Anyone ever won anything on DigitalMarketPlace?

[Antman]

If so, can you share any tips?

Just looking at the following that got awarded

R&R Business Analyst/Technical Architect for Employer's Engineering Requirements - Digital Marketplace

Looking for a single BA, value of contract £180,000 for 9 months (plus possible 12 month extension). So the first question is whether that £180k is for 9 months or 21 months, I would have thought the former.

It looks like they had a budget of a grand a day for a BA (just can't stop repeating that to myself), although the candidates would be evaluated 50% on cost.

Plus if you don't have to work with a bunch of youngsters babbling on about agile and waving post-it notes I can't see any downsides.

What am I missing? How do you get in on these contracts?

[GhostofTarbera]

Tips

They already know who they are hiring (big Co) but are made to waste time in this process to tick boxes


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[BlasterBates]

According to the website they're looking to pay up to a maximum of ₤1000 per day.

You need to quote a daily rate.

[eek]

Tips

They already know who they are hiring (big Co) but are made to waste time in this process to tick boxes


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

Not always in the case of Digital Outcomes - I've twice won bids on it and both times had to turn the work down as I committed to something else in the 6 weeks that the awarding of the process took.

What you can't do is look at that £1000 as all yours, you are going to have to discount at least 10% (probably 20%) and the only thing you gain by being on it is avoiding the agency percentage. That £1000 is probably £700 in a contractors pocket. Digital Futures does have 7 day payment terms though so it's not so bad.

[Katalyst]

Not always in the case of Digital Outcomes - I've twice won bids on it and both times had to turn the work down as I committed to something else in the 6 weeks that the awarding of the process took.

What you can't do is look at that £1000 as all yours, you are going to have to discount at least 10% (probably 20%) and the only thing you gain by being on it is avoiding the agency percentage. That £1000 is probably £700 in a contractors pocket. Digital Futures does have 7 day payment terms though so it's not so bad.

They won't even let you sign up as a vendor anymore

[eek]

They won't even let you sign up as a vendor anymore

Applications are only open for a few weeks every year. I missed last year's renewals are but this year's is likely to be late September once Gcloud has been sorted out.

[northernladuk]

Note that the maximum is £1k but 50% of the criteria is based on price.. So if you go in at 1k you're down half the marks already which means zero chance of winning the work. You are likely to lose points in technical competence against a company that is providing two specialists.

It also states right at the very bottom question 4 and 6 are the killer for a one person contractor.

In accordance with the guidance in the government publications (refer to the links below), we are looking for companies or individuals who are able to provide both skillsets, i.e. Both Business Analyst and Technical Architect. It is important for this role that the company or individual can demonstrate a level of competency in both areas of expertise.

It is very unlikely an individual can demonstrate both of these when they are up against a company that has two (or more) people in a pool that are a specialise in each.

[Lance]

Applications are only open for a few weeks every year. I missed last year's renewals are but this year's is likely to be late September once Gcloud has been sorted out.

Nope. Closed in July.
There was an option for extended applications due to IT issues but that was for companies that had already started.

[perplexed]

Note that the maximum is £1k but 50% of the criteria is based on price.. So if you go in at 1k you're down half the marks already which means zero chance of winning the work. You are likely to lose points in technical competence against a company that is providing two specialists.

It also states right at the very bottom question 4 and 6 are the killer for a one person contractor.


It is very unlikely an individual can demonstrate both of these when they are up against a company that has two (or more) people in a pool that are a specialise in each.

Become a supplier – Digital Marketplace

"You can’t apply to sell anything at the moment
Digital Outcomes and Specialists is closed for applications.
You will be able to apply to sell:

digital outcomes, for example a team to build a service
digital specialists, for example an individual developer or user researcher
user research studios
user research participants!"

It wouldn't surprise me one thing is said and another done.

EDIT: Supplying an individual developer, ie yourself, intimates no RoS so I'd be surprised if gigs gained that way were outside IR35.

[Antman]

Become a supplier – Digital Marketplace

"You can’t apply to sell anything at the moment
Digital Outcomes and Specialists is closed for applications.
You will be able to apply to sell:

digital outcomes, for example a team to build a service
digital specialists, for example an individual developer or user researcher
user research studios
user research participants!"

It wouldn't surprise me one thing is said and another done.

EDIT: Supplying an individual developer, ie yourself, intimates no RoS so I'd be surprised if gigs gained that way were outside IR35.

In the questions that are asked about each offer is inevitably the IR35 status. A lot of them that I saw had replies saying that the role was outside.