Credit: GDS/CC BY 2.0

Two central London boroughs are seeking expert coaching to support their bid to embrace agile ways of working.

Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) have shared ICT services since 2011 – an arrangement that, until 2018, also included the latter’s western neighbour, Hammersmith and Fulham. 

Last year Westminster and RBKC announced that, in addition to sharing services, they also wished to develop and implement a joint technology strategy.

A newly published contract notice indicates that part of that strategy is a move towards agile development methods and practices.

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“The councils, led by the shared IT department, are seeking to strengthen agile delivery in line with government digital standards and the bi-borough IT strategy,” the notice said. “Delivery teams are inexperienced in agile delivery and the councils are early in the journey of adopting customer-centric and agile ways of working.”

To help build the requisite expertise, the two boroughs are looking to appoint an agile-specialised training provider that can offer “coaching on demand to our delivery teams, sponsors and stakeholders”.

The chosen supplier will be expected to provide various different types of training, including one-on-one instruction, “supporting agile ceremonies, [and] working alongside an agile delivery team on a day-to-day basis imparting knowledge”.

The company will work with the authorities for a period of 12 months, with up to £100,000 put aside to fund the coaching. 

Bids for the work are open until midnight 24 January, with a contract scheduled to go live on 2 March.