Decision details

To award the contract for the provision of a financial system.

There is an Exempt Annex is NOT FOR PUBLICATION in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information relating to financial and business affairs namely, details of the tender sums submitted.

The public interest test has been applied to the information that is contained in the Exempt Annex to this Decision Notice and it is considered that the need to retain the information as exempt outweighs the public interest in disclosing it because to disclose it could compromise the Council’s position in any future procurement for these services.

The Cabinet Member is recommended to:

1.    Authorise the Executive Director Resources to agree to a Change Control Notice for the Council’s existing ICT and Peterborough Serco Strategic Partnership Contract with Serco for the purchase of the Licences, implementation and on-going support for Agresso Business World for the target cost sum of up to £1,280,598 and an annual maintenance and support cost of £88,346;

2. Authorise the Executive Director Resources to vary this Change Control Notice if, during the Design Process stage, the Council has to amend its detailed business requirements.  Any amendment will be subject to available funding.

The contract seeks to ensure that the Council is provided with an effective financial accounting and reporting system that is:

·           Stable

·           Flexible

·           Adaptable

·           Resilient and

·           Appropriate to the needs to the Council in the medium to long term

A detailed business case was produced by Serco in support of the project, with oversight and challenge provided by an internal PCC team.

The Council and Serco strategic partnership currently use Oracle Financials for running Finance and Procurement activities, including ordering good and services, paying suppliers, raising and chasing debtors and managing council budgets. These activities are performed across the majority of the service areas within the Council. 

The current version of the financial system being used by the Council is no longer supported by Oracle (and they would only do so if the council undertook upgrades to the application and database software). In order to address the support issue for Oracle, a separate contract has been established with a third party organisation, Support Revolution, which will provide support for the existing version of Oracle for a limited time.

The support offered by Support Revolution can only be considered for a limited period. Therefore the Council has to consider whether to upgrade or replace this system.

An upgrade now to the latest version of Oracle or the replacement by a market equivalent will provide a secure, stable and supported financial system and enable the opportunity to explore the additional functionality that an updated business application provides. This is ultimately the key driver behind the need for change. The Council cannot risk failure of such a critical business system.

There are a number of important drivers that underpin the rationale for consideration of upgrading or replacing the current Financial system. They cover both direct drivers such as the support issue as well as the need to seek improvements in facility, capability and user experience and include:

·         The support for Oracle Financials;

·         An upgrade to the current application and associated hardware will provide the ability to explore further efficiency savings by utilising the enhanced and expanded software capabilities;

·         Opportunities to directly improve and control end-to-end business process and to potentially offer a more agile and adaptive range of services;

·         A Financial System that has the ability to provide Multi Business and Multi-Tenant services, supporting strategic objectives for the Council (allowing arms length or wholly owned companies to utilise the financial system).

As well as such companies, the Council will also be in a position to link in with other councils who may require a new financial system and consider offering shared service arrangements. Current system arrangements do not enable this to happen.

The contract seeks to ensure that the Council is provided with an effective financial accounting and reporting system that is:

·           Stable

·           Flexible

·           Adaptable

·           Resilient and

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

Option 1 Do Nothing

The current system is formally not supported by Oracle (though the Council does have support from a third party). It could be supported under Extended Warranty however this is dependent upon the application and database software being patched to an agreed version.

Therefore the risks associated with this situation and not upgrading or replacing the current system are:

·         In the event of a major problem Oracle could contractually state that our system is not supported.

·         Over time it is possible that it will be less attractive for the third party to continue to provide support.

·         Therefore there will be no more patches, security updates etc. and over time the system will be increasingly vulnerable to problems.

Option 2 Upgrade to Oracle Release 12

The Oracle upgrade option was evaluated as more expensive than the alternative replacement with Agresso Business World.

None

None.