Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member noted that the report sought approval for the Council to participate in an overarching agreement to provide a shared out of hours, customer call-handling service with the participating councils and organisations listed in paragraph 6.25 of the interleaved report, and adhere to a services agreement for out of hours’ customer call handling services.

The Council had been part of a Pan London Framework out of Hours, customer call-handling service since 2009.  The contract was managed by Ealing Council and service delivery provided by GDIT [General Dynamics Information Technology]. The current contract was due to expire on the 30^th of September 2018 and an OJEU compliant procurement exercise had been undertaken including Haringey and which all the participating councils and organisations listed in paragraph 6.25 of the report had been party to. This lead to Ealing borough awarding the contract to Capita Services Business Limited [a subsidy of Capita] for a period of 5 years with a further option to extend for 1+1 years, meaning the maximum contract period could be 7 years.

The Cabinet Member was asked to approve the new contract to ensure a seamless transfer of the current out of hours’ service to a new provider, continuing the good value approach Haringey has taken since initially joining the framework in August 2009.

In response to a question from the Cabinet Member, it was clarified that there would be a midterm review of the contract which would consider performance and delivery and inform a view on whether the contract could be further extended for 1+1 years.

In response to a question on delivering the Out of Hours customer handling service in- house, the cost would be at least double the amount of the proposed new contract and there would be significant costs associated with keeping a Council building open for 24 hours to provide emergency contact with the Council.

The Assistant Director for Customer Services further advised that, in the event of a major borough emergency during out of hours in the Council, this contract arrangement would be able to call on a significantly larger pool of telephony resources and provide priority status for support. If the service was in-house, only circa seven members of staff could be called upon.

RESOLVED

1.    In accordance with CSO 16.02, to approve an Out of Hours Customer Call Handling access agreement, with Capita Business Services Limited, under a new Framework Agreement that was tendered by London Borough of Ealing on behalf of the participating organisations. London Borough of Ealing will be the Lead Authority in the award of the new contract and will carry out the contract management for the contract.

2.    To agree that the contract will run from 1^st October 2018 to 30^th September 2023, with an annual value for call handling in the region of £135k (approximately £675k over a five-year period). There is an annual lead client management fee payable to Ealing of £8,900 (approximately £45k over a five-year period). The total  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4