The government is to build a digital service to help the public sector’s most senior leaders connect with each other.
The newly established National Leadership Centre is seeking a supplier to assist in developing the service, which has already completed a discovery exercise and is expected to reach the end of its alpha phase this month. A prototype, including a website and a directory, is currently being tested by users.
The NLC said that an online tool dedicated to helping leading public officials find and work with one another is currently conspicuous by its absence.
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“User research and market analysis shows there is no existing service to bring together the most senior public sector leaders. Use of external services – [such as] LinkedIn – is not consistent, and use of sector-specific services does not cross organisation boundaries,” it said. “The most senior leaders of our public sector cannot find each others' details, contact each other across boundaries with confidence, provide feedback to the prime minister as a group, and access cutting-edge support and content, curated for them.”
The tool will ultimately be used by about 1,500 public-sector leaders across the UK, the NLC said. Bids for the project are open until 21 August, with work due to start on 16 September. The contract is expected to be worth about £460,000 to the chosen supplier.
The winning bidder will work with the NLC until around the end of March. During the alpha and discovery phase, the organisation worked with digital transformation firm Convivio.
The NLC, which is housed within the Cabinet Office, came into being last year and is due to begin work in earnest in September.
Launching the digital platform is one of the three “key objectives” set out by the government for the NLC. The centre is also expected to deliver “a flagship leadership programme for around 100 public service leaders each year”, as well as conducting research into how leadership, wellbeing, and productivity relate to each other.