Purpose

Contract Award for Network Hardware Licencing Agreement

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the Corporate Director has decided to:

(a)  Award a three-year contract for a ‘Network Hardware Enterprise Licencing Agreement’ to Insight Direct (UK) Limited at a total cost of £464.5k, exclusive of VAT.

Alternative options considered

“Do nothing”: This is not an option, should the Council not adopt an EA, individual licenses would need to be procured for new and existing devices throughout the contract period, leading to avoidable costs and a higher resource burden to manage licensing compliance.

“Award via an alternative procurement route”. This option is also not recommended, procuring the EA through an alternative route would likely result in inconsistent pricing, reduced economies of scale, and potential fragmentation of licensing arrangements across the organisation.  This approach would increase administration overhead, complicate license management and compliance and reduce the Council’s ability to maintain a standardised and cost-effective licensing model over the contract period.