Research Scope for Managed Market Place Background The Kent Connects Managed Market Place (MMP) will

be a space to enable the sharing, procuring and selling of IT services, products, processes and expertise in a safe, cost effective and trusted environment. The MMP will support the partners desire to develop shared services, particularly given the potential expansion of Kent Connects. The intention is for the MMP to develop over three phases starting with an initial, simple, pilot from January 2012. This will be populated with some existing services such as the Kent Public Service Network (KPSN) and the Kent & Medway Regional Data Centre (KMRDC). It would be supported by a set of universal templates which will incorporate services catalogues, procurement contracts and terms of reference. Over time the platform will enable more sophisticated transactions to take place and will include additional features such as a contracts register, Software Asset Management system and ultimately leading to the possibility of the establishment of a standalone service. Assumptions The success of the MMP will be predicated on its ability to enable partners to: Better and earlier identify opportunities to share, procure and sell IT services, products, processes and expertise reduce costs whilst increasing value reduce turnaround on procurement seamlessly share services for the benefit of the public Significantly decrease overheads. It will also enable private sector suppliers to more easily engage with public sector partners and be increasingly aware of upcoming requirements. Currently the partners spend 60m on IT services and it is felt that there are huge prospects to not only streamline the current systems but also to make further savings by identifying procurement opportunities earlier and sharing resources and systems. Research requirements To support the development of the MMP detailed research is required to establish the future potential of both the internal and external market place. The requirements for the research will include enabling a better understanding of:a. How much is currently spent on IT across the wider public sector in Kent including Health, Further and Higher education and others (by category of expenditure by organisation) b. How the spend is split between private and public suppliers

c. The cost saving and income generation opportunities for Kent Connects partners d. The capacity for additional shared services e. Impact on partners spend following establishment of MMP f. Impact on private suppliers market It will be the responsibility of the successful applicant to obtain this information A comprehensive report outlining the findings as well as recommendations for the future development of the MMP will be required upon completion of the research. Process The Project Sponsor and successful applicant will agree a schedule of work for the project and appropriate arrangements to monitor and evaluate progress. A project plan describing issues, work structure, key milestones, risk management and stakeholder engagement will be produced as part of the process. It will also include a description of how the:o o Information on the issues will be gathered (i.e. data types and sources, surveys, interviews and focus groups) Analysis will help the Project Sponsor action the recommendations (i.e. how will they be appraised? how will they enable the Sponsor to implement them?)

The successful applicant will also provide a description of the methodologies, materials and tools to be used to carry out the research and any resources needed from the Project Sponsor prior to starting the project. Tender Responses Please provide a short submission response detailing how you will provide the above requirements and any other inclusions you feel are appropriate by Friday 18th November and send it to carol.patrick@kent.gov.uk. Your response to this brief needs to set out: 1. Previous work in this area 2. Proposed methodology 3. Resources and costs (excluding VAT) 4. Timescales 5. Name of the primary contact point 6. Any other comments Please note that the submissions will be evaluated based on the tender assessment template below

Tender Assessment Template The project Value for money Breadth and depth of expertise behind the bid Added value that the bid brings to the requirements Robustness of governance and management of work Appropriateness of methods to the requirements Ability to deliver within the required timescale Overall score Marks out of 100 Weighting 20% 20% 20% 15% Weighted score Comments

15% 10%

100%

Payments against the contract will be made for each stage as follows: 25% on an agreed work programme 75% on completion of the contract The contract will be let subject to KCCs standard terms and conditions. Timetable The closing date for submission of tenders will be 18 November. Selection process will take place by 21 November. A teleconference to agree a work plan will take place week starting 28 November. The work will start on week commencing 12 December and it is anticipated that the work will take between 10-12 days over a four week period. Although information will be provided by the Kent Connects partners as well as contacts for some of the other public sector organisations, the successful applicant will be responsible for accessing, providing & using other reliable & pertinent information sources to fulfil the Research Requirements stated. A final report will be required by 23 January 2012. Terms & Conditions All work produced for this research project (including new methodologies created for the purpose of this project) will be licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 3.0 Unported License1.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

All non-personal data collected as part of this project is to be released under the Open Government Licence. Project Sponsor Carol Patrick Head of Kent Connects & Technology Transformation Team 01622 221918