Decision details

Cabinet Member approval sought for contract award.

1.        That Appendix B to the report be classified as not for publication under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) and in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

2.2      That the Cabinet Member approved the Waiver to the Procurement Code and the recommendation to extend the current contract with Agilisys Limited for a period of 24 months from 4^th November 2020 to 3^rd November 2022 for the out of hours services and a period of 18 months with an option to extend for a further 3 + 3 months for the in hours services for an estimated total sum of £1.8m.

2.3      That the Cabinet Member delegated authority to the Executive Director, Finance & Resources to make any further decisions required to give effect to the further 3 - 6 months extension referred to in 2.2 above. 

3.1      The Contact Centre Review business case was approved by the Change Board on 10^th June.  Once this review, as well as others including the future of city management/parking, are complete and recommendations for the shape of future contact centre service provision can be approved by ELT and Cabinet Members, we will then be in a position to go to the market to re-procure a new contract for contact centre services.

3.2          Over the last few months, the COVID 19 crisis has impacted in various ways.  Some staff have been redeployed to support WCC’s vulnerable people and some resources have been affected by sickness and absence. Furthermore, a number of companies who would have been expected to participate in any market engagement activities may  not have been in a position to do so and more so very unlikely to have been in a position to embark on a bid preparation or full procurement exercise with us at this time. 

3.3          Discussions in early 2020 did suggest that a specification could be shared with the market to test whether the concept of an assisted services hub model would attract contact centre providers.  However, it was agreed that it would be better to conduct a proof of concept exercise using the established incumbents Agilisys and this option was agreed by the Change Board.  The subsequent impact of Covid-19 proved this to be the best option but things will need to be closely monitored to mitigate against any further Covid-19 resurgence that could again jeopardise any future procurement exercise.

3.4      A report was submitted to the Commercial Gateway Review Board on 28^th July and subsequently to the Head of Procurement and Director of Finance and Resources and the Waiver of the Procurement Code to extend the contract with Agilisys was approved.