Decision

Procurement of a single Internet line to Guildford's Millmead House office, to provide Internet connectivity as well as connectivity and routing for public-facing services. This includes the Council's planning pages and remote access for Council officers.

Reasons for the decision

The Council's existing core Internet line service agreement is expiring in October 2026. Internet connectivity is essential for the continued delivery of services such as planning pages on the Council's website, as well as officer/system connectivity with Internet services including email.

Alternative options considered

As the Council uses dedicated IP addresses for some existing public-facing services, a transition to an alternative provider would require priority projects to be placed on-hold to resource the migration of services to the new provider's IP addresses. This would also require the parallel running of old and new Internet lines to support this migration (at an additional cost).
To avoid these migration project costs/impacts, parallel running costs and potential disruption to services, a competitive price was offered by the incumbent supplier. This provides a cost saving to the Council.
This cost is lower than that of a similar line purchased recently from a competitor for the new Guildford Weyside Depot site. This was therefore considered to be the best value option at this time.