The Cabinet Member Decision Meeting authorised the insourcing of IT end-user and managed infrastructure services, bringing them back in-house from 1 October 2026. This decision was made after a preferred bidder for a new IT contract sought to significantly increase their bid costs post-evaluation, leading the council to abandon the procurement process and opt for an in-house solution.

IT End User and Managed Infrastructure

The council has decided to bring its IT end-user and managed infrastructure services in-house, effective from 1 October 2026. This decision follows the abandonment of a procurement process for a new IT contract. The original plan was to award a contract through a mini-competition under the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework RM6190. However, the preferred bidder subsequently attempted to renegotiate their bid upwards, which was not permissible.

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Strategic Partnerships, Economy and Effective Council, explained that the council would have budgeted for the full costs associated with pensions and redundancies anyway, making the in-house option financially equivalent to the revised bid from the external supplier. He highlighted that the external bidder's proposal to make staff redundant on day one was not aligned with the council's objective of mitigating the loss of knowledge and resources.

Councillor Peter Zinkin, Leader of the Conservative Group, raised concerns about potential single points of failure and the risk to innovation with an in-house service. In response, it was noted that a risk mitigation plan is being developed and will be shared with the Cross-Party Member Reference Group. The council has also completed its IT modernisation projects, migrating data centres to the cloud and establishing a 24/7 Cyber Security Operations Centre (SOC) with specialist partner Maple Network Ltd. This allows the council to manage its IT infrastructure more directly, working with specialist suppliers rather than a single overarching provider.

The decision also authorises the Executive Director for Strategy and Innovation to manage the implementation of TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)) regulations, ensuring a smooth transition for the workforce from the incumbent supplier, Capita Business Services Ltd, to the London Borough of Barnet. The council has also engaged an IT procurement specialist to bolster its internal contract management expertise. The report indicated that the cost of insourcing is in line with the existing contract cost and that the council will continue to utilise government frameworks for procurement where appropriate.

The meeting concluded with the authorisation of the Executive Director for Strategy and Innovation to take all necessary steps for the insourcing of IT services and the implementation of the TUPE transition.