Agenda item

[Report of the Chief Digital Information Officer]

This report seeks approval to award a 12 month contract with a value of £657,532 to Logicalis UK Limited for the provision of the council’s Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN) including support and maintenance.

Councillor Demirci considered the report which sought approval for the award of a 12 month contract with a value of £657,532 to Logicalis UK Limited for the provision of the Council’s Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), including support and maintenance.

Councillor Demirci noted that the current contract was due to end on 30 June 2017, and there was no option to extend.  It was critical that these services continue to run as they provide communication between the Council and its residents, businesses and other partners.

RESOLVED that the contract for the provision of the Council’s LAN and WAN services be award for a 12 month period, commencing on 1 July 2017, be awarded to Logicalis UK Limited at a cost of £657,532.

Reasons for decision

The services described in this report are business critical and must be maintained.  The use of Crown Commercial Services’ RM1045 – Network services framework agreement provides a legally compliant mechanism for the council to source the services.

The chosen supplier (Logicalis UK Limited) has been the current incumbent provider for 11 years.  Therefore, the supplier knows the infrastructure of the council’s LAN and WANs.  The quality of service provided by the incumbent supplier is very good with no loss of service.

The contract will be awarded at the same cost as the previous year’s service contract value.  This represents value for money compared to the current framework rates. Any variation to the services would require the supplier to use their new rate card for services, incurring additional cost.

This is a temporary arrangement until the recently formed Shared Digital service can consider and implement a longer term strategy.

The report is being considered for approval through the general exception notice process due to the urgency to enter into a new contract by the end of June 2017.

Alternative options considered

The services to be procured are business critical.  In reviewing the options available the main focus has been on ensuring business continuity, and completing a legally compliant procurement process that would enable the council to award a contract that also represented value for money.  Four options have been considered:

a)        Do not renew the contract – Not recommended

The services are business critical and part of the council’s civil contingency requirements.  The council needs to have a contract in place for these services which includes support and maintenance.

b)        Provide the services from existing council resources – Not recommended

This option is the medium term (12 to 18) months preferred option.  However, the existing in-house resources lack the technical experience and capacity to deliver the service in the short term.

c)        Procure the services through a new supplier – Not recommended

The technical infrastructure of the LAN and WAN are complex and will take a new supplier significant time to understand the infrastructure and continue delivery of the service.

This would also require the completion of a more complex procurement exercise, which would take between three and four months to complete, excluding approval and transition which will add at least an additional three months.

The Shared Digital service has not had sufficient time to consider the best options in respect of delivering these services long term; therefore there is a risk we would need to further transition the services in 12-18 months. This would create additional disruption to services and incur additional transition costs.

d)        Procure the services from the existing supplier via a framework agreement- Recommended

The Crown Commercial Service has a range of framework agreements from which services can be called off.  As a named participant on framework agreement RM1045 – Network Services, the Council can call-off services from the framework agreement as a direct award. 

The incumbent supplier has been providing these services for eleven years. The supplier has intimate knowledge of the council’s infrastructure, has delivered an excellent service throughout the duration of the contract.

Having considered the options available to the council, Option D meets the council’s requirements to: maintain continuity of service; procure a new contract that is legally compliant with public procurement regulations and provide value for money.

The contract, in accordance with the framework agreement’s regulations will be by direct award to Logicalis UK Ltd who are one of the named providers on the framework.  This would provide the most expedient procurement option; whilst maintaining continuity of service.