Credit: PA

The Department for Education is to spend £1.5m on a two-year project to improve a set of digital services that is currently blighted by “disjointed and confusing user journeys”.

The DfE is looking to upgrade a range of services used by schools, teachers, parents, and children, as well as regulators and departmental officials. It will be “specifically focusing on designing, developing, and maintenance of application processes, as part of a longer-term aim to provide a single, seamless service with a common entry point”.

The department is planning a two-year programme of work it believes is likely to cost a total of about £1.5m. It has issued a contract notice seeking a supplier that can provide “software development capability to work alongside our in-house digital development team and other capability suppliers”.

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Over the next two years, the winning bidder will be tasked with supporting work across up to eight projects at any one time, the DfE said. The ultimate goal of this work is “to address… disjointed and confusing user journeys, enabling users to make better informed choices going through available services”.

The department said: “Digital requires capabilities which are able to deliver outcomes based on user needs, government service standards and capable of supporting a range of projects from inception through to live. This approach will provide continuity through the lifecycle of projects, ensuring no break in support and expertise built up in the team leading to improved opportunities for shadowing and knowledge transfer.”

The chosen supplier will operate alongside “internal DfE staff from a range of disciplines, including architecture, security, policy, service and product management, finance, and delivery management”. Work will take place across locations in London, Manchester, and Coventry.

Bids are open [4] until 4 December, ahead of the scheduled commencement of a two-year contract on 21 January. Three suppliers are expected to be evaluated.