Purpose

To update the scope of the current Managed Network Contract with Intergence Systems.
The Council currently have a number of housing schemes across the District that provide residents with access to an assistance system. This service connects to the Council through both telephone lines and broadband, enabling residents to request help when required. The existing connectivity at these schemes is not compatible with the new digital telephony and broadband services being rolled out nationally by BT, and the legacy lines will become obsolete by the end of this year. As a result, investigative and remedial works are required to determine what changes are needed at each scheme.
Similarly, the Council rents a number of telephone lines across our disparate buildings including: Town Hall, Pier/Barnes House, leisure centres, Northbourne Depot etc. Again these lines will also become obsolete reference the above-mentioned BT national roll-out programme.
The Council has a current Network Managed Contract with Intergence systems that still has 2 years left and the works required aligns directly with the contract.
In order for the works to be completed, the scope of the contract needs to have a minor update that does increase the cost of the contract by a minimal amount.
With the change in the costs and update of the scope we have gained clarification from the Council's Contracts, Procurement and Projects Solicitor who has confirmed that this decision is in accordance with the Councils Constitution (part 5) and due to the value of the proposed variation falling below the current threshold of 10% under regulation 72(5)(b) PCR 2015, the changes are permitted.
We also have concurrence for the works from the Portfolio Holder for Environment and IT.
The updated of the scope of the Managed Network Service contract will offer many benefits, including:
1.Cyber Protection and Support – this will enable us to both continue and enhance the Security controls and processes we have in place. Moving to a new supplier will be a prolonged process and may risk a period of unsupported systems or exposure to poor technical support knowledge/ capabilities and increase our exposure to cyber threats. Access to highly secure systems and data associated to our most vulnerable clients would have to be granted to a new provider, which would include prolonged checks and agreements, increasing the amount of time the works would take to complete and thus may increase the risk considerably of the works not being completed in the required (BT) national deadline.
2.Value for Money and Business Continuity – continuation of the managed Network service ensures all the extra services and monitoring is kept with one supplier thus ensuring value for money, continuity of service plus a range of ‘value-add’ free services.
3.Resilience enhancements – The services and the knowledge and expertise provided by Intergence ensure the Council has a highly resilient, modern and enabling infrastructure.
4.Single Point of Support – The managed service contract covers a complex mix of technologies and systems all supported by one provider. These include Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Wi-Fi. Therefore, no diffusion of responsibility can occur.
5.Proven Knowledge and Expertise – working with the said company for a number of years and on a number of high-level projects (as previously outlined) has proven Intergence knowledge and expertise in the field.
6.Security, Governance and Risk – Intergence have Government level Security clearance (SC) staff at Project, Design and Support Levels (Security Clearance conforms to BS7858). The company also has the following Security Governance and Risk Certifications: ISO:27001, ISO:9001, Cyber Essentials.

Decision

To update the scope of the current Managed Network Contract with Intergence Systems.

This will allow Intergence to carry out the investigative and remedial works to determine what change are requires across our entire estate (and including in all our housing schemes across) the district to align and be fully compliant with the new digital telephony and broadband services being rolled out nationally by BT.

Alternative options considered

Works have to be completed by the BT deadline at the end of year as is part of our pre LGR delivery