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To
approve the direct award of a contract for the provision of a
cloud-based planning system (‘the contract’) for a term
of five years to the supplier identified and at the cost outlined
in  the exempt appendix.
 
To
delegate authority to the Director of Place, in consultation with
the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to finalise the terms
and conditions of, and to approve the entering into of, the contract.
 

Reasons for the decision

Moving to a cloud-based system will give the Council increased
benefits in terms of workload management and performance management
for managers as well as
giving planners access to onsite capabilities.
 
The
proposed supplier is the market leader and several local
authorities across West Sussex are already using their system for
planning and some are already upgrading to their cloud-based
system.
 
The
decision to move to a cloud-based system also aligns with the
Council’s Digital and Technology Strategy, reducing the risk
of the inability to access planning systems. The planning system is
the single largest digital system the Council has, which holds
approximately 2 million records. It is the biggest IT risk system
in the Council as it is based on the premises, therefore having the
cloud-based solution in place would remove this risk.
 
There are also significant cost savings with a move to the
cloud-based system.
 

Alternative options considered

To
continue with the Council’s current planning system. This was
rejected as it would mean that the Council’s annual costs
would continue to increase to allow for upgrades and maintenance.
(This was detailed in a paper written for the Council’s
Senior Leadership Team (‘SLT’) as well as further
detail on proposed costs sitting within existing
budgets).  There is also no future
development proposed for the current system.