The project issues
In 2001 the Council established a five year contract with an external supplier for the delivery of ICT services, replacing the previous incumbent. The contract was due to terminate in July 2006 though there was a two year extension option. The Council felt that it had not received the type of service it had anticipated and was seeking to develop a greater degree of partnership within any future option.

The Authority recognised that a review of the options available to the Council needed to be carried out as a matter of urgency, and commissioned Socitm Consulting to review the existing contract and provide an options analysis to inform the Council and provide a route map for future action.

The Socitm Consulting solution
Socitm Consulting interviewed a number of key personnel and also reviewed a number of documents, including recent price statements, Service Level Reports, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Original Contract.

On the basis of the limited analysis allowed for within the assignment budget, we reported on:

• Appraisal of current position
• Options analysis
• Cost Appraisal, and
• Conclusions

Options included:

• Extend contract
• Re-tender, and
• Return to in-house provision

Within these obvious basic options we also identified a variety of innovative sub-options including splitting delivery between more than one service deliverer (this was based on a scenario where technical delivery might not be compatible with strategy advice).

The benefits to the client
Our approach provided an objective analysis of the options, based not only on our consultants' skills and experience but as importantly on Socitm Consulting's access to its unique Knowledge Base of authorities which have faced similar situations. We were also able to add further value by providing contact points with other Councils which had undergone similar exercises.

Project identification
Client organisation: Cotswold District Council
Client contact: Andrew Logan, IT Services Manager, 01285 623000, andrew.logan@cotswold.gov.uk
Lead consultant: martin.green@socitm.gov.uk
Project no: 4893