Chichester District Council
Agenda item

Agenda item

Replacement Telephone System

(See report at Agenda Item 7 (pages 33-35) of the Cabinet papers of 8 March 2016. The tender evaluation appendix to that report can be found in the supplementary appendices pack on the Council’s website)

 

RECOMMENDED

 

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.

 

Minutes:

Mr Finch (Cabinet Member for Support Services), seconded by Mr Dignum, moved the recommendation of the Cabinet.

 

He explained that the Council’s current telephone system was now 25 years old and would be unsupported by the current suppliers by July 2017. At their meeting on 6 October 2015, the Cabinet had approved a Project Initiation Document (PID) for a replacement and also authorised a joint procurement with Arun District Council who also needed to replace their telephone system. The rationale for this was to reduce procurement costs, to give opportunity to procure a shared system, which would provide resilience between the two authorities to overcome a weakness in business continuity, 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. For Chichester, the capital cost of installation would be £149,849, with an annual revenue cost of £15,945. On 21 March 2016, Arun’s Cabinet had agreed to proceed on a shared service basis.

 

Some additional costs would be incurred to integrate the two systems and a report itemising these costs and savings would be made to a future meeting of the Cabinet.

 

The Cabinet had authorised the Head of Business Improvement Services, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Support Services, to negotiate and conclude a contract with the preferred contractor.

 

Mrs Purnell supported the proposal, but asked whether the “caller display” function on home telephone numbers would display the telephone number of callers on the Council’s new system, which were blocked on the present system. Mrs Ryan (ICT Manager) replied that this would be investigated and a written response provided.

 

Mr Oakley asked what length of service support and spares would be provided by the contractor for the new system. Mrs Ryan replied that the contract would be for five years, with the ability to extend. The maintenance agreement was for seven years.

 

Mr Shaxson asked whether the new system would enable direct access to more officers, without going through the switchboard. Mr Finch reminded members that a list of officers’ direct dial numbers had recently been sent to them, and confirmed that the new system enabled single number contact.

 

Mrs Graves asked whether the new system would enable calls to be routed to officers working from home. Mr Finch confirmed that calls would be routed to staff wherever they were working, whether in the office or at home.

 

Mr Hobbs asked what penalty would be incurred for early termination of the contract. Mr Finch undertook to supply a written answer.

 

Mr McAra asked about the cost implications of joint procurement with Arun District Council, and whether the costs would be shared if they were incurred only in relation to one council’s system. It was explained that each council would have a standalone system and any costs relating to that would be incurred by the Council concerned. However, there would be shared costs to integrate the systems and a separate report to Cabinet would be made about that.

 

RESOLVED

 

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.

 

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