Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

1. Title: MANAGED SOFTWARE TESTING SERVICES FOR THE NATIONAL DELIUS
2. Awarding Authority: HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), GB. Web:
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: A Managed Testing Service team is required to focus on integration testing and non-functional testing of changes to the Probation Service’s National Delius. The team will act as a supporting layer between in-house and 3rd party software development teams and service support and service management teams.
5. CPV Code(s): 72254000, 72250000
6. NUTS code(s): UKI, UKI3, UKI32, UKE32
7. Main site or location of works, main place of delivery or main place of performance: Location London
Address where the work will take place Predominantly virtually, with the possibility of London or Sheffield based physical working, if required. Occasional travel to other locations in the United Kingdom may also be required.
8. Reference attributed by awarding authority: Not provided.
9. Estimated value of requirement: Budget range £1,200,000
10. Closing date for applications 6.9.2021 (23:59).
11. Address to which they must be sent: For further information regarding the above contract notice please visit
12. Other information: Deadline for asking questions Monday 30 August 2021 at 11:59pm GMT
Latest start date Monday 18 October 2021
Expected contract length 18 months
About the work
Why the work is being done A major programme is underway in HMPPS to transform probation operations in England and Wales and this includes development of new digital services to support probation staff. People will continue to use existing digital systems and services whilst development of new services is taking place and the cutover between old and new services needs to be as seamless as possible. Data and functionality is being shared across services to allow this.
Testing of the whole range of software changes needs to take place to ensure quality of new services delivered as well as integrity of existing systems which are critical to probation operations and public safety. MOJ digital and technology has a very limited pool of testers and limited experience in developing a co-ordinated test approach for such a complex change programme. We need access to expertise in testing best practice pan government with a focus on digital by default service delivery.
Problem to be solved Digital probation require a Managed Testing Service which will act as a supporting layer between in-house and 3rd party software development teams and service support and service management teams who are responsible for software release and for maintaining live services. The testing service should provide test planning, test execution and test reporting on software changes for new and existing services with a particular focus on integration testing and non-functional testing of changes to National Delius. National Delius (Delius) is the Probation Service’s case management system and is crucial to the effective running of the probation service.
Due to the critical nature of the service, any changes, releases or updates need to be thoroughly end-to-end tested, including performance and other non-functional testing, before they can be deployed to live. These changes need to be tested against the interfaces that are in place and through the APIs that have been established. Some testing can be automated and scripts are continuously updated to do this but some of the regression and functionality testing needs to be done manually
Who the users are and what they need to do As a member of the service team, release management and live service owners teams, I require testing results and reporting information to understand the level of coverage and expected quality from tests and to highlight any risks ahead of code release. As a technologist, I need support to script and execute automated tests.
Early market engagement N/A
Any work that’s already been done The work required is in support of a continuously improving live application. The equivalent of the work in scope has been being delivered in support of the changes to, and live support of, the National Delius application over the past several years. Therefore this work has been done against changes made to date and is needed in respect of new changes that are budgeted for and in progress.
Existing team Service Owner
Product manager
Delivery manager
3rd Party Developers
3rd Party test engineers
Subject Matter Experts
Business Analyst
Database Administrators
WebOps Engineers
Technical Architect
Service Manager
Current phase Live
Working arrangements We would prefer co-location onsite for 3 days a week (as soon as Covid-19 allows), most weeks in order to engage with the Probation Reform Programme, building broader engagement with the style of working (eg through show and tells), and capability building activity through activities such as pair programming/design review. However, we also know that remote working is both possible and will also be necessary over the next few months
Security clearance Security Clearance (SC) is required for all Supplier staff.
Additional information
Additional terms and conditions
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
Proven track record of providing testing capability to digital services to, and/or on behalf of, Government Agencies
Experience working in multidisciplinary teams delivering large scale monolithic systems
Experience in the test cycles included within development of services from Beta to Live services meeting the Government Service Standard and technology code of conduct
Experience replacing manual testing processes with automation testing
Experience replacing repetitive tasks with test scripts that can be reused every time the same scenario needs to be executed
Experience using automation to increase the depth and scope of tests to improve the software quality and increases the test coverage of an application
Experience Creating automated test suites to build confidence when deploying Oracle and WebLogic systems
Experience of providing services with a test-driven development, continuous integration and delivery approach
Experience creating performance testing large scale monolithic systems
Experience creating regression testing large scale monolithic systems
Experience creating non-function requirements for large scale monolithic systems
Experience of working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to develop Acceptance Criteria (AC) within user stories
Proven track record of a proactive approach to working with Developers from 3rd party suppliers to coordinate end-to-end test plans
The ability to develop and deliver testing against evolving criteria based on changing business needs
Experience of providing expert testing knowledge to the Service Owner, Product Manager and Delivery Manager during the planning stages of a release
Proven track record of estimating the required testing capability and duration of testing within a development cycle to ensure agreed milestones are met
Nice-to-have skills and experience
Experience working within a large government program of work, with multiple teams, dependencies and stakeholders
Experience coaching and mentoring to build internal capability
Experience coaching teams to understand the benefits of automated and performance tests
Experience coaching teams to review acceptance criteria in order to build confidence that features meet user needs
Experience building a ‘test first software development culture’ in large scale organisations
Experience conducting sessions with the teams to understand their testing needs and build testing plans to meet those needs
How suppliers will be evaluated
All suppliers will be asked to provide a written proposal.
How many suppliers to evaluate 5
Proposal criteria
Provide an explanation of the overall approach and how you will draw on your experience from a similar project to successfully execute this project
Explain how your approach will successfully support MOJ’s goal to build and iterate a product that meets user needs
Demonstrate a proven ability to lead the end-to-end testing of a large multi-supplier development team to deliver successful changes to the end user
Provide an example team structure including skills, experience, responsibilities in this approach and relevance of individuals, and explain you will ensure the team deliver their responsibilities throughout this approach
Provide examples of how you have identified and taken ownership of risks, issues, and dependencies and how you have managed their mitigation and resolution
Explain your approach to changing business requirements through a development phase and how you would calibrate the testing to accommodate
Demonstrate how you will deliver value for money throughout this project
Demonstrate how you would document your work to ensure effective hand over to the business
Cultural fit criteria
Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service
Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers in a diverse environment
Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions
Have a no-blame culture and encourage people to learn from their mistakes
Take responsibility for their work
Have a proactive approach to problem solving
Payment approach Capped time and materials
Additional assessment methods Presentation
Evaluation weighting
Technical competence
65%
Cultural fit
10%
Price
25%
TKR-2021824-EX-1676935