British council tosses Serco a £50m contract extension as coronavirus pandemic leaves in-sourcing plans in tatters
(2020/06/11)
- Reference: 1591870507
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/11/uk_hertfordshire_serco_contract_extension/
- Source link:
A UK local authority has postponed the planned end to its £250m outsourcing deal with Serco and is paying another £50m to stay with the contractor.
Hertfordshire County Council signed a 10-year agreement with Serco in [1]2010 , outsourcing large chunks of its back-office functions including HR, finance and IT. In 2017, it [2]extended the deal to last until 2021, and bring the total value to £250m.
In [3]a tender notice published this week, the council said that the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown and general disruption had affected its ability to put in place alternative arrangements.
"The need for a contract modification has been brought about by the circumstances of Covid-19, and in particular the unstabilising effect that the pandemic has had on the planned large-scale change programme of Council services," the notice said.
"A significant number of key staff resources have been redeployed and services have had to re-prioritise and re-organise to accommodate additional demand in response to the impact of the virus. As a result, the scheduled tendering and in-sourcing activity for these requirements has been delayed while the current circumstances are present."
The council said that keeping the existing service during the outbreak would "safeguard critical support services, provide stability and maintain current expertise."
The authority added it expects to reschedule procurements and "uncertain and disrupted [supply] markets. The scale of the impact of Covid-19 and the uncertain duration could not have been foreseen by the Council."
SAP forms the backbone of the [4]council HR, payroll and finance system . In its [5]2015-18 IT strategy document [PDF] , the council described its version of SAP as a legacy system.
The [6]council's digital strategy 2017-21 says it plans to implement a "comprehensive new HR and Finance tool" by 2021 and "migrate services to the cloud where it improves business outcomes". The Register has contacted the council to see if these ambitions have been achieved.
Never mind monitoring dead crims, Ministry of Justice has just palmed Serco another £800m [7]READ MORE
In 2018, the council was forced to apologise after problems with payroll left school staff receiving extra tax bills. [8]According to a local newspaper , Serco sent tax information for 13 months, not the customary 12-month years, which meant teachers were sent bills for unpaid tax as high as £10,000.
Serco is becoming accustomed to acquiring extra work from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has won a £46m contract for the test-and-trace system to combat the spread of the disease, [9]although in May it apologised after accidentally sharing the email addresses of almost 300 contact tracers. ®
Sponsored: [10]Continuous Lifecycle Online, 15 July 2020. Register Now!
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/government-computing-network/2010/nov/25/hertfordshire-serco-contract-24nov10
[2] https://www.serco.com/uk/media-and-news/2017/serco-partnership-with-hertfordshire-county-council-extended-until-2021
[3] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:270760-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[4] https://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/payroll/timesheet.shtml
[5] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/cy/request/346679/response/842112/attach/3/ICT%20Strategy%202015%20to%202018%20redacted.pdf
[6] https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/freedom-of-information-and-council-data/open-data-statistics-about-hertfordshire/what-our-priorities-are-and-how-were-doing/digital-strategy-2017-21/applications-processes-data-and-tools.aspx
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/31/serco_handed_800m_ministry_of_justice_deal/
[8] https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/herts-county-council-serco-apology-for-hmrc-mistake-1-5772086
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/20/mod_covid_19_app_data_anonymising/
[10] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1968/shttps://www.bigmarker.com/series/continuous-lifecycle-online/series_summit
Hertfordshire County Council signed a 10-year agreement with Serco in [1]2010 , outsourcing large chunks of its back-office functions including HR, finance and IT. In 2017, it [2]extended the deal to last until 2021, and bring the total value to £250m.
In [3]a tender notice published this week, the council said that the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown and general disruption had affected its ability to put in place alternative arrangements.
"The need for a contract modification has been brought about by the circumstances of Covid-19, and in particular the unstabilising effect that the pandemic has had on the planned large-scale change programme of Council services," the notice said.
"A significant number of key staff resources have been redeployed and services have had to re-prioritise and re-organise to accommodate additional demand in response to the impact of the virus. As a result, the scheduled tendering and in-sourcing activity for these requirements has been delayed while the current circumstances are present."
The council said that keeping the existing service during the outbreak would "safeguard critical support services, provide stability and maintain current expertise."
The authority added it expects to reschedule procurements and "uncertain and disrupted [supply] markets. The scale of the impact of Covid-19 and the uncertain duration could not have been foreseen by the Council."
SAP forms the backbone of the [4]council HR, payroll and finance system . In its [5]2015-18 IT strategy document [PDF] , the council described its version of SAP as a legacy system.
The [6]council's digital strategy 2017-21 says it plans to implement a "comprehensive new HR and Finance tool" by 2021 and "migrate services to the cloud where it improves business outcomes". The Register has contacted the council to see if these ambitions have been achieved.
Never mind monitoring dead crims, Ministry of Justice has just palmed Serco another £800m [7]READ MORE
In 2018, the council was forced to apologise after problems with payroll left school staff receiving extra tax bills. [8]According to a local newspaper , Serco sent tax information for 13 months, not the customary 12-month years, which meant teachers were sent bills for unpaid tax as high as £10,000.
Serco is becoming accustomed to acquiring extra work from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has won a £46m contract for the test-and-trace system to combat the spread of the disease, [9]although in May it apologised after accidentally sharing the email addresses of almost 300 contact tracers. ®
Sponsored: [10]Continuous Lifecycle Online, 15 July 2020. Register Now!
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/government-computing-network/2010/nov/25/hertfordshire-serco-contract-24nov10
[2] https://www.serco.com/uk/media-and-news/2017/serco-partnership-with-hertfordshire-county-council-extended-until-2021
[3] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:270760-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[4] https://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/payroll/timesheet.shtml
[5] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/cy/request/346679/response/842112/attach/3/ICT%20Strategy%202015%20to%202018%20redacted.pdf
[6] https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/freedom-of-information-and-council-data/open-data-statistics-about-hertfordshire/what-our-priorities-are-and-how-were-doing/digital-strategy-2017-21/applications-processes-data-and-tools.aspx
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/31/serco_handed_800m_ministry_of_justice_deal/
[8] https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/herts-county-council-serco-apology-for-hmrc-mistake-1-5772086
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/20/mod_covid_19_app_data_anonymising/
[10] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1968/shttps://www.bigmarker.com/series/continuous-lifecycle-online/series_summit
£50 Million?
BenDwire
I'm guesing that's a 2 year contract, but it seems a huge amount for effectively a filing cabinet and a spreadsheet! It does however explain the huge rise in my council tax bill and the new additional charge for collecting garden waste.
Does nobody in charge care about getting value for money?
Re: £50 Million?
Chris G
In answer to your question, NO!
I have worked for a London Borough and then subsequently for a tender winning contractor and at no time was it apparent that the council and councillors were thinking of the residents.
If it wasn't for C-19
I'm sure they'd have had that little lot implemented right on time!
With months to go, no doubt all alternative systems are implemented, data migration plans in place and validated, and its once the redeployed staff are back they will be able to press "go-live" without issue.
Although... to make it worth an additional outlay of £50million, perhaps I'm wrong...?