Agenda item - IT Investment

Report of the Executive Director Finance & Resources (copy attached)

RESOLVED: That the Committee –

(i)            Approved the inclusion of £5.418 million in the 2019/20 capital budget proposal.

(ii)          Granted delegated authority to the Executive Director Finance & Resources to procure and award contracts for the laptop device and deployment services referred to in paragraphs 3.39 - 3.41 for a term of up to four years.

140.1  The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Finance & Resources which set out the plans for investment in the core IT architecture and technologies, and sought approval to delegate authority to the Executive Director Finance & Resources to award framework call-off contracts for the provision of end user computer devices and associated services up to a total spend value of £5.418M.

140.2  Councillor Sykes asked whether it was necessary to purchase 4,000 laptops. The Head of Strategy and Engagement said that there were 5,000 users within the council of which 2,000 currently used laptops and the intention was to increase that to 4,000. Having laptops allowed staff to be mobile and work at different locations. The Council were also moving to Windows 10 and as the current platform did not support that it was necessary to upgrade the whole estate to be able to support the move. The cost difference of moving to laptops rather than desktops was £350k, which was relatively small.

140.3  Councillor Mac Cafferty said that there were risks attached to having a laptop, and asked if the number of lost devices was recorded. The Head of Strategy and Engagement said that they were, and whilst he didn’t have the numbers to hand they were minimal. He said that all hard drives were encrypted and so were secure.

140.4  Councillor Janio was concerned that the Committee was being asked to authorise a spend of £5.418M and, whist he accepted there had been previous under investment and therefore understood the need to upgrade, he felt that there was not enough information to be able to agree the recommendations and so would abstain. The Executive Director Finance & Resources said that the funding had been included in the recent budget, and would be happy to provide further briefings to councillors if necessary. He said that that were many benefits to using Windows 10 which were set out in the report, and the current Windows 7 support would cease in January 2020, and so it was necessary to upgrade all laptop desktop devices to Windows 10 before that date. Councillor Janio asked that this committee received more information on integrating the systems at its next meeting, which officers agreed to do.

140.5  Councillor Miller asked if Windows changed in a few years whether the laptops would need to be replaced, and he noted that paragraph 3.5 stated that the average spend per employee was £692, but Appendix 3 gave the average spend as £2,950. The Head of Strategy and Engagement said that Windows 10 would continually upgrade the operating system rather than there being a step change, and so the equipment was expected to last for around four to five years. With regard to the average spend, the figure in Appendix 3 was correct.

140.6  Councillor Daniel said that Digital First looked at how we could improve online transactions for the public. New systems used enabled the public to access services within the Council, was more efficient and a benefit to the public. With regard to increasing the use of laptops, there were many benefits to having the equipment with you at all times, but in so doing there was a temptation for officers to work longer hours and that should be monitored to ensure it didn’t happen.

140.7  Councillor Peltzer Dunn asked how confident officers were that the suggested expenditure of £5.418m was correct. The Executive Director Finance & Resources was confident that the figure was correct, and said that with our Orbis partners, we had a lot of market power.

140.8  Councillor Bell asked whether the Council were leading or being led by Orbis, and was advised that it was neither and all members of Orbis were equal partners. However, the support from Orbis allowed the Council to get a good deal. Officers confirmed that neither Surrey County Council nor East Sussex County Council decided on what was purchased or the amount spent by this authority.

140.9  RESOLVED: That the Committee –

(i)            Approved the inclusion of £5.418 million in the 2019/20 capital budget proposal.

(ii)          Granted delegated authority to the Executive Director Finance & Resources to procure and award contracts for the laptop device and deployment services referred to in paragraphs 3.39 - 3.41 for a term of up to four years.