I observed Cambridge City Council’s Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee on the 9th of July 2012. Councillors considered a report titled ICT Facilities Management Contract Re-Tender.
There is little detail in the report, but it appears the council are planning to spend around twice as much as as it currently does on “IT Facilities”, basically computers and phones for their ~1000 or so staff. Proposals before councillors were for a contact costing the taxpayer two million pounds a year for ten years, so on average around £2,000 per year per staff member.
Specialist software, such as that which deals with planning applications or council tax is dealt with separately, as is licence payments to Microsoft. Any additional projects would be negotiated for on top of the core contract.
The current contract with Serco expires in July 2013.
Councillors discussed the proposed contract length, with the Labour opposition saying ten years was too long a period, and it was impossible for the council to know now what it would need in terms of information technology in ten years time. Labour’s Cllr Benstead suggested a five year period with options to extend.
A council officer said that many people would respond to the tender exercise but would be ruled out as “non-starters” for being too small or too inexperienced. Liberal Democrat Cllr Rosenstiel argued against this approach and urged proper consideration be given to smaller companies.
Councillors discussed how they wanted to be involved in the process of making the decision. They were warned that being on the project board would be very time consuming, the Chief Executive said it would not be a good use of their time.
Liberal Democrats agreed their officers recommendations to authorise going ahead with the procurement exercise. Labour abstained.
I hope the tender document when it is produced will be placed somewhere findable, not just “published” in some obscure journal. I expect the tender process, and decision, will take place in secrecy, citing commercial confidentiality. Eventually the details of the new contract will be accessible to Cambridge Council Tax payers who use the access the Audit Commission Act gives them, as I did in relation to the city’s blue bin recycling contract.
2 responses to “Cambridge City Council to Re-Tender £2m/yr Computer and Phone Contract”
A tender of that size has to appear in the European journal.
At first glance at your description, I would say it appears very expensive and 10 years is far too long. I would also like to know how many councillors will be on the project board, as they are simply not qualified or experienced enough to sit in numbers. Classic project methodology might suggest it is chaired by an elected representative, but the positions of technical and user assurance should be filled by qualified and experienced officers. The trouble is, everybody who has ever shopped at PC World considers themselves an IT expert, and public sector project boards get over filled by well meaning amateurs who base strategic purchasing of network decisions on their last experience of buting a PC for their children!
How do they know it will be twice the price if they haven’t been to market yet?