Agenda item - Social Care IT System Procurement

Report of the Executive Director for Finance & Resources (copy attached).

1)           That the Executive Director for Finance & Resources be granted delegated authority to:

(i)            Carry out the procurement and award of a new social work case management IT system contract for children’s and adult  services for an initial term of 5 years;

(ii)          Agree an extension to the contract referred to in 2.1(i) above of up to  2 years; and

(iii)         Approve the allocation of £2.5m for the contract referred to in 2.1(i) above from unallocated capital resources and include within the capital investment programme. 

(iv)         Note that the figure set out in 2.1 (iii) above is an estimate based on current information.  A more detailed breakdown of costs is being worked on and will be submitted in a full business case on the project.  An update report will be presented to Policy, Resources & Growth Committee based on this full business case.

45.1      The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources that sought approval to conduct a procurement process and award a new social work case management IT system with a term of 5 years with an option to extend the term by 2 years and to access to funding to procure a new system.

45.2      Councillor Sykes stated that he was surprised there was no mention of the Procurement Advisory Board (PAB) in the report as there had been lengthy consideration of the issues at one of their recent meeting. Councillor Sykes asked what notice was given of new capital programmes given the amount requested and noted the excellent internal consultation undertaken and reported to PAB including lessons learned from other authorities that he hoped could be taken into account in awarding of the contract.

45.3      The Executive Director, Finance & Resources apologised for the omission of PAB that should have been referenced in the report and overall was adding value and giving committee assurance on decisions. The Executive Director, Finance & Resources stated there was a relative urgent need to invest in the council’s Social Care IT systems as its current systems had been in place since 1999 albeit with updates since then.

45.4      RESOLVED-

1)           That the Executive Director for Finance & Resources be granted delegated authority to:

(i)            Carry out the procurement and award of a new social work case management IT system contract for children’s and adult  services for an initial term of 5 years;

(ii)          Agree an extension to the contract referred to in 2.1(i) above of up to  2 years; and

(iii)         Approve the allocation of £2.5m for the contract referred to in 2.1(i) above from unallocated capital resources and include within the capital investment programme. 

(iv)         Note that the figure set out in 2.1 (iii) above is an estimate based on current information.  A more detailed breakdown of costs is being worked on and will be submitted in a full business case on the project.  An update report will be presented to Policy, Resources & Growth Committee based on this full business case.