Decision details

This report seeks approval to award the Council’s Land and Property-based IT case management system contract to commence operation no later than 20th March 2023 following a comprehensive and compliant procurement process. 

The migration to the new supplier is complex and will involve multiple services across Planning and Regulatory services.

Reasons for urgency:

To ensure continuity of the planning and regulatory services reliant on this new IT system,  it is essential to ensure there is sufficient time to complete the migration to the new supplier before the existing contract expires. The contract needs to be awarded urgently to enable this complex migration work and system testing to commence.  In light of the cancellation of the April Cabinet meeting, delaying the decision until the next scheduled meeting would place the programme under significant risk.

That the Leader:

1. Notes Appendix A is not for publication on the basis that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) as set out in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended)

2. Approves the award of a contract to NEC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED previously known as Northgate Public Services UK Limited. The detailed costs are contained within exempt appendix A.

3. Approves one-off investment from the IT and Technology reserve for up to £0.946m for the one-off implementation costs. These costs are set out within exempt appendix A

4. Notes on-going annual cost savings of £0.126m against current contract costs to be delivered once the procurement is complete and operational from 2024/25.

The land and property-based system is critical for Planning Service, Environmental Health, Licensing, Trading Standards, Building Control and Land Charges to deliver land and property services.  It enables a crucial range of statutory services to be carried out. The current system is moving to obsolescence and needs replacement / upgrade.

REASONS FOR URGENCY

To ensure continuity of the planning and regulatory services reliant on this new IT system,  it is essential to ensure there is sufficient time to complete the migration to the new supplier before the existing contract expires. The contract needs to be awarded urgently to enable this complex migration work and system testing to commence.  Following the cancellation of the April Cabinet meeting, delaying the decision until the next Cabinet meeting would place the programme under significant risk

As described in the report.