Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Paul Dennett, City Mayor,
accept the recommendation of the Procurement Board and in exercise
of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do hereby
approve:
 
·    
to go out to competition for Microsoft licensing
(2026).
 
The
Reasons are:
Microsoft is the primary
provider of office applications, such as Word and Excel, and
services, such as computer management, security and email, to the
Council. The Microsoft licensing model is subscription based with
each user requiring a licence to meet their service requirements.
The Microsoft product suite is central to applications and digital
solutions used by the Council.
 
The current subscription usage
sees over 3,400 Microsoft 365 E5 licenses assigned to Council
users. On the 6th of October 2025 this allowed for 5.4K active
users (including guests) to interact with the Council’s
Microsoft 365 tenancy, with over 2,000 users using Microsoft Word,
over 1,700 using Microsoft Excel and 3.3 million email activities
taking place. In this same period over 13 million files had been
stored in Microsoft SharePoint and over 4,000 devices were managed
by Microsoft Intune.
 
Microsoft is also the primary
public cloud provider (Azure) used by the Council for Digital, Data
and Technology infrastructure. The technologies used in Azure are
connected to the Microsoft licensing agreements, and discounts
obtained in the licensing agreement impact on pricing in
Azure.
 
The Council’s Microsoft
licensing agreement comes to an end within 2026 and requires an
agreement to be in place by June 2026.
 
In 2025 an extension to the
current Microsoft licensing agreement with the current supplier was
agreed by Procurement Board with an understanding that the 2026
licensing agreement would be open to others. Digital, Data and
Technology would like to seek approval to begin the tender process.
The 2025 1-year extension had a value of £1.2 million for
Microsoft licensing, with the Council’s licensing figures
adjusted at the time to meet requirements.
 
The invitation to tender would
be under Framework RM6098 Technology Products and Associated
Services 2.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
 
Assessment of
Risk: HIGH
The current Microsoft
subscription agreements come to an end in 2026, if the tender
process does not take place there are two risks. The first is that
the Council defaults to standard Microsoft pricing and begins
paying for Microsoft licensing / services without any agreed
discounts. This is potentially a figure in the millions of
pounds.
 
The second risk is that Council
loses access to Microsoft services and products, which are heavily
used by Council staff in their day-to-day work, and by Digital,
Data and Technology to provide digital services and the
infrastructure needed for services to the citizens and businesses
of Salford. This would mean potential fines for statutory
agreements, non-licence conformity, and reputational
risk.
 
The source of funding
is: Revenue budget.
 
Legal Advice
obtained: Yes
 
Financial Advice
obtained: Yes
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: Yes
 
HR Advice
obtained: N/A
 
Climate Change Implications
obtained: Yes
 
Contact Officer: Gary Pickup,
Modern Operations Portfolio Lead
Telephone number: 0161 793
3993
 
 

Signed:   Paul
Dennett       Dated:    8 December 2025.
         
      City
Mayor
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE
ONLY:
 
*         This
decision was published on 9 December 2025
*         This
decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 16 December 2025 unless
it is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process
Rules.