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 31st 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.
Decision type: Key
Reason Key: Expenditure/Income over £5m & policies or new income, reserves use, overspend over £300K;
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Notice of proposed decision first published: 11/09/2015
Report access: Open report with exempt appendix;
Decision due: 9 May 2016 by Cabinet
Lead member: Councillor Ben Coleman Ben.Coleman@lbhf.gov.uk
Department: Finance Department
Contact: Hitesh Jolapara, Strategic Finance Director Email: hitesh.jolapara@lbhf.gov.uk Tel: 020 8753 2501, Darren Atkinson Email: Darren.Atkinson@lbhf.gov.uk Tel: 020 8753 2758.
Reason No Public Access: PART OPEN PART PRIVATE Part of this report is exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.