Purpose

This report seeks corporate director approval
to commence an exercise to procure a contract for merchant
acquiring services.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the
Corporate Director has decided to:
1)   
Commence a procurement exercise to appoint a supplier for the
provision of card payment processing services for an initial term
of three years, with the option to extend by a further two years,
at an estimated cost of £2,200,000.00 excluding vat for the
five-year term.

Alternative options considered

“Do nothing”: if a new contract is
not procured, the Council will not be able to receive card payments
and would have to fall back on cash and cheque payments. As the
Council has considerably wound down its cash and cheque processing
arrangements, this would not be a cost-effective option to pursue.
Therefore, this option has been discounted.