Decision details

With the approval of the Chairman of the Growth, Environment and Resources Scrutiny Committee the Urgency, Special Urgency and waiver of call-in procedures have been invoked to suspend the requirement to publish the decision for 5 days prior to publication and to waive the ability for the decision to be called-in. The current contract with Amazon expires on 31st March 2019 necessitating a replacement contract to be in place by 1st April 2019. Urgency is required as Amazon services may be withdrawn following the expiration of the contract.

The Cabinet Member:

1.         Awarded the contract for the procurement of Amazon Web Services (AWS) through the G-Cloud - 10 Framework Agreement (RM1557ix for the period 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 for a value of  £700,000

2.         Authorised the Corporate Director: Resources to vary this Contract if the Council has to amend its detailed business requirements.

As part of the council’s 2015 Technology Strategy, the council migrated servers from the Town Hall to a remote computing/web service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) but procured through Arcus Global Limited via the G-Cloud framework. 

Operationally the AWS services continues to offer the best value and continuity of service to the council, also benefiting from; high availability server capacity, modern server technology, switching off servers when not in use to reduce cost, a level of disaster recovery and improved business continuity.

The council is therefore provided with an effective ICT service which is:

-       Stable;

-       Flexible;

-       Adaptable;

-       Resilient; and

-       Appropriate to the needs of the Council in the medium to long term.

The current contract with Arcus Global Limited expires at 31st March 2019 therefore a new contract is required in order to continue use of AWS cloud based services.

With the option to procure AWS services directly via the Crown Commercial Service Call-Off Contract, G-Cloud 10 Framework Agreement (RM1557ix), this is considered the preferred procurement route as opposed to renewing the contract via Arcus Global Limited.

Whether purchased via another 3rd Party AWS business partner or direct via G-Cloud,  the cost of service remains the same. Serco are unable to provide through their supply partnerships, therefore the option of a direct relationship with AWS provides the most beneficial option to PCC from a contractual, service and support perspective.

This new contract for AWS services is based on a direct  award of contract via  G-Cloud 10 Framework Agreement and is made in accordance with the procedures for awarding a direct call-off.

This award is for the continuation of an existing service. The server room in Sand Martin House has only been sized to only accommodate a limited number of servers, with the overall design based on continued reliance on the cloud based service and capacity provided by AWS.

Move the services to another provider. This is feasible but would take 1-2 years to complete as it did to move to AWS in the first place and would incur additional charges from all parties involved.

None.

None.