How to win: Working Age Services Project Zora - Application Decomposition & Microservices Transition

About this contract

Project Zora is a strategic programme within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Working Age Services portfolio, focused on improving the sustainability, agility and resilience of the Universal Credit service. It addresses the constraints of a long‑standing monolithic application estate to enable more responsive delivery of policy change, user needs and future service evolution. The programme will progressively decompose elements of the Universal Credit application into more modular, loosely coupled components aligned to a modern, microservices‑based architecture. This includes re‑architecting systems and supporting capabilities to reduce interdependencies, improve deployment flexibility, and enable faster, safer change while maintaining continuity of service. Through this transformation, Project Zora aims to establish reusable platform and service capabilities that can be iterated over time and support wider Working Age Services objectives. Delivery is expected to require specialist digital, engineering and delivery expertise across analysis, design, build and transition activity, with a clear focus on managing operational risk, supporting user‑centred outcomes and delivering lo

How to win contracts like this

• ✓Answer against the marking scheme, not the question text — Department for Work & Pensions scores each response, so map your evidence to the published criteria and weightings.
• ✓At £34,500,000, expect quality and social value to carry a large share of the score — price alone rarely wins services work.
• ✓Show recent, comparable delivery: name similar services contracts you've delivered for public bodies, with measurable outcomes.
• ✓Start early: deadlines are tight and a strong bid takes iteration.

BidWriter drafts your responses from your company profile, scores them against the marking scheme, and tracks your whole pipeline. Free to start — no card needed.

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