After staring over the precipice once before, Kent County Council considers £500m in outsourcing again
(2021/07/26)
- Reference: 1627293791
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/26/kent_outsourcing/
- Source link:
Kent County Council is inviting IT services companies and BPO specialists to bid for places on a £500m framework agreement set to offer a range of outsourcing services to the English public authority.
In [1]a contract notice published this week, the council put them market on notice to bid to be part of the cool half-billion deal, in the hope suppliers can "improve efficiency, provide an agile and reliable solution that will transform and meet [the council's] business objectives."
The Framework Agreement for Managed Services is set to see "the outsourcing [of] day-to-day management responsibilities and functions as a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes, through efficiencies, effectiveness and cutting operating costs," the notice said.
[2]
Categories listed on the official document include office and computing machinery, software package and information systems, and IT services such as consulting, software development, and support. It also lists business services such as law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security as well as postal and telecommunications services.
[3]
[4]
Kent County Council's [5]annual spending is around £1.7bn , excluding schools, and is currently staring into [6]a £100m COVID-shaped black hole in its finances .
Dealing with the results of the pandemic means the council could face a massive deficit, finance chiefs have warned, despite the authority getting £346m in emergency funding to help deal with the virus impact.
[7]Teradata customers express terror as field-based hardware support outsourced to IBM on both sides of the pond
[8]Five consultancies with severe branding difficulties win spots on UK government's £580m 'transformation' services framework
[9]When free and open source actually means £6k-£8k per package: Atos's £136m contract with NHS England
[10]Serco bags £322m contract extension for Test and Trace, is still struggling to share data with local authorities
So, the desire for finding the elusive "efficiencies" through the magic of outsourcing might be tempting to some.
In-house on the outs?
Kent has been here before. In 2015, it abandoned plans to outsource hundreds of back-office jobs and ended its talks with prospective suppliers. It had been in talks to secure outsourcing deals in management of its finance, personnel and ICT departments in an effort to save millions of pounds.
Staff were told the plan has been dropped and the departments affected would stay in house, according to [11]local news reports .
[12]
With £500m on the table, it looks like they might, once again, be facing the same prospects.
Kent County Council currently [13]runs a framework for software worth up to £500m. Companies on the deal include Bytes Software Services, Capita Business Services, CDW, Civica, Insight Direct, Phoenix Software, Softcat, Software Box, SoftwareONE, and Trustmarque Solutions. It was signed in 2020 and was set to last four years.
In 2005, [14]IBM won a five-year , £10m deal to supply IT infrastructure and services to Kent County Council as part of the council's efforts to make its services more directly accessible for its residents. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/9a79de80-0a78-403b-a0b6-4684041a6b80
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/finance-and-budget/our-budget
[6] https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/covids-100m-headache-for-countys-finances-250701/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/teradata_outsources_on_premise_data_warehouse_hardware_support_to_ibm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/uk_gov_580m_framework/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/29/atos_nhs_foss_charges/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/28/serco_bags_a_322m_contract/
[11] https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-business/county-news/kent-county-council-abandons-privatisation-44050/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:277951-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[14] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:277951-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In [1]a contract notice published this week, the council put them market on notice to bid to be part of the cool half-billion deal, in the hope suppliers can "improve efficiency, provide an agile and reliable solution that will transform and meet [the council's] business objectives."
The Framework Agreement for Managed Services is set to see "the outsourcing [of] day-to-day management responsibilities and functions as a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes, through efficiencies, effectiveness and cutting operating costs," the notice said.
[2]
Categories listed on the official document include office and computing machinery, software package and information systems, and IT services such as consulting, software development, and support. It also lists business services such as law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security as well as postal and telecommunications services.
[3]
[4]
Kent County Council's [5]annual spending is around £1.7bn , excluding schools, and is currently staring into [6]a £100m COVID-shaped black hole in its finances .
Dealing with the results of the pandemic means the council could face a massive deficit, finance chiefs have warned, despite the authority getting £346m in emergency funding to help deal with the virus impact.
[7]Teradata customers express terror as field-based hardware support outsourced to IBM on both sides of the pond
[8]Five consultancies with severe branding difficulties win spots on UK government's £580m 'transformation' services framework
[9]When free and open source actually means £6k-£8k per package: Atos's £136m contract with NHS England
[10]Serco bags £322m contract extension for Test and Trace, is still struggling to share data with local authorities
So, the desire for finding the elusive "efficiencies" through the magic of outsourcing might be tempting to some.
In-house on the outs?
Kent has been here before. In 2015, it abandoned plans to outsource hundreds of back-office jobs and ended its talks with prospective suppliers. It had been in talks to secure outsourcing deals in management of its finance, personnel and ICT departments in an effort to save millions of pounds.
Staff were told the plan has been dropped and the departments affected would stay in house, according to [11]local news reports .
[12]
With £500m on the table, it looks like they might, once again, be facing the same prospects.
Kent County Council currently [13]runs a framework for software worth up to £500m. Companies on the deal include Bytes Software Services, Capita Business Services, CDW, Civica, Insight Direct, Phoenix Software, Softcat, Software Box, SoftwareONE, and Trustmarque Solutions. It was signed in 2020 and was set to last four years.
In 2005, [14]IBM won a five-year , £10m deal to supply IT infrastructure and services to Kent County Council as part of the council's efforts to make its services more directly accessible for its residents. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/9a79de80-0a78-403b-a0b6-4684041a6b80
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/finance-and-budget/our-budget
[6] https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/covids-100m-headache-for-countys-finances-250701/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/teradata_outsources_on_premise_data_warehouse_hardware_support_to_ibm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/uk_gov_580m_framework/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/29/atos_nhs_foss_charges/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/28/serco_bags_a_322m_contract/
[11] https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-business/county-news/kent-county-council-abandons-privatisation-44050/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YP7cHJ4u-tpNtzOyZndcQAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:277951-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[14] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:277951-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
They wouldn't be so short of money if they spent it wisely
TVC
KCC have a track record of wasting money.
For example, they just reintroduced operation "Brock" which partly closes the M20 when there was no need to do so.
Re: KCC have a track record of wasting money
Pascal Monett
Well in that case they're following the UK Government's lead to the letter.
Anonymous Coward
The procurement services website is currently giving a likely indication on how this contract will turn out with - Error 522 - Connection timed out
Does outsourcing ever work?
Conrad Longmore
Does outsourcing ever work? Many moons ago I was a county councillor, the ruling Tories pushed through an outsourcing program based more on ideology than any real need. It was a disaster, the contractors messed almost everything up and were in breach of contract. Even so, the council ended paying a considerable wedge to the contractors for them to go away.
It was always obvious to almost all the non-Tory councillors that it would be a disaster. Back in those days the personal surchage still existed where cllrs could be personally liable for negligence. We made sure that every single vote was recorded...
Re: Does outsourcing ever work?
Anonymous Coward
Remind me who abolished the personal surcharge?
Re: Does outsourcing ever work?
Conrad Longmore
That would be the Labour government in 2000 acting on recommendations laid down under the Tories. It did rely on the findings of the Nolan report being implemented in order to ensure that people in public office behaved themselves. I guess that didn't work so well in the long term...
Deja Vu
The statement "the outsourcing [of] day-to-day management responsibilities and functions as a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes, through efficiencies, effectiveness and cutting operating costs," is a lovely string of buzzwords but we have seen it too many times before.
In a few years we will not be at all surprised to read about cost-overruns, late delivery, incomplete deliverables and missed start dates. And, I'm sure there will be lots of cloud data being generated too.