Decision - Procurement of Schools Management Information Systems (MIS)

That the Committee authorise the Executive Director Finance & Resources to:

1)            Award a call-off contract between the Council and Capita under the ESCC Framework Agreement for the provision of management information systems (‘MIS’) for maintained schools in Brighton & Hove for a period of four years.  MIS are the primary suite of integrated business software applications for schools, covering all aspects of school management ranging from pupil admissions, registration, timetabling and assessment through to school financial management and human resources management.  The aggregated data held in the MIS form the basis of school statutory returns and corporate management information.

2)            Extend the initial term of the call-off contract for up to an additional two years, if the Executive Director Finance & Resources considers that it is still delivering value for money.

This is a low risk approach which brings in savings for the Council and schools through the contract pricing and shared procurement costs. The ability for the Council to remove individual schools from the call-off contract without negative consequences for the pricing of others is also important, as there is unknown potential growth in Academy and Free School numbers during the ESCC Framework Agreement term.

In terms of ongoing supplier relationship and contract management, the joint procurement of a framework agreement puts the four authorities in a strong position to ensure continued value for money is delivered under the ESCC Framework Agreement throughout the term of its operation

There are no future cost implications for the Council or for schools as the proposed call-off contract is for MIS systems that are already in use in schools.  There are no additional change, migration or upgrade costs.

An alternative to accessing the ESCC Framework Agreement would be to run a separate procurement for the Council only.

Choosing to procure separately is unlikely to achieve improved value for money. The purchasing power of the various authorities who have collaboratively procured the ESCC Framework Agreement  should ensure that greater value for money can be achieved which would not otherwise be possible for the  Council alone to achieve. The three other authorities included in the process have an additional 1042 schools between them.