Grant Application, Assessment and Administration Services

DEFRA require the capability to be able to offer a fully supported and hosted system which provides a digital application and assessment portal to apply for both established and new grant schemes, and for the grant administrative team to be able to comply with the Government Functional Standard. Delivery of new technologies into the DEFRA Group estate must demonstrate compliance with the Technology code of practice and the GDS Service Standard. These can be accessed at the links below.

Government Functional Standard: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/grants-standards

Technology Code of Practice: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-technology-code-of-practice

GDS Service Standard: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2019/05/09/welcome-to-the-updated-service-standard/

DEFRA require a short-term software/API and database hosting provider to assist with the delivery of grants. It will be an 18-month contract with an option for two six-month extensions. The supplier will work with a multi-disciplinary team, including a variety of operational teams, within DEFRA group during development and delivery. During transfer of data from the incumbent it will be absolutely necessary to guarantee that no interruption occurs to service. Failure to provide the required development and support activities would: prevent the RPA Grants Service delivering its committed (published) grant schemes from 2022 until the replacement single service was introduced; and result in the inability to pay existing scheme applicants via system payments.

There is an existing supplier in place, who will need to be effectively engaged to ensure a smooth transition from current to new service provision. It is of critical operational importance that there is no interruption of service (i.e. payments to grant recipients or disruption to administration of existing and new grants). There will be a transition period of 4 months, and transition to any future state service will need to be completed before the end of the initial contract period unless the option(s) to extend is/are used.

The solution must be in place and operationalised by July 2023 to support the current bespoke system to be decommissioned. Read/write/edit access will be required for the duration of the service. Read and limited write access would be required for a minimum of 5 years beyond the final claim for compliance purposes.