Waltham Forest Council has agreed to extend its Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft for software licences for a further three years. This decision was taken without being put out to tender because the council believes that this would have cost more money and that it would be difficult to switch provider.

Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft

The meeting began with a discussion of the proposal to extend the council's Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft for software licences. An Enterprise Agreement is an agreement with a software vendor to purchase a number of software licences over a fixed period of time. The council's current Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft was due to expire on 30 September 2024.

The report presented to the Executive Decision recommended that the council extend the agreement for a further three years.

The Council does not have the capacity or capability to undertake a full re-tender of these services.

The report went on to explain that if the council did not extend the agreement it would have to stop using Microsoft software, that the cost of software licences would rise significantly and that there would be large costs associated with switching to a different software provider.

Based on previous experience and the current market position of both ICT Software and ICT Infrastructure, should the Council choose not to proceed with the Direct Award to extend the current EA, this would leave the Council in a position of non-compliance with Microsoft licensing.

The report concluded that the council was locked in to using Microsoft products.

It is recognised that there is currently no realistic alternative to the incumbent supplier due to the dependence the Council has on their software

The Executive Decision agreed to approve the recommendations in the report. You can find out more about Enterprise Agreements from the Microsoft website.