The Executive Director (Corporate Resources) has submitted a report to seek project approval and delegated authority for the Executive Director (Corporate Resources) to award a five-year contract for the migration and running of business applications out of the data centre into a Microsoft Azure cloud hosting environment.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.      Grant project approval to the proposal to use the HealthTrust Europe (THE) Framework to undertake a compliant process to make a directaward of a five-year contract to migrate systems and services from the SCC data centre to an Azure-centric hosting environment;

2.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Corporate Resources) in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance, the Head of Financial Services, and the Cabinet Member for Citizen Focused Services and Council Companies to use the (HTE) Framework to finalise terms and enter into a contract with the preferred supplier; and

3.      Approve the waiver of the Contract Rules in respect of sections 19.18 and 19.19 of the Constitution where the terms of the contract, due to the rules of the framework, cannot be amended to conform with the requirements of the Contract Rules.

The Executive Director (Corporate Resources) had submitted a report to seek project approval and delegated authority to award a five-year contract for the migration and running of business applications out of the data centre into a Microsoft Azure cloud hosting environment.

Councillor Nigel Chapman, Cabinet Member for Citizen Focused Services and Council Companies, highlighted that migration of business applications and data to the cloud offered better value for money and technical benefits, and was more compatible with the platforms which the Council used. 

The proposal to work with the current supplier to achieve the migration mitigated the associated risks and would help to ensure business continuity.  The Council was not able to undertake the work in-house, and going to the market would be a more time consuming and expensive process.  The financial benefits of the proposed approach were significant, and a direct award would represent good value for money.  The council’s legal services team had been engaged and provided advice on the procurement and had raised no objection to a direct award.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Grant project approval to the proposal to use the HealthTrust Europe (HTE) Framework to undertake a compliant process to make a directaward of a five-year contract to migrate systems and services from the SCC data centre to an Azure-centric hosting environment;

2.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Corporate Resources) in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance, the Head of Financial Services and the Cabinet Member for Citizen Focused Services and Council Companies to use the (HTE) Framework to finalise terms and enter into a contract with the preferred supplier; and

3.      Approve the waiver of the Contract Rules in respect of sections 19.18 and 19.19 of the Constitution where the terms of the contract, due to the rules of the framework, cannot be amended to conform with the requirements of the Contract Rules.