Decision details

The Head of Customer Services, after consultation with the Executive Councillor for Customer Services, be authorised to accept the successful tender and sign the contract with the software provider. 

If a new supplier is the successful bidder additional capital implementation costs in the region of £30,000 are likely to be incurred in which case options will be explored to fund this necessary expenditure.

The current contract for the IT system used by the Housing Needs team is due to end and there needs to be a new contract in place.  This will be achieved by the re-tendering exercise being carried out by the sub regional Home-Link scheme of which the Council is a partner.

If the Council wished to consider procuring a new IT system by itself it would require the Councils withdrawal from the Home-Link partnership, which would involve establishing a new housing register and allocations scheme and therefore incurring additional costs.  The Council would also have to tender for an IT system by itself which would not deliver any additional savings that are likely to be realised through the current joint tendering process.

It is estimated the Council’s capital contribution to a change in shared system would be in the region of £20-30k.