Decision

AGREED: that

1)    the use of the Welsh Government’s WGCD (Welsh Government Commercial Delivery) / NPS (National Procurement Service) IT Products and Services (ii) Framework (ITPS2) be approved for the agreement for the reasons set out in the report and;

2)    a contract for the Council’s Microsoft Licensing renewal, be awarded via Welsh Government’s WGCD (Welsh Government Commercial Delivery) / NPS (National Procurement Service) IT Products and Services (ii) Framework (ITPS2) Agreement.

3)    A  direct award contract be awarded to Softcat plc, for 3 years, in line with framework terms (supplier ranked first for direct awards, based on published markup margin).

Reasons for the decision

The reason for the recommended decision is: The current contract expires 30/06/24. Cardiff Council require a procurement compliant route to market to facilitate purchase / renewal of Microsoft software subscriptions used widely across the Authority.   Cabinet approval has already been given to delegate the authority on which framework to utilise and conclude the appropriate tasks up to and including contract award.  It is recommended to use the Welsh Government ITPS2 framework on the grounds that this is less expensive than the aggregation exercise ran under a Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework.  The former was used for the previous contract award in 2021.