February 2022, which provided us with information about the availability of suppliers to deliver what we need, the estimated cost, and the estimated timeline for delivery. This was used to draft a business case, which was approved by the BU Leadership Team as part of our Digital Enablers programme.
Work done so far: Initial requirements gathering and technical design. Please see attached user stories and wireframes.
Which phase the project is in: Discovery
Existing team: Internal Project Board Internal Project Manager Internal Business Analyst Internal Systems Architect Internal Stakeholders
Address where the work will be done: Remote via Microsoft Teams as well as any necessary onsite attendance at Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, United Kingdom or Bournemouth University, Studland House, 12 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, BH1 3NA as required throughout the commitment.
Working arrangements: The new Digital Workspace will be delivered using an agile approach by launching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) which will be followed by iterative releases scheduled throughout the project lifecycle. The supplier should have at least one dedicated, technically competent, experienced representative available either online and/or in-person for stand-ups and managing deliverables over the contract period. We would expect the direction, design, production and testing to be done remotely, in the UK. During the specification phases of each deliverable, we would expect at least one SharePoint Modern architect to be available on-site or online.
Provide more information about your security requirements: No security clearance needed
Provide more information about your security requirements (optional)
Latest start date: 2023-06-12
Enter the expected contract length: 1 year
Extension period: 6 months
Write the term or acronym: BU
Write the term or acronym: Digital Workspace
Explain the term or acronym: Bournemouth University
Explain the term or acronym: A single interface that brings together digital content, apps and services to support the day-to-day tasks of our students and staff. It is not a single system, but a loosely coupled, yet highly cohesive collection of information, systems and services personalised to the user based on their profile and preferences.
Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes
Indicative maximum: 100000
Indicative minimum
Provide further information: Maximum of £100,000 (excl. VAT) to fulfil every requirement of the project. Any bid over this figure will be disqualified from the process.
Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource: Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply
Summary of work: BU is looking for a skilled digital team to develop our Microsoft Office365 SharePoint Modern platform to design and build a Digital Workspace for users across BU, including student and staff groupings.
Where the supplied staff will work: South West England
Where the supplied staff will work: No specific location (for example they can work remotely)
Why the work is being done: We want to develop our Microsoft Office365 SharePoint Modern platform to deliver a Digital Workspace to enhance our student offering and replace our current staff intranet. We see the Digital Workspace as the collective term for content, apps and services brought together to support the day-to-day tasks of our students and staff. It is not a single system, but a loosely coupled, yet highly cohesive collection of information, systems and services personalised to the user based on their profile and preferences. Personalisation and choice are two priorities going forward that will ensure students and staff engage digitally with each other and get to the right information and tools at the right time and in the right context. A Digital Workspace would allow them to select the most appropriate channel, such as applications or “apps”, to perform the task they wish to undertake in a way that works for them at a personal level. The ultimate goal is to tailor apps and information to the specific needs and preferences of the individual to not only increase the efficiency of communication and collaboration, but also improve the digital experience and productivity of our students and staff.
The business problem you need to solve: • Deliver a user-centric digital experience through personalisation and choice to ensure our students and staff have quick access to the right tools to undertake their education, research and practice. • Provide timely, targeted information to revolutionise daily activities and decision making. • Promote efficiency by changing the way we work, communicate and collaborate to release additional capacity to commit to education, research and practice. • Contribute towards social development and a sense of identity, belonging, and community by focussing on groups and teams. • Provide a personalised interface that hides the complexity of all the systems and services working behind the scenes from the user. • Deliver the right content to correct users via the setup of effective user permissions and content publishing workflows. • Maximise the use of Office 365 tools and apps available to users as part of our Microsoft campus license (staff have M365 A3 + A5 Security; students have A3 Student Use Benefit + A5 Security Student Use Benefit). • Enhance user engagement with content and information through the provision of a mobile responsive user interface. • Provide detailed reporting and analytics to inform continuous improvement and shape enhanced engagement.
First user type: We have circa 4,500 staff members, circa 18,000 students, circa 120 content creators, and circa 30 administrators.
Enter more details about this user type: • As a student/staff member I must see university-wide alerts so that I am aware of circumstances that impacts me. • As a student I need to see university information related to my faculty, programme and cohort so that I am informed of news, events, and support relevant to me. • As a staff member I need to see university information related to my business unit, department and team so that I am informed of news, events, and support relevant to me. • As a student/staff member I must access tools and apps required for my role so that I can work on daily tasks and collaborate with others. • As a student/staff member I want to set personal preferences so that I can view information and use tools in a way that works for me. • As a content creator I need to submit content for target audiences to be approved for publishing so that students and staff receive quality information. • As an administrator I need to access and manage all parts of the platform so that I am able to support users. • This must be achieved with a maximum budget of £100k to fulfil every requirement of the project.

2. Assessment Criteria
About assessment criteria: test
Select your pricing model: Capped time and materials
Additional assessment methods: Presentation
Additional assessment methods: Reference
Additional assessment methods: Interview
Additional assessment methods: Case study
Additional assessment methods: Work history
Create your scoring criteria: 3
How many suppliers to evaluate: 5
Technical competence: 65
Cultural fit: 5
Social value: 10
Price: 20
Essential skills and experience: 45
Nice-to-have skills and experience (optional): 10
Technical questions: 45
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Microsoft Gold Partner with a specialism in products including Teams, SharePoint, and Viva. Please detail the number of technical resources you have available including SharePoint Technical Architects and Developers (SharePoint, Integration/Middleware, and Design/UX).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 15
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience of creating SharePoint Modern sites that deliver a personalised user experience by tailoring the content and interface to the individual user (based on Active Directory (AD) group membership and personal choices/preferences).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 15
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of developing Microsoft Viva Connections/Home based sites as part of a SharePoint Modern solution.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with integrating SharePoint Modern with third party platforms and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). E.g. platforms include Brightspace (BU's Virtual Learning Environment) and SITS (BU's Student Record System).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience of developing custom SharePoint web apps/parts.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with setting up and running search solutions in SharePoint Modern sites, e.g. Artificial Intelligence-type search facilities.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with developing SharePoint Modern sites to WCAG 2.1 (AA) web accessibility standards.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of providing expert training to enable key user groups (such as content editors and local administrators) to efficiently run and maintain SharePoint Modern sites.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with configuring SharePoint Modern sites to enable federated editorial models that provide multi-level content publishing approval workflows.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with developing and deploying SharePoint Modern sites for large enterprises (such as universities) with at least 500 users that enjoy over 1 million page impressions per year.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Extensive experience with discovery and user research to inform the design of SharePoint Modern sites.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 2
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of developing analytics tools to report on SharePoint Modern site usage, user behaviour, and performance.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 2
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of deploying built-in security features and technology to protect SharePoint Modern sites against security threats and cyber-attacks.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 2
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of using a pre-deployment Quality Assurance and testing regime, and/or be ISO9001 certified.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 2
Describe the essential skill or experience:: Experience of documenting each development iteration of a SharePoint Modern site in a standard way to enable handover to another party.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 2
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Do you hold certifications for standards related to information and cyber security? (E.g. ISO/IEC 27001, STAR, IASME, NHS IG Toolkit, PCI DSS, Cyber Essentials.)
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 20
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Experience of proactively maintaining and supporting enterprise-level SharePoint Modern sites.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Experience of using an ongoing performance testing regime.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Use of industry standard ticketing system to manage issue reporting and support (e.g. Jira, ServiceNow).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Have the resource and flexibility to respond to and deliver ad-hoc requirements over and above scheduled work within agreed timeframes.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Experience of providing support for updates/upgrades to SharePoint Modern’s latest stable version and any underlying components (e.g. integrations with third party platforms).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Ability to deploy resource on-site in Bournemouth as required.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Experience of developing and supporting large enterprise SharePoint Modern sites in the UK Public Sector.
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Describe the nice-to-have skill or experience:: Experience of using a standard methodology/framework to deliver development projects (e.g. PRINCE, SCRUM).
Enter a weighting for this skill or experience in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Explain the technical question:: Provide a summary of your proposal to address our business needs. Include details of the approach and methodology you’ll take to meet our goals and requirements.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 20
Explain the technical question:: How do you propose to meet our personalisation requirements? Include supporting evidence of your skills and past experience to customise the individual user experience based on Active Directory (AD) group membership.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Explain the technical question:: Are you able to fulfil the BU Digital Workspace requirements without using components or tools outside of the Microsoft Viva, SharePoint Modern, and Microsoft 365 platform? If you foresee the need to use external components or tools, list them here.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 10
Explain the technical question:: Explain how you will discover our user requirements, design user experiences, and translate it into development specifications.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: How do you propose to enable users to personalise their workspace? Include supporting evidence of your skills and past experience to customise the individual user experience based on user choices and preferences.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: Demonstrate your capability to integrate SharePoint Modern with third party systems and provide supporting evidence of past experience.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: Describe your capability to develop and deliver SharePoint Modern analytics tools to report on aspects such as usage, user behaviour, and performance.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: Demonstrate your ability to deliver SharePoint Modern solutions with built-in security features and technology to actively protect users and data against security threats and cyber-attacks.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: Provide details and evidence of your Quality Assurance, deployment, and documentation processes.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: What documentation and training activities do you propose to complete to enable BU user groups to use and maintain the new Digital Workspace?
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: What is your exit strategy/plan to enable BU to independently run and grow the Digital Workspace after your contract has been concluded?
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 5
Explain the technical question:: State if you are able to start work by the latest start date published. If not state your preferred start date.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 4
Explain the technical question:: Provide evidence of having sufficient capacity (skilled resources and expertise) to work uninterrupted on our project and ensure delivery despite having projects with other clients at the same time.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 4
Explain the technical question:: Demonstrate your flexibility to upscale or downscale resource capacity to meet unforeseen changes to requirements during the project lifecycle.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 4
Explain the technical question:: What is the total number of project resources (people) you employ and what is the average number of concurrent projects you run at any given time?
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 4
Explain the technical question:: Describe any risks and dependencies and how you’ll manage them.
Enter a weighting for this technical question in whole numbers, for example 30: 4
Your question: Describe how you as a supplier will work as a team with BU and our suppliers (e.g. third party integrators) and how you will be open, transparent and collaborative with BU when making decisions.
Enter a weighting for this question: 25
Your question: Describe how you as a supplier have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes.
Enter a weighting for this question: 25
Your question: Describe how you as a supplier will challenge BU decisions and/or practices to find the most appropriate solutions.
Enter a weighting for this question: 25
Your question: Describe how you as a supplier will communicate at all levels at BU (e.g. system administration team to executive business level) if required.
Enter a weighting for this question: 25
Explain the social value question: Has your organisation been prosecuted under environmental legislation over the past 3 years? If yes, please provide details and outline what measures you've put in place to prevent this re-occurring.
Enter a weighting for this question: 20
Explain the social value question: The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 applies to all contracts let from BU. Please advise if you have been involved in any social projects over the past two years. Provide brief details including beneficiary name, project aim, impact and staff involvement.
Enter a weighting for this question: 20
Explain the social value question: Describe your company's approach to social responsibility including any certifications you hold, e.g. ISO 26000.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10
Explain the social value question: Describe your company's approach to environmental management including any certifications you hold, e.g. ISO 14001.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10
Explain the social value question: Describe your company's approach to energy management including any certifications you hold, e.g. ISO 50001.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10
Explain the social value question: Are you a net zero emissions company? If Yes, please can you briefly tell us how you have achieved this status. If No, please can you detail your emissions reduction target, including target date and scope.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10
Explain the social value question: Do you have an equal opportunities policy that covers recruitment, selection, remuneration, training and promotion? If yes, please provide brief details.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10
Explain the social value question: Do you offer staff training in equality and diversity? If yes, please provide brief details of content.
Enter a weighting for this question: 10

3. Timeline
Publication of stage 1: February 10, 2023, 12:00 AM
Clarification period closes: March 1, 2023, 4:00 PM
Deadline for suppliers to submit their stage 1 responses: March 8, 2023, 4:00 PM

Clarification questions and responses

There are 7 questions and clarifications relating to this opportunity.

1. We are struggling to understand the full scope of this project. Is this purely the discovery phase or does it include development and actual integration? If this does include integration, at what stage of the process will we get more details of the system that we need to integrate with?

The scope of deliverables that we expect from the successful bidder includes discovery, design, development and integration. During discovery further details will be uncovered regarding what integrations are required and possible, but it is intended that at the very least there will be integration with Brightspace and SISO.

Last Updated: 28 February 2023, 14:56

2. Can we please confirm that the budget of £100k is for both professional services (covering design and implementation) and licencing? If licencing is included in the £100k budget, how long do the licences need to cover for the budget (i.e. 1 year, 2 years, or further)?

The published budget is meant only for professional services to design and develop the BU Digital Workspace and excludes provision for licensing costs. We do however expect bidders to tell us if they foresee a need for additional licensing. See previous question and answer related to licensing.

Last Updated: 27 February 2023, 13:25

3. Can you please confirm whether you'd want licences for all staff and students (to a total of ~22,500)?

All our staff have Microsoft 365 A3 + A5 Security licenses and all our students have A3 Student Use Benefit + A5 Security Student Use Benefit licenses. We expect bidders who progress to stage 2 to inform us if they foresee any additional licensing requirements and costs to enable all user groups to use the Digital Workspace. The following questions elicit this information: • Are you able to fulfil the BU Digital Workspace requirements without using components or tools outside of the Microsoft Viva, SharePoint Modern, and Microsoft 365 platform? If you foresee the need to use external components or tools, list them here. • Provide details of any additional licensing costs that you foresee to enable all BU user groups to use the Digital Workspace. You should provide a breakdown that identify product, type, number, and cost of required licenses.

Last Updated: 22 February 2023, 10:22

4. Is there any data migration required to meet the requirements?

We do not expect the successful bidder to migrate data in bulk from existing platforms (i.e. T4, Drupal, SharePoint On-prem), but we could require advice and guidance on recommended practices and tools to be used by our content editors to transfer selected data to new SharePoint/Viva sites.

Last Updated: 21 February 2023, 09:28

5. We do not see any mention of Security and compliance. Is this excluded or considered inherent to the Modern workplace design?

We require security to be inherent to the Digital Workspace design. We have the following questions that allude to this: • Experience of deploying built-in security features and technology to protect SharePoint Modern sites against security threats and cyber-attacks. • Do you hold certifications for standards related to information and cyber security? (E.g. ISO/IEC 27001, STAR, IASME, NHS IG Toolkit, PCI DSS, Cyber Essentials.) • Demonstrate your ability to deliver SharePoint Modern solutions with built-in security features and technology to actively protect users and data against security threats and cyber-attacks.

Last Updated: 21 February 2023, 09:24

6. Have you also undertaken the maturity assessment of the current adoption of O365?

Last Updated: 21 February 2023, 09:21

7. Are you using Yammer as part of O365 tools?

Last Updated: 21 February 2023, 09:18

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