Contract Award Business and Digital
North Lanarkshire Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref Netcall/Assistive Date 29/08/22 Contracts Awards – Business and Digital From Head of Business and Digital E-mail hassellk@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903096121 Executive Summary In compliance with clause 21 of the General Contract Standing Orders (GCSO), this report recognises two independent contract awards in respect of (a) Assistive Technologies and (b) the maintenance and support of the Council’s Netcall telephony services. The contract for Assistive Technologies was awarded using a Negotiated Tendering Procedure (NTP) outlined within section 9 of the GCSO (the ‘Contract’) to The Access Technology Company Ltd through the Chief Executive, under his delegated authority in compliance with GCSO 21.3.2. Contract details are provided within paragraph 1.2 below. The contract is for a period of nine months, and the value of the Contract shall not exceed one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds (£135,000.00) Pounds Sterling exclusive of VAT. A contract for Annual Maintenance and Support (the ‘Contract’) was awarded to Netcall Ltd by the Head of Business and Digital Solutions invoking the Negotiated Tendering Procedure (NTP) outlined with section 9 of the GCSO. The Contract is for a period of 12 months with the option to extend for another period of 12 months, and the value of the Contract shall not exceed one hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six hundred- and four-Pounds Sterling (£157,604.00) exclusive of VAT. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee recognise the content of the report and the undernoted contract awards. (a) award of the Assistive Technologies Contract to The Access Technology Company Ltd at the maximum value of one hundred and thirty-five thousand Pounds Sterling (£135,000) exclusive of VAT. (b) award of the Netcall Annual Maintenance and Support contract to Netcall Ltd at the maximum value of one hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six hundred- and four- Pounds Sterling (£157,604.00) exclusive of VAT. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (18) Ensure our digital transformation is responsive to all people's needs and enable access to the services they need
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1. Background 1.1 In line with the Council’s Data Custodian Model, which has been the subject of previous reports to the former Transformation and Digitisation Committee, several contracts awarded through Business & Digital support digital services and infrastructure across all council services. Two such contract awards are detailed below. 1.2 Assistive Technology 1.2.1 This contract is required to complete the migration to M365 in line with the council’s digital programme. This will allow all assistive technology users to utilise the new M365 office suite and to fully collaborate with colleagues. 1.2.2 Access Technology Company (ATC) have a long-standing partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, supporting employees with existing and acquired health issues and disabilities. 1.2.3 It has been identified that there is an ongoing need for continued support. This will be dealt with under a separate contract, currently in the draft stage and will be submitted to a future committee for consideration. 1.2.4 The contract will prepare a robust plan for the device deployment minimising disruption to assistive technology users. 1.3 Annual Maintenance and Support Contract for Netcall Telephony 1.3.1 Netcall Ltd currently provide the Council’s corporate automatic call distribution (ACD) telephony system, with such business-critical council-wide for managing customer demand. Current functionality available through the Netcall Ltd solution includes customer contact through telephone calls, e-mail and web chat, and an ability to maintain service delivery via home working. 1.3.2 The system allows incoming calls to be routed across the organisation to ensure that services meet customer demand and manage critical delivery through skills-based routing, menus, and messaging to update customers and direct calls to the appropriate teams. 1.3.3 Netcall Ltd are the sole providers of the Council’s telephony hardware, software, and maintenance. 2. Report 2.1 Assistive Technology 2.1.1 Through the delegated authority provided within GCSO 21.3.2, the Chief Executive instructed the Head of Asset and Procurement Solutions to award the contract for Assistive Technologies (the ‘Contract’). These subsequent paragraphs provide committee with details of the contract award. 2.1.2 This contract supports users across the council with varied additional needs. It fully supports the migration to M365 allowing users to fully integrate and collaborate with colleagues. Furthermore, the contract will provide a full detailed inventory of NLC’s assistive technology users and all associated software and hardware. The users will be
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fully supported through the migration process minimising any disruption to the user and the organisation. 2.1.3 As detailed in paragraph 1.2 above The Access Technology Company Ltd (ATC) have a longstanding partnership with North Lanarkshire Council. ATC are pioneers in this field with a people first ethos. Due to the lack of competition in this field the contract has been awarded under GCSO 5.2 where competition is absent for technical reasons and for continuity of service provision until such times as the ongoing requirement for this service is reviewed by the technology user group. 2.2 Netcall - Annual Maintenance and Support Contract 2.2.1 As detailed in paragraph 1.3.3 above Netcall Ltd are the sole providers of the Council’s telephony hardware, software, and maintenance and therefore, the only company which can presently deliver and meet the ongoing requirements of the Council, pending the planned wider review of the Council’s telephony strategy. 2.2.2 The initial estimated value of the Contract dictated that the procurement procedure be undertaken in accordance with the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016. The Head of Asset and Procurement reported to Transformation and Digitisation Committee on 22 February 2022 that the procuring service had invoked clause 9.3 of the GCSO and used the negotiated tendering procedure to award this contract to Netcall Ltd, without advertising the competition. The circumstances in which the Council may award a contract without competition are prescribed in the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (the “Regulations”), Regulation 6. 2.2.3 Having followed the GCSO and discussed the requirement approved through the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG) with the Heads of Asset and Procurement Solutions and Legal and Democratic Solutions, the Head of Business and Digital determined the Negotiated Tendering Procedure (NTP) was appropriate to use in this instance. Pending the outcome of the planned council-wide review of the Council’s future telephony requirements, it is not currently feasible to replace the existing hardware and software products used to manage customer demand, therefore a final 12-month maintenance contract with the option to award another 12 months period was awarded to the current provider Netcall Ltd to ensure continuity of critical service delivery. 3. Measures of success (a) Supporting the works of the Digital Community, Digital Economy and Digital Council 4. Supporting documentation N/A Katrina Hassell Head of Business and Digital
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The value of the individual contracts: £135,000 Pounds Sterling, £157,604 Pounds Sterling can be met from within existing revenue budget resources respectively. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The services outlined will ensure the digital ambitions of the council continue to be met. Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?