The project issues
The council’s ICT services are currently outsourced. The current contract is due to end in October 2005 so the council have to decide what action to take in order that there should be a seamless continuation of services at that time. The options are to extend the current contract (covered within that contract for periods of one or two years), carry out a procurement exercise to replace the contract or bring the services back in house. James Nightingale, Contract Manager at CCC, brought us in because he had identified the need to review the options and present recommendations to executive and Members in order that an early decision could be taken on the way forward.

The Socitm Consulting solution
We interviewed officers, users and current supplier management, and examined all relevant current documentation to gain understanding of the practical issues and the business requirements. We produced a report setting out problems related to the current service delivery as seen by CCC staff and management and the extra/changes to services they now believed they needed. The report then reviewed the options in the light of cost, practicability and the contract changes required. This resulted in a recommendation for the procurement option to be taken, but because of work on hand relating to the production of an e-gov programme, the recommendation suggested a six month extension to the current contract followed by the procurement exercise. At the request of the Chief Executive, recommendations were included in the report on how CCC should organise themselves internally to be able to better manage their ICT supplier.

The report was the basis for a presentation to Senior Managers, who endorsed the recommendations. The report was then copied to Members forming the Strategic Information Technology Scrutiny Committee and was put on the agenda for the next meeting of that committee. We attended the meeting to answer queries on the report, which was adopted unanimously by the committee.

The benefits to the client
Recommendations were put forward which were accepted by all areas of the council such that work could proceed on implementing those recommendations without delay and in good time to allow implementation within the required timescales.

Project identification
Client organisation: Cambridge City Council
Client contact: James Nightingale, Contract Manager, 01223 457461, james.nightingale@cambridge.gov.uk
Lead consultant: keith.marshall@socitm.gov.uk
Project no: 4863