Councillor Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, approved the award of a significant contract for a data centre move and the procurement of new server hardware. This decision is crucial for the council's ongoing efforts to modernise its IT infrastructure and ensure resilience against cyber threats.

Data Centre Move and Hardware Procurement

Councillor Carlin approved the award of a contract for the supply, installation, and configuration of a Disaggregated Hyperconverged Infrastructure (dHCI) Technology Platform. This decision is a key part of the council's Data Centre Programme, which was initiated due to the impending closure of River Park House, the current secondary data centre, by March 2025. The programme aims to optimise the council's IT environment and increase its resilience.

The new dHCI platform will be installed in two council data centre locations and represents a move away from traditional server architecture to a more modern and efficient system. This upgrade is expected to reduce the council's overall IT footprint and power consumption, contributing to its climate emergency response. The contract, valued at £1,327,567.16, is for a period of five years and is scheduled to commence in August 2024. A letter of intent for up to 10% of the contract value, totalling £132,756, was also approved.

The decision was made following a further competition exercise conducted under the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework RM6098. While 16 suppliers were invited to tender, only one, referred to as Supplier A, submitted a response. This sole tender was evaluated based on a Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) criteria, with a weighting of 60% for Price, 30% for Quality, and 10% for Social Value. Supplier A achieved an overall score of 93.9%.

The report highlighted that the move to a new data centre provided an opportunity to modernise the council's infrastructure, which had not seen a full platform replacement for many years. This had resulted in a mix of technologies with competing priorities for updates and security. The new dHCI platform is expected to improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption by an estimated 14% on top of an initial 39% reduction achieved through rationalisation, and enhance the resilience of the council's systems.

Alternative options considered included Do Nothing, which would have left the council with end-of-life equipment and a significant risk of outages, and an Ad-Hoc Replacement of Hardware approach, which would have been less efficient and potentially more costly in the long run. Councillor Carlin was assured that the proposed solution would maintain council resilience, particularly in light of increased cyber-attacks on public sector bodies.

The meeting also noted the council's commitment to responding to the Climate Emergency, with this project contributing to High Level Outcome 2 (A Just Transition) and High Level Outcome 3 (A Low Carbon Place) of the Corporate Delivery Plan 2022-2024. The new technology and its placement in a purpose-built facility are designed to minimise overheating and passively cool equipment, further reducing carbon emissions.

The decision was made under Contract Standing Order 9.07.1 (d), which requires Cabinet approval for contracts valued at £500,000 or more. The funding for this contract will come from the existing provision within the Data Centre Move project budget. The procurement process was supported by the council's Strategic Procurement team, who confirmed that the evaluation was robust and that key performance indicators have been included in the contract to ensure delivery. The Assistant Director, Legal & Governance confirmed there were no legal reasons preventing the approval of the recommendations.

The meeting was informed that Item 5, concerning the Data Centre Move, contained exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of particular persons, necessitating the exclusion of the press and public for that part of the discussion.

The meeting was attended by Councillor Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, Kodi Sprott, Principal Committee Coordinator, Glenn Mason, Head of Technology, and Rob Todd, Senior Project Manager. No apologies for absence or declarations of interest were made.