Contract Award for Progress Licence and Software Maintenance
North Lanarkshire Council · 24 May 2023
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 24 May 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Finance and Resources Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref: NLC-NTP-22-179 Date: 24 May 2023 Contract Award for Progress Licence and Software Maintenance From Chief Officer (Business & Digital) E-mail hassellk@northlan.gov.uk Telephone: 07903 096121 Executive Summary Finance & Resources Committee is asked to acknowledge the award of a contract for Progress Licence and Software Maintenance (the ‘Contract’) to Progress Software Ltd. The Contract is for an initial period of 24 months and commenced on 1 April 2023. The value of the Contract shall not exceed One hundred and eighty-four thousand Pounds Sterling (£184,000) exclusive of VAT. Recommendations It is recommended that Finance & Resources Committee acknowledges the award of the Contract to Progress Software Ltd at the maximum value of One Hundred and Eighty-Four Thousand Pounds. The contract award for Progress License and Software Maintenance was made using the Negotiated Tendering Procedure (NTP) outlined with section 9 of the GCSO, with advice sought from the Chief Officers of Asset & Procurement and Legal and Democratic, for the proposed use of the Negotiated Tendering Procedure to make the contract award to Progress Software. The contract is for a period of Twenty-Four months, and the value of the Contract shall not exceed One Hundred and Eighty-Four Thousand pounds sterling (£184,000) exclusive of VAT. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition Statement All ambition statements
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1. Background 1.1 The requirements within the Contract are currently under contract with Progress Software Ltd. This contract is due to expire on 1 April 2023 with the Contract detailed within this report superseding it. 1.2 This contract is for the Annual licence Maintenance and support for NLC Progress applications deployed on Unix servers. There are currently 6 Progress applications residing on the council’s Unix Solaris estate – all developed in-house over the last 20 years - namely: Building Cleaning Management System (BCMS) - provides work order and recharge facilities, for the maintenance of council facilities. Municipal Bank – manages the council’s bank (recently the bank service has stopped but the management of the legacy account information remains for a 6-year period). Home Insurance – manages council house insurance for tenants. Housing Services Management System (HSMS) – manages multiple Housing Service- related functions including Tenancy Management, Rent Accounting, Common Housing Register and Allocations, Homelessness, Arrears and Court Processing, Housing Support, Repairs and Maintenance, Gas Servicing, Property and Estate Management, Anti-Social Behaviour. Application Control System (ACS) – manages the batch processing for all Progress applications and databases. GIFT – file transfer management system for BACS, ledger, files etc. 1.3 All these applications, and the associated Unix platform on which they are currently hosted, are subject to review of potential replacement and/or decommissioning over the next 3 years. 1.4 The licences cover the application development tools, database and application server per user and CPU connections to the databases, and client access software components and are required to develop in-house application software by NLC staff rather than external vendors of software applications. 1.5 Progress Software is the sole supplier of their own technology platform software components that organisations choose to develop IT applications internally and licences are not available through resellers. 1.6 Initially it was intended to direct award this contract through the SVAR framework. However, this has been unsuccessful as the supplier Progress Software are unwilling to conform to the framework Terms and conditions. Further searches and confirmation from the supplier have confirmed that NLC cannot access this supplier on any framework, therefore the only option available for award is this NTP. 2. Report 2.1 A user intelligence group (the ‘UIG’) of technical and procurement representatives was formed to review technical specifications, discuss trading processes, market conditions and trends, ways to maximise community benefits and sustainability and to agree the procurement strategy that would deliver maximum benefit for the Council via the Contract. 2.2 The initial estimated value of the Contract dictated that the procurement procedure be undertaken in accordance with the Councils General Contract Standing Orders. 2.3 The procurement procedure was undertaken as a “Negotiated Tender Procedure” (NTP) in accordance with Regulation 9 of the Councils General Contract Standing Orders. Following advice from the Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) and the Chief Officer (Legal and
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Democratic), the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) approved the progression of the NTP on 03 April 2023. 2.4 The Contract award recommendation is made on the basis of the justification detailed and appraised within the associated “NTP Strategy” document and following an assessment of the tender received by Progress Software Ltd to ensure it was complete and compliant with the Councils requirements. 2.5 Further details of the procurement procedure are provided in Appendix 1 and the SME status and location of the tenderer is located within Appendix 2. 2.6 The value of the Contract is One Hundred and Eighty-Four Thousand pounds sterling (£184,000) exclusive of VAT including any option to extend the Contract. 2.7 The costs associated with contract delivery will be contained within the Revenue budget for Business & Digital. Price Savings / Increases 2.8 The pre-tender whole life estimate for the Contract was £184,000. The cost has remained the same as previous years, with no excessive increases. Price Stability 2.9 The pricing is fixed for the duration of the contract. Community Benefits 2.10 The procurement did not include a community benefit requirement. Fair Work First 2.11 Within their tender submission, Progress Software Ltd. advised that they will commit to the Scottish Governments “Fair Work First” initiative: Contract Management 2.12 Officers from Business & Digital will be responsible for managing the Contract which will be undertaken in accordance with the Councils agreed approach to contract and supplier management. 3. Measures of success The Contract will deliver the following outcomes; 3.1 Continued maintenance and support of the council’s Progress application systems hosted on Unix estate by Progress Software Ltd who licence the database and application services.
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4. Supporting documents Appendix 1 Summary of Procurement Process Appendix 2 SME Status and Location of All Tenderers Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business & Digital)
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Appendix 1 – Summary of Procurement Process Response CPT Contract Reference Allocated: NLC-NTP-22-179 Tender Platform Utilised: Other Procurement Procedure Utilised: Negotiated Tender Procedure (NTP) Governing Legislation / Regulations: Councils General Contract Standing Orders Date Contract Strategy / NTP Approved: 03 April 2023 Date Tender Documents Released: 03 April 2023 SME % of Expressions of Interest: 0 NLC Based % of Expressions of Interest: 0 Tender Return Deadline: 04 April 2023 Number of Tenders Received: 1 Tenders Received from SME’s: 0 Tenders Received from NLC Based Tenderers: 0 Number of Recommended Tenderers: 1 Assessment Team: John McBride, Heather Mooty Anticipated Contract Start Date: 01 April 2023 Total Contract Period (Months): 24 months Maximum Total Contract Value: £184,000
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Appendix 2 – SME Status and location of all Tenderers Name of Tenderer Size of Tendering Organisation (Micro, Small, Medium, or Large) Location (Local Authority / Council Area) Progress Software Large USA