|
Report to:
|
Lead Member for Resources
|
|
Date of meeting:
|
25 May 2021
|
|
By:
|
Chief Operating Officer
|
|
Title:
|
South East Grid Network Services
Framework Award
|
|
Purpose:
|
To seek approval for the award of
the South East Grid Network Services Framework Agreement and
subsequent East Sussex County Council Call-Off Contract.
|
RECOMMENDATIONS
1) To approve the award
of the South East Grid Network Services Framework Agreement and
East Sussex County Council Call-Off Contract to the preferred
supplier; and
2) To authorise
the Chief Operating Officer to take all necessary actions in
relation to the award of contracts
1.
Background
1.1.
The contract to provide East Sussex County Council’s (ESCC)
digital infrastructure, which connects 261 council and school
sites, comes to an end in December 2021. Without highly available
and performant connections to all its sites, the council would be
unable to meet many of its obligations.
1.2.
ESCC led on a full EU restricted procurement procedure and
undertook this as a joint procurement working with public sector
partner organisations in East Sussex and Brighton and
Hove.
1.3.
The procurement will put in place a contract framework for the
supply of digital infrastructure services. This framework will be
used by ESCC to meet its own requirements. It will also be
available to other public sector organisations across the south
east of England, including local authority, health, schools and
colleges.
1.4.
A key driver for the procurement was the need to put in place
significantly higher connectivity speeds to council and school
sites. The procurement was designed to meet these needs and in
doing so, to achieve a set of wider benefits for residents and
businesses including the acceleration of ultrafast broadband
deployment and 5G connectivity across East Sussex.
1.5.
The evaluation of the tender bids was concluded in April 2021 and a
preferred bidder has been identified. Given the value of the
contract, the contract award is a Chief Officer and Lead Member
decision.
1.6.
There are two parts to the contract award: the first is the award
of the Framework Agreement which provides a mechanism for East
Sussex and other organisations to enter into a services contract
with the successful bidder; the second is the award the Call-Off
Contract between East Sussex County Council and the Framework
provider.
1.7.
The intention is for East Sussex County Council to fulfil the role
as ‘Framework Owner’ and operate a client function
on-behalf of South East Grid (SEG) consortium; a successor to the
existing Link consortium which has managed and used services from
the current wide area network contract.
2.
Supporting
information
Procurement
Process
2.1.
A full EU Restricted (two-stage) procurement process commenced on
07 October 2020, with initial responses to the Selection
Questionnaire (SQ) received on 10 November 2020.
2.2.
Five compliant responses were received by the SQ deadline.
Following evaluation of the submissions three suppliers were
shortlisted and invited to tender.
2.3.
The Invitation to Tender (ITT) stage commenced on 12 January 2021
and responses were received on 03 March 2021.
2.4.
Following receipt of tenders, an evaluation and clarification
process commenced, which resulted in a preferred supplier being
identified on 16 April 2021.
2.5.
Following the approval of the contract award, all suppliers will be
notified, and a 10-day standstill period will commence. Upon
completion of the standstill period the Framework can be awarded to
the preferred supplier and the Framework Agreement can be signed
and sealed.
Contractual
Arrangements
2.6.
A Framework Agreement has been procured to attract significant
supplier attention and achieve highly competitive pricing, whilst
providing autonomy and flexibility to each organisation which joins
the SEG consortium and accesses the Agreement.
2.7.
The Framework Agreement will be in place for 15 years and the
maximum length of a Call-Off Contract, under this framework, will
be 10 years. It is proposed that ESCC takes advantage of the
maximum term of the Call-Off Contract.
2.8.
Once the Framework Agreement has been awarded, ESCC and the other
members of the SEG consortium will be able to commence their
Call-Off Contracts. At this stage of the process, the specific
requirements for site connections, technical configuration (e.g.
circuit type and speed), the resilience configuration and the
circuit term (e.g.1,5, or 10 years) will be confirmed with the
supplier.
Benefits
2.9.
The primary outcome will be an ultra-fast digital network that can
be used by the Council and its schools, and potentially other
public service partners within East Sussex. This upgraded
infrastructure will support the Council’s digital ambitions
by providing faster, secure, and resilient connectivity to cloud
hosted services. This investment in gigabit capable fibre
infrastructure will provide infrastructure additionality to the
investment already made in improving broadband in East
Sussex.
2.10.
One of the key objectives of the procurement was also to achieve a
contractual commitment to the delivery of social value benefits for
East Sussex. A full list of the proposed social value options is
presented in a later agenda item which contains exempt
information.
Business Case
2.11.
The financial and additional contractual benefits are presented in
a later agenda item which contains exempt information.
3.
Conclusion and
reasons for recommendations
3.2.
For the reasons set out in this report it is recommended that the
award of the South East Grid Network Services Framework Agreement
and East Sussex County Council Call-Off Contract to the preferred
supplier is approved, and authorisation is delegated to the Chief
Operating Officer to take all necessary actions to implement
Recommendation 1.
PHIL HALL
Chief Operating Officer
Contact
Officer: Matt Scott
Tel. No. 01273 335677
Email: matt.scott@eastsussex.gov.uk
Contact
Officer: Nathaniel Burrows
Tel. No. 07703 453452
Email: Nathaniel.burrows@eastsussex.gov.uk
LOCAL
MEMBERS
All
BACKGROUND
DOCUMENTS
None