Rochford District Council (RDC) faced important decisions regarding future options for its outsourced ICT service. The contract was awarded for 10 years and they were approaching the option for an extension for up to two more years. Since the award of the contract in 2001 the charges had significantly increased fuelled by indexation and contracted changes. Options to be considered included the two-year extension, re-letting the contract, or bringing the service in-house. In particular, the Council was concerned the option it chose supported the financial savings it needed to achieve over the forthcoming years. Equally it wished to remain flexible in order to take advantage of any shared services opportunities. It was necessary to ensure a timely decision was made on the extension in order to allow enough time for a procurement project to re-let the contract.

Suffolk Coastal District Council has implemented the most cost-effective, reliable and flexible option for maintaining and developing its ICT Services following an outsourcing options appraisal by Socitm Consulting. By advising the Council on the future of its ICT Service following the expiry of its existing outsourced contract, Socitm Consulting helped the Council to select the most effective option for supporting its key strategic priorities of efficiency, maintenance of service quality and obligations to county-level shared services.

The project issues
Alnwick District Council (ADC) and Berwick Borough Council both have ASP contracts with the same supplier which expire in 2008. They wanted to review jointly the various options open to them and potentially a third authority - Castle Morpeth - with which Alnwick has a partnership arrangement for ICT services.

Socitm Consulting won a competitive tender to review future options for the two authorities including where the services should operate, e.g. remotely as under the ASP service or locally, and also to advise on the selection of software. All options had to comply with European Procurement Rules.

The project issues
Allerdale Borough Council’s website received only a C+ rating in the 2006 Better Connected report. The Council’s objectives include the ability to make cost and efficiency savings and to take the pressure off other service delivery channels. Significant benefits in this respect can be achieved by providing a fully transactional website, which provides users with a self-service capability. Socitm Consulting was asked to review the present situation and to provide recommendations for achieving these goals.

The project issues
The Council’s previous ICT Strategy had been published three years previously and was out of date. In addition, the Council was in the process of setting up an innovative Shared Service Partnership with neighbouring South Oxfordshire District Council for Finance and Revenues and Benefits (with some of the services outsourced to Capita). The Council was also in the process of restructuring its organisation.