Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Eryl Williams, Lead Member for Education (copy enclosed) which sought approval to award the Schools Admin and Curriculum ICT contract to GAIA Technologies.   A copy of the Quality Impact Assessment had been included under Part II of the agenda.

RESOLVED:- that Cabinet approves the awarding of the contract to GAIA Technologies for both the Admin and Curriculum networks.

Councillor Eryl Williams presented the report, circulated previously, which sought approval to award the Schools Admin and Curriculum ICT contract to GAIA Technologies.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that any discussion pertaining to Appendix 2, the Quality Impact Assessment, would have to be conducted under Part II of the Agenda.

Decisions had been required to approve GAIA Technologies as the mandatory ICT provider for the Admin Network following the recent tender exercise to outsource the existing DCC service, and to approve GAIA Technologies as the optional ICT provider for the Curriculum Network following the recent exercise to re-tender the expired DCC contract previously awarded to GAIA Technologies on behalf of some schools.

The Head of Customers and Education Support explained that the Schools Admin network was currently provided by Central ICT and it was proposed to award the contract to GAIA technologies who had been the successful provider following the recent tender exercise.  It was explained that all schools must be part of the mandatory contract as it was vital that it was delivered by one provider across all schools to maintain consistency between Schools and the County.   The 4 options for consideration for the Admin network included:-

1.  Fully Managed Service – LA managed staff

2.  Support Service – LA managed staff

3.  Fully Managed service – Full TUPE of staff

4.  Support Service - Full TUPE of staff

The existing service with Central ICT was a support service only and based on the pricing schedule shown in Appendix 1.  The new service with GAIA technologies was of greater quality at a reduced price.  The pricing would still be subject to final verification of inventory on awarding the contract but the unit costs would remain fixed as per the tender.

The School’s Curriculum network was currently outsourced and managed locally by schools through their own contract negotiations with various providers.  The Denbighshire framework was due for renewal on 1^st April, 2013 and a delegated decision had been sought to approve a contract extension to 31^st August, 2013 to allow the new Curriculum contract to form part of the same tender as the Admin network.  In response to a question from Councillor David Smith, the HCE explained that the contract was discretionary and schools were not obliged to move their curriculum contracts onto the network and there was currently no indication as to which schools would chose to move on to the new contract.

Providers had been asked to consider the option of a fully managed service, hardware included, or a basic support service, no hardware included, as well as a full TUPE transfer model and a LA retained staffing model.  This had created the same 4 options as the Admin network and details of the likely saving compared to the current Central ICT service for schools against each option identified had been included in the report.

Difficulties encountered in providing comparisons and a pricing schedule had been based on a draft inventory and would be subject to change following a full audit of equipment at the school once the contract commences.  The full summary schedule for all options had been included in Appendix 1 and had been based on an unaudited inventory and would be subject to change and subject to individual negotiations for each schools dependant on local needs.  A confidential copy of the completed EqIA template had been included as Appendix 2 to the report.

RESOLVED:- that Cabinet approves the awarding of the contract to GAIA Technologies for both the Admin and Curriculum networks.

(JW to Action)