Decision details

This report seeks approval to award a contract to provide a Contact Centre post October 2016.

The Council’s Contact Centre and out of hours call handling service is the first point of contact for the majority of residents and general public. It is an essential service. The current service is run by Hammersmith and Fulham Bridge Partnership (who contracted it directly to Agilisys) and the contract comes to an end on the 31^st October, with no option of extending. The recommendation to bring the daytime service back in-house and contract out the ‘out of hours’ service using the London framework follows the decision not to award the contract following a mini competition. Key to the successful implementation of this is ensuring the right people, telephony and IT systems are in place in time and connected to the appropriate back office systems. This will involve a significant amount of work from an HR and ICT perspective. Given that the Council is concurrently changing ICT provider and developing a new ICT shared service with neighbouring councils means there is additional complexity and time required to get the appropriate technology in place. Time is considered a critical factor as the deadline is immovable and thus a significant risk. The earlier the council can start this work will help mitigate this risk and provide time to sufficiently address the complexities.

1.1.        That the council award a contract to Agilisys Ltd for daytime and out of hours contact centre services, commencing on 1 November 2016 initially for 12 months, with an option to extend for a further 12 months, based on the same terms and conditions as those set out in the HFBP Services Contract.

1.2.        That the council award a contract to Agilisys Digital for the online My Account portal, commencing on 1 November 2016 initially for 12 months, with an option to extend for a further 12 months, based on the same terms and conditions as those set out in the HFBP Services Contract.

1.3.        That the contact centre services require unbudgeted growth, which is to be funded by virement from unallocated contingencies, be noted.

1.4.        That a specific budget is to be created for the My Account services within Corporate budgets (it has in the past been funded from corporate unearmarked funds), be noted.

1.5.        To delegate the commercial close of the contracts to the Cabinet Member for Commercial Revenue and Residents’ Satisfaction.