HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE. Urgency: The proposals are not exempt from call-in on PLANNING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME REPLACEMENT SOFTWARE

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1 HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE PART 1 Agenda Item No 8.1 Document Reference No EX/12/45 Date of Meeting / Decision: 7 November 2012 This is a key decision. the grounds of urgency. Urgency: The proposals are not exempt from call-in on PLANNING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME REPLACEMENT SOFTWARE PORTFOLIO HOLDER: COUNCILLOR HARVEY COHEN PLANNING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME REPLACEMENT SOFTWARE This report sets out the procurement process undertaken for the proposed, replacement case management and back office system, to be used principally by the Council s Planning and Building Control, Local Land Charges and GIS service areas. This followings agreement in May 2012 from the Executive to carry out a procurement exercise. The procurement process resulted in two tenders being received with Idox subsequently assessed as providing the best overall solution to meet the Council s needs. 1. RECOMMENDED THAT: 1.1 The contract for the provision of replacement case management and back office system, based on the agreed specification and subsequent tender received, be awarded to Idox. 1.2 Implementation costs of 156,000 including backfilling, project management and contingency are agreed as detailed in paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2 and as set out in the Appendix. 2. INTRODUCTION Background 2.1 The 2010 review of the Plantech case management system currently used by the Council made a number of key conclusions relating to its implementation and utilisation, as well as the data quality/accuracy held within the system. The Plantech system 1

2 (Accolaid) is no longer fully supported by IDOX, the company who own the software and who are focusing investment on their alternative Uniform system. 2.2 The replacement of the Plantech system is being project managed by the Policy and Transport Manager, along with two other IT related projects identified in the 2010 review (GIS alignment and file scanning) and which form an important part of the Planning Improvement Programme. 2.3 The Overview and Performance Committee have been engaged throughout 2012 on the replacement of the Plantech system and were supportive of the decision to undertake a procurement exercise, endorsing the technical specification prepared, subject to a limited number of amendments suggested by one member of the Committee. Pre-procurement 2.4 Site visits to Watford (who use Uniform) and Camden (who use Northgate s M3 software) provided the opportunity for the project manager and the IS Service and Systems Manager to view these two systems, these two systems having a significant market share. 2.5 A detailed technical specification was prepared in consultation with the various service areas that would utilise a replacement system, as well as the Overview and Performance Committee. The replacement system would need to include modules to cover the following service areas/responsibilities: Planning Building Control Land Charges Environmental Health and Licensing (optional) Gazetteer Management/Land and Property Database Street Naming and Numbering 2.6 In addition, other supporting modules and specification requirements were required including an Online Register/Public Access module, a Document Management System and an ability to integrate with other systems used by the Council. Receipt of tenders 2.7 Following the agreement of the Executive, to undertake a procurement exercise, the invitation to tender was placed on the Supply Hertfordshire web portal in mid-june for a four week period closing on 11 th July Two tenders were received, from Idox for its Uniform system and from Swift DataPro. Swift presently provides the Council s Environmental Health software. Evaluation of tenders 2.8 A comprehensive assessment of the quality of tenders was undertaken broken down into a series of stages: (1) Demonstrations (2) Site Visits (3) Clarification Questions (4) Service Area Assessments (5) Added Value. 2

3 Demonstrations 2.9 Both suppliers were invited to demonstrate their systems. Members of the Overview and Performance Committee were invited to attend the demonstrations, in July, which were attended by representatives of all service areas with a specific interest in the replacement system. Site visits 2.10 Officers visited a number of local authorities to view the suppliers various modules. This provided an opportunity for the systems to be demonstrated in an informal setting with officers from these authorities able to provide views on the systems, based on their own Council s experiences. Clarification questions 2.11 A series of clarification questions were asked through the evaluation period, prior and following the demonstrations and site visits. Many of these were technical questions given to both suppliers, including queries around data migration, a key part of implementing any new system. Service area assessments 2.12 Based on the demonstrations, site visits and clarification questions, individual service areas led the assessment of the key tender documents, against the relevant parts of the specification. The methodology used at the outset required both suppliers to self-assess their systems against a wide range of weighted criteria, which was subsequently reviewed by officers In addition to the main assessment, an additional assessment was made on the basis of added value. This related to the ability of the supplier to deliver a number of optional requirements in the specification: (1) an Environmental Health module (2) A Licensing module (3) Hosted Service (4) Data Cleansing and (5) Options for a managed service. Price 2.14 Price was evaluated separately and the suppliers were asked to provide a five year cost, including both the capital cost of the new software and the revenue cost of annual support and maintenance. Preferred Bidder 2.15 Based on the above assessment and following a meeting of the Project Board, officers consider that the Uniform system would provide the best overall solution for the replacement of the case management/back office system. 3. REASON(S) FOR RECOMMENDATION 3.1 Following an extensive evaluation of the two tenders, across a range of service areas, the appointment of Idox to provide a replacement case management/back office system 3

4 is considered to represent the best solution for the Planning and Building Control Unit, for the other service areas utilising this data and for the general public and other parties needing to access this data. 4. ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS 4.1 The Council cannot avoid upgrading its current case management system which, via its Public Access and Document Management modules, enables up to date planning application information (including documents) to be viewed by applicants, residents and other parties through the Council s website. These two key modules are no longer supported by Idox and addressing technical problems, which can and do occur, relies on the goodwill of Idox who are not contractually obligated to correct them. At some stage, this support to address problems with the de-supported modules will cease. 4.2 The option exists to install two replacement modules but there would be no cost saving over five years from Idox in pursuing this option and the wider benefits of installing the Uniform system, which will be the focus for Idox s product development and which is capable of being integrated across a range of Hertsmere service areas, would not be available. 5. FINANCIAL AND BUDGET FRAMEWORK IMPLICATIONS 5.1 This investment forms part of the Council s invest to save programme and will generate significant annual revenue budget savings over five years. The project has a payback period of 4.7 years. 5.2 In addition to the capital and revenue costs associated with the purchase of the Uniform system, there are the additional implementation costs. These include continued project management, support and implementation, associated backfilling of posts, support for Land Charges (associated with the concurrent Business Process Review), data cleansing and contingency totalling 156k. 5.3 The detailed budgetary implications and funding of project are dealt with in Part II of this report. 6. LEGAL POWERS RELIED ON AND ANY LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 6.1 The procurement exercise has been carried out in accordance with the Council s Contract Procedure Rules. 7. PLANNED TIMETABLE FOR IMPLEMENTATION 7.1 Stages completed Early June commence mini-competition via the LGSAS framework Early July completion of 4 week tender period Mid July 2 week evaluation period of tenders including any demonstrations and site visits (open to individual Members of the O+P Committee) 4

5 September Report back to Overview and Performance Committee on procurement process Planned stages November Executive approval sought for purchase of replacement system November through to May 2013 Commence implementation and data migration process in line with detailed six month programme set out in Idox tender 8. DELEGATION 8.1 In respect of the awarding of contracts of this value, the approval of the Chief Executive, the Executive and full Council are required. 9. EFFICIENCY GAINS AND VALUE FOR MONEY 9.1 A number of efficiency gains have been identified as summarised in section 5 above. 10. RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS 10.1 A separate Risk and Issues log has been prepared by the Project Manager. 11. PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS 11.1 The project management of the Plantech Replacement is being undertaken by the Policy and Transport Manager. Contingency arrangements for the backfilling of up to 2.5 days of his time, which may increase during the implementation stages, in the Policy and Transport team have been made. 12. CORPORATE PLAN & POLICY FRAMEWORK IMPLICATIONS 12.1 No specific implications. 13. APPENDICES ATTACHED 13.1 Appendix Project Plan for Implementation. 14. BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT 14.1 Replacement case management/back office system specification 15. PRINCIPAL AUTHOR 15.1 Mark Silverman, Policy and Transport Manager, Ext: mark.silverman@hertsmere.gov.uk 5