How to run a GovTech Catalyst challenge
Find out more about what you need to do as a challenge owner.
What is a challenge owner?
A public sector organisation selected for GovTech Catalyst funding is a ‘challenge owner’. The challenge owner is responsible for running and managing their challenge.
You will have to:
- fund a dedicated team to manage the challenge
- sign contracts with suppliers and manage the relationship
The GovTech Catalyst team will support you through the process, specifically during scoping of the competition, selecting suppliers and the assurance stages.
Phase 1: setting up and running a competition
You should:
- find suppliers to work on your problem. You do this by completing the SBRI documents. Innovate UK will publish these on their website
- organise a supplier briefing event to explain your challenge to potential suppliers and answer any questions
- publish any information shared at the event in an accessible format for potential suppliers who can’t attend (for example with a recording, transcript and any slides used)
- publish all questions and your answers from suppliers after the event
- brief Innovate UK assessors on your challenge so they can score supplier applications on your behalf
- attend a moderation panel with the GovTech Catalyst team to assess and agree application scores
- manage the signing of contracts between your procurement team and phase 1 suppliers
- update Contracts Finder with the awarded phase 1 contracts
- if necessary, sponsor suppliers’ applications for security clearance
Phase 1: supplier kick off and running your challenge
You will need to:
- host a kick off event with your suppliers to brief them on how you will support them through phase 1
- support suppliers to get access to users, data and subject matter experts
- make sure suppliers meet their contracted delivery and payment milestones
- make sure suppliers follow relevant technological and digital standards
- provide regular challenge status updates to the GovTech Catalyst team
- organise a mid point show and tell for suppliers to update on their progress
- collect end of phase 1 reports from suppliers and share them with the GovTech Catalyst team
- organise a one day show and tell for suppliers to present their end of phase 1 findings
- attend an assurance workshop with the GovTech Catalyst team to discuss progress at the end of phase 1 against the challenge and GovTech Catalyst objectives
- be prepared to write an assessment of the success and lessons learned from phase 1 and share with other parts of government
You will only progress to phase 2 if:
- phase 1 meets the challenge brief
- phase 1 meets the GovTech Catalyst objectives
- you get sign off from the GovTech Catalyst Steering Board
Read more about the end of phase 1 process.
Phase 2: evaluation
Once you know if you’ll proceed to phase 2, you’ll need to start preparing the invitation to tender (ITT) documents.
You’ll need to:
- write a brief outlining the problem, what you learned in phase 1 and what you want to achieve in phase 2
- review and personalise all the ITT documents
- work with the GovTech Catalyst team as they assess the phase 2 ITT documents
- organise a supplier briefing event to explain your challenge to suppliers
- share any supplier questions and answers with all potential suppliers
- assess and score supplier applications using the agreed criteria
- interview suppliers
- attend a moderation panel with the GovTech Catalyst team to assess and agree application scores
Once Phase 2 selection is complete
You should:
- manage the signing of contracts between your procurement team and phase 2 suppliers
- update Contracts Finder with the awarded phase 2 contract
- if necessary, sponsor the suppliers’ applications for security clearance
Phase 2: implementation
In phase 2 you should:
- run and support the winning projects by working with suppliers on a day to day basis and make sure they meet their contractual delivery and payment milestones
- quickly address any issues raised by the GovTech Catalyst team or the steering board in the end of phase report
- work with suppliers in an agile way which crucially involves building quickly, testing and then iterating
- actively help suppliers gain access to the appropriate users for research and ensure findings are used to inform the solution’s development
- provide regular challenge status updates covering the issues and risks and how you’re dealing with them
- establish clear evaluation measures at the beginning of the phase so the project’s success can be clearly and easily measured
- collect end of challenge reports from suppliers and share them with the GovTech Catalyst team
- review and give feedback on suppliers’ reports
- be prepared to write an assessment of the success and lessons learned from phase 2 and present this to other parts of government
- provide an end of phase report to the GovTech Catalyst team (including recommendations and next steps)
Procurement and adoption
The challenge owner should intend to procure any successful phase 2 solutions. You’ll know it’s been successful if it meets your agreed KPIs.
You should follow your standard procurement process to procure your solution.
You’ll need:
- a planned route to market
- to support your supplier to define their business model
- contract milestones about how to make your solution commercially viable
- a relationship with your internal commercial team
- an understanding of standards and/or certification that the end solution must meet
- an understanding of the product development costs you’ll need to meet after phase 2
You must also give the GovTech Catalyst team regular updates on your progress.
Updates to this page
Last updated 25 June 2019 + show all updates
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Added more detail about some of the challenge owners' responsibilities
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Link to new guidance on relevant technological and digital standards and updated guidance about suppliers questions
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Processes updated for Round 3.
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First published.