Agenda item

Further to minute 67 of 6 October 2015, to approve and award the contract for the replacement of the Council’s current telephone system, subject to a recommendation to Council to release funding from the Asset Replacement Programme.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL

That up to £175,000 (including contingency) be released from the Asset Replacement Programme in order to allow a contract to be awarded to the preferred contractor.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the replacement of the current telephone system be approved.

(2)  That the Head of Business Improvement Services be authorised, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Support Services, to conclude a contract with the preferred contractor.

Further to minute 67 of 6 October 2015, the Cabinet considered the report and appendix circulated with the agenda (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mr Finch introduced the report, adding that recommendation 2.3 should be amended to include consultation with the Cabinet Member before the exercise of delegated powers.

He reminded the Cabinet that, at their meeting on 6 October 2015, they had approved a Project Initiation Document (PID) for a replacement for the Council’s current telephone system, which was now 25 years old and would be unsupported by the current suppliers by July 2017. Officers were also authorised to undertake a joint procurement with Arun District Council who also needed to replace their telephone system. The rationale for this was to reduce procurement costs, but also to give opportunity to procure a shared system. This would provide resilience between the two authorities to overcome a weakness in business continuity for the telephone system and to provide a key piece of infrastructure for the sharing of services and resources.

Through a joint tendering exercise both Councils had identified the same preferred supplier, after a detailed evaluation of 14 submissions. For Chichester, the capital cost would be £149,849, with an annual revenue cost of £15,945. Arun’s Cabinet would be considering their side of the offer on 21 March 2016.

If it was decided to proceed with a shared solution, additional costs would be incurred to cover the additional items set out in the second table in paragraph 6 of the appendix. A further report identifying integration requirements and itemising these costs and savings would be made before seeking agreement to a shared service.

Mr Finch emphasised that it was necessary to move forward with replacing the telephone system without waiting for a decision on integration, but the proposed new system would enable many improvements.

Mrs Ryan (ICT Manager) underlined the need to replace the current system. The cost was below the initial budget. A very comprehensive evaluation of the submissions had been carried out to ensure that the replacement system was fit for purpose and provided a responsive, flexible and resilient system. The additional functionality of the new system was exciting and would involve a big cultural change for the organisation.

Mrs Hardwick drew attention to the contrast between Chichester and Arun in the size of the Project Team listed in paragraph 10 of the appendix. Mrs Ryan explained that the relative strength of the Chichester team was because the replacement of the telephone system was a more urgent priority than for Arun. The teams would be more even if a shared service was to be progressed.

Mrs Lintill expressed the hope that a shared solution would be agreed, for business continuity reasons. She asked whether the report took account of the outsourcing of the Leisure service. Mrs Ryan replied that the Leisure service’s requirements had been included in the tender. The outsourcing now meant that there would be a reduction in the number of handsets required, which would leave more funding for additional hardware and consultancy.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL

That up to £175,000 (including contingency) be released from the Asset Replacement Programme in order to allow a contract to be awarded to the preferred contractor.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the replacement of the current telephone system be approved.

(2)  That the Head of Business Improvement Services be authorised, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Support Services, to conclude a contract with the preferred contractor.