Materiel Strategy – Managed Service Providers – Work Package 3 – Human Resources.

Descriptions

Human resources management consultancy services. The UK MOD's Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation has a requirement to appoint a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to build upon, and embed its Human Resources (HR) management capability and to support cultural change within the DE&S workforce.This requirement is part of the DE&S's wider Materiel Strategy change programme. Under the change programme, the DE&S organisation has been established as a Bespoke Central Government Trading Entity within the public sector from 1 April 2014, with new management freedoms and controls that are appropriate to its challenges and the specialist nature of its business.BackgroundDE&S performs a vital, bespoke and challenging role in the support of national security: it equips and supports the UK's Armed Forces for operations now and in future. In procuring and supporting new military equipment, commodities and services, supporting in-service equipment through life and managing global logistic operations, DE&S is responsible for delivering some of the most complex products and services in the world which covers some £14Bn per annum of the MOD's total third party spend with industry. DE&S employs a mix of civil servants and military personnel, plus contractor staff to perform specialist roles and its internal workforce of over 12,000 personnel (as at 1 April 2014) is deployed at over 150 locations in the UK and overseas. The bulk of the workforce, however, is located on several main operating sites, with over half based at the main acquisition hub at Abbey Wood, Bristol.DE&S's activities range from the provision and support of complex platforms, such as nuclear submarines and combat aircraft, through the provision of global logistic operations in hostile environments, to the provision and support of high volume, low value items such as clothing and commodities, such as fuel and food. This often involves innovative technologies, complex safety assessments, sophisticated supply chains and a mix of sourcing strategies. The outputs from DE&S are used by the UK's Armed Forces in uncertain environments and operational roles that are subject to changing demands.DE&S's role therefore demands best-in-class business capabilities and standards that need to be suitable for a wide range of types of products and services, of widely varying value, complexity, uncertainty/risk and criticality/priority.RequirementThe MSP will be a key provider of the services/requirements driving the Materiel Strategy change programme. Potential MSPs should note that the DE&S is planning to appoint other MSPs for two further Work Packages – Work Package (WP) 1, Project Delivery to transform and improve the operation of its project delivery capability and Work Package (WP) 2, Finance/Management Information/Information Technology (Fin/MI/IT) to transform and improve the operation of its financial and information management capability.Within the boundaries of the freedoms and controls given to DE&S as a Trading Entity and working with the MSPs of WPs 1 and 2 as necessary, it is considered that the requirements for the HR MSP are broadly split into 3 categories:a) those associated with the design, establishment and embedding of a dedicated new Corporate HR Function within the boundaries of the freedoms and controls given;b) those associated with the development, implementation and embedding of the employment policy and process framework; andc) those associated with the DE&S workforce, including designing a HR strategy featuring a new workforce model to enable effective deployment of staff, building capability, and the delivery and embedding of a changed culture within the organisation.The MSP will have a key role in leading the transformation of the DE&S workforce. The significant number of interfaces associated with the Materiel Strategy change programme, demands that the MSPs must adopt and be committed to a collaborative working approach. The DE&S envisages that the Human Resources MSP (WP3) requirements will be met by a combination of consultancy in support of HR Strategy development, seeding of senior, high capability individuals in the business to deliver the required changes, staff augmentation to help build a new HR function in the near term, facilitation of workforce development and also staff to work in a ‘rainbow' central team comprising DE&S personnel and personnel from the other Work Package MSP organisations. The MSPs shall be able to make available additional suitably qualified and experienced personnel to undertake bounded HR activities within the business as necessary.