Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

1. Title: INTERIM SERVICE INTEGRATOR – SHORT DEADLINE
2. Awarding Authority: Defence Digital, Ministry of Defence (MoD) ODYSSEY Programme, MoD Abbey Wood South, Bristol, GB, BS34 8JH.. Web:
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: The Awarding Authority requires an Interim Service Integrator (ISI) to be its Technical Delivery Partner, providing Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) System Development and scalable DevSecOps delivery Teams.
As a Technical Delivery Partner, the ISI will help shape and direct the present and future solution of the System.
5. CPV Code(s): 72000000, 72260000, 79620000, 72212000
6. NUTS code(s): UKK, UKK1, UKK11, UKK, UKK1, UKK15, UKI, UKI7, UKI74, UKJ, UKJ3, UKJ36
7. Main site or location of works, main place of delivery or main place of performance: South West England
Address where the work will take place The Supplier is to provide a List X premises for their team.
There is the possibility that the Supplier will need to travel to multiple MoD sites, as conditions allow, predominately MoD Abbey Wood South, Bristol, BS34 8JH, but also:
(i) MoD Corsham, Corsham, SN13 9GB
(ii) PJHQ Northwood, Northwood, HA6 3EZ
(iii) DSTL Porton Down, Salisbury, SP4 0JQ
(iv) Ad Hoc UK locations as required.
8. Reference attributed by awarding authority: Not provided.
9. Estimated value of requirement: Budget range: It is estimated that the work can be delivered over 24 months, within the core budget range of £3.95M – £6.33M ex VAT, with an additional Limit of Liability (LoL) of up to £3.15M. LOL’s are in place for any potential additional licencing or tasking requirements.
10. Deadline for asking questions (GMT) 24.5.2021 (23:59).
11. Address to which they must be sent: For further information regarding the above contract notice please visit
12. Other information: Closing date for applications: Monday 31 May 2021 at 11:59pm GMT
Latest start date: Monday 2 August 2021
Expected contract length: 24 months + 6 months optional extension
About the work
Why the work is being done: The ODYSSEY Programme is responding to an increasing demand to transform the way that Users access and visualise disparate data through core enterprise services. The Programme now requires an Interim Service Integrator (ISI) to incrementally develop and build upon the existing Alpha System, delivering enhancements through Agile Product Delivery in a highly regulated environment.
Problem to be solved: Driven by specific use cases and a customer owned backlog, ODYSSEY requires an ISI to incrementally design and develop the existing Alpha data platform to a Beta level of maturity and subsequent Agile Product Delivery, providing an early but exploitable capability to the end user.
The focus is on the exploitation of data, leveraging new ways of working, advanced data science, and subsets of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as Automation and Machine Learning (ML) applications to “augment the Analyst” by increasingly automating elements of the day-job. The system will be developed in line with MOD and HMG frameworks, policies and standards in order to achieve compliance.
To respond to the increasing development requirements the ISI is required to provide a scalable and flexible core team of resources at pace to meet the delivery demands of the Programme.
The Programme has adopted the SAFe methodology and requires the ISI to lead, implement and manage the ‘Essential’ SAFe configuration construct to ensure the successful delivery of the business solutions.
Who the users are and what they need to do As an Analyst I need to better search, visualisation, analysis, production, collaboration and dissemination of curated data and reports more effectively and efficiently.
As a Decision Maker I need to effectively and efficiently enhance my decision making.
As a Technical Delivery Team member of a Data System I need a well-documented, compliant and managed System, which can be developed incrementally and deployed quickly.
Early market engagement: N/A
Any work that’s already been done: ODYSSEY has developed an Alpha System that has key functionality at its core. This has been an ongoing development activity with the latest release due mid-2021.
To date, research has been undertaken with an Industry Partner and DSTL which supports and places the Programme’s requirements in a well-informed position going forward.
Existing team: MOD Programme Team – (Enterprise Architecture, Engineering and PM Civil Servants, plus a User Representative).
The Design Authority (DA) – will set the Enterprise policy, standards and direction to which the Programme will comply.
Current phase: Alpha
Working arrangements: The supplier will be required to facilitate collaborative, face to face planning events at their premises, with capacity to host the buyer.
Additional collaborative engagement should be conducted via Microsoft Teams (or suitable equivalent) accessible from the Buyer networks).
Security clearance It will be expected that the Team Leader be Developed Vetting (DV) cleared with the rest of the delivery team to hold Security Check (SC) as a minimum.
Suppliers must have the relevant clearances in place for contract start date. The authority will not hold or sponsor clearances.
Additional information
Additional terms and conditions: ODYSSEY will be competing for an Intelligent Customer Team in parallel to the ISI.
Suppliers may bid for both the ICT and ISI contracts. To ensure independence of outputs a supplier cannot “win” both. Suppliers bidding for both contracts must indicate a preference which will not influence the scoring. The ultimate decision is with the buyer.
A bidder’s conference for the short-listed suppliers will be held and they will be supplied with a Statement of Requirement against which to produce their technical proposal.
The Cyber Risk Profile has been identified as HIGH.
DEFCON 703 applies to this contract.
Skills and experience
Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.
Essential skills and experience
NOTE: THIS SECTION AS A WHOLE IS WORTH 10%.
Experience as a service integrator/developer of coordinating, facilitating, leading and managing, cadence-based formalities such as planning events, sprints and daily stand-ups.
Demonstrate experience in agile DevSecOps services providing engineering and development expertise with technical skills > 3 years.
Experience in delivering high quality Application Programming Interface (API), services and applications to a highly secured and regulated standard.
Demonstrable experience of implementing and managing cloud environments (such as AWS and Azure) for large microservice architectures.
Demonstrable experience of developing Artificial Intelligence applications, focusing on Automation, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML).
Evidence of producing and maintaining key design and security artefacts to a highly regulated standard, at pace and within tight timescales.
Demonstrable experience of developing Knowledge Graphs and Ontologies.
Demonstrable experience in the integration of disparate and open source data sources, by way of control, consumption, curation and exploitation of data.
Nice-to-have skills and experience
NOTE: THIS SECTION AS A WHOLE IS WORTH 5%.
Experience of developing across a range of Security Classifications.
Demonstrable experience and knowledge of Object Based Production (OBP) and Structured Observation Management (SOM)
Demonstrable experience of implementing SAFe for System development.
Demonstrable experience in implementing one or more of the following: Apache Airflow, Swagger, Helm Charts, Pattern Recognition and Link Prediction.
Demonstrable experience of delivering scalable and resilient search, visualisation tools and data analytics through a high-quality UI, front end and an interactive UX.
Proven track record in defining/implementing test strategies/plans in agile environments, with a high degree of automation and the resolution of issues, including security vulnerabilities and the remediation techniques used.
Demonstrate experience in using JavaScript, Github, Jenkins, Kubernetes, Python, database techniques for Data manipulation.
How suppliers will be evaluated
All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.
How many suppliers to evaluate 5
Proposal criteria
Describe how the proposed solution will be successfully implemented, including the approach and methodology, to deliver the core requirements and deliverables, as detailed in questions 2 and 3 below):
(1) Design, development and integration (8%). (2) System Management and Support (4%). (3) Security, Policy and Requirements (7%). (4) Test, Evaluation and Acceptance Requirements (4%). (5) Safety and Environmental, Training and Exit Management (3%). (6) Agile Planning, Governance and Delivery (5%).
Describe how you will successfully implement the Essential SAFe configuration constructs to meet the programme’s objectives (4%)
Describe how you will work as part of an integrated, yet geographically distributed, team. (3%)
Describe how you will scale up DevSecOps teams and Shared Services (specialist roles, people and services) quickly to meet customer demand. (4%)
Explain how your proposed solution provides the MOD Value for money. (2%)
Describe how you will work with and explain complex technical issues to clients with low technical expertise. (4%)
Describe your proposed team structure including but not limited to the roles, responsibilities, ways of working and location (2%)
Cultural fit criteria
Describe how you will adopt and implement (10%): (1)The Lean Agile Mindset. (2)Concepts of the Agile Manifesto. (3)The SAFe Core Values. (4)A Continuous Learning Culture. (5)Knowledge Transfer .
In response to changing requirements and uncertainty, describe how you will effectively and positively, deliver change through effective collaboration and leadership. (5%)
Payment approach Fixed price
Additional assessment methods
Evaluation weighting
Technical competence 65%
Cultural fit 15%
Price 20%
TKR-2021518-EX-1614572