Capability Tool

Concepts

• bristol
• educational software
• bdc discovery tool
• digital capabilities
• capability tool
• tool
• software development
• private sector training organisations
• jisc customers
• other sectors

Location

Bristol

Description

Jisc Services Limited is seeking to place a 3-year contract with Potentially Limited for the ongoing maintenance and development of the supplier’s platform, which Jisc uses to deliver a Building Digital Capabilities self-assessment tool (known as ‘the BDC Discovery Tool’). Our intention is that the contract will run from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027. The BDC Discovery Tool enables individual end users to determine their digital capability and provides them with a personalised report that includes relevant resources to support their personal development and growth. Anonymised usage data is extracted from the BDC Discovery Tool and visualized in dashboards that are consumed at an organisational level so that customers can see an overview of digital capabilities across their organisation.

Total Quantity or Scope

The contract is for a specialist self-assessment tool with complex question logic that identifies areas of digital skills where users can improve their capabilities. Personal development resources curated within an integrated content management tool are tailored and presented to each individual user based on their responses to the questions asked. Bespoke development of the supplier’s platform was initially undertaken to create a BDC Discovery Tool that was specifically tailored to the needs of staff and students at Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) institutions in the UK and internationally. Potentially Ltd recently undertook additional bespoke development work for Jisc to build new functionality to meet the needs of staff in other sectors, particularly staff in private sector training organisations and across the Public and Charitable sectors. We anticipate substantial growth in these other sectors over the next 3 years. Potentially Ltd owns the IPR in the source code for the platform and the BDC Discovery Tool. Jisc owns the IPR in the question sets, personas and organisational frameworks. Jisc has undertaken pre-market engagement activities to evaluate potential alternative solutions and has not identified any product currently in the marketplace that can produce a personalized report linked to curated and tailored development resources. In addition, Jisc did not find any solution currently available that could provide the functionality to assess users at an individual level and then aggregate the data at an organisational level. Currently available solutions would need substantial further development in order to provide ALL the functionality required by Jisc’s customers. Any alternative supplier will need a migration plan and schedule that minimizes disruption to students and staff at Jisc’s organisational customers as they are moved onto a new solution. The BDC Discovery Tool has a growing customer base, and, as of November 2023, the number of active organisational customers across all sectors stands at 248. In addition, any alternative supplier will need to take into account that they will not have access to proprietary IPR, source code or details about the underlying tech stack used to deliver the current platform. This is likely to add complexity and technical challenge to their customer migration plans.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 72212190 - Educational software development services

Indicators

Legal Justification

The incumbent supplier has undertaken bespoke development of their platform to provide the workflows and logic used in the Jisc BDC Discovery Tool. The tool has been designed around the capability and organisational frameworks of our customers and includes specifically scripted personas and a growing collection of question sets relevant to their sectors. The tool currently offers 12 question sets. A further 2 are currently planned for release and more will be added over the 3-year term of the contract. No other supplier in the marketplace has a solution that is ready to provide ALL the functions required to serve staff and students at Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) institutions, and staff in private sector training organisations and across the Public and Charitable sectors. The BDC Discovery Tool is a mature product. There are currently a total of 248 organisations using it (75 HE institutions, 160 FE institutions, and 13 other organisations including international customers). Moving to another solution would be prohibitive in terms of the time, cost and resources required to undertake the following: Identifying and meeting requirements for ALL the new features that would be required in any replacement solution so that it can be used by our customers and end users across all the sectors we operate in. Undertaking the considerable development work that will be necessary to build all the new functionality required into the replacement solution. Testing all the new features once they have been built in the replacement solution Migrating data and content from the current solution to the replacement solution Undertaking training to ensure users are familiar with the replacement solution Issuing new training and ongoing support materials for users of the replacement solution Moving to a replacement solution would be particularly disruptive for our HE and FE customers, particularly as it comes at a time when many face significant financial and staffing challenges.

Other Information

The value of the contract is estimated based on uptake by Jisc members. Potentially receives a share of service revenues. The value of the contract also includes an allocation for feature enhancements over the 3-year term. The tool is for use by Jisc customers and not for Jisc's own use.