Purpose

To commence a procurement to establish a
framework contract for resource augmentation within the Integrated
Digital Service. We are seeking to award a contract
to one or more qualified providers for cost-effective and rapid
augmentation services to support a number of ongoing and planned
projects.

Content

The Director of Strategy and Resources gave
approval to commence a procurement exercise to establish a 3-year
framework contract for resource augmentation within the Integrated
Digital Service. IDS is seeking to award a contract to one or more
qualified providers for cost effective and rapid augmentation
services to support a number of ongoing and planned projects in a
timely manner and at a cheaper cost than is currently possible.
 
This framework will reduce the time taken to
secure additional resources and will reduce the need to continue to
use contractors. IDS urgently needs to augment existing resources
to support delivery of a number of major council change initiatives
in a timely manner. Specifically, specialist technical resources
are required to support:
 
• Over 215 programmes and projects in
delivery with more waiting to start and currently in scoping. This
includes major change initiatives including the Corporate Business
Transformation (CBT) Programme, the Essential Services Programme
(ESP), the Cloud Migration, Modernisation and Compliance Programme
and the Drupal Web Replacement Programme
 
• Additional capacity in key posts that
IDS has been unable to successfully recruit to.
 
• Additional capacity to existing teams
where the volume of work outstrips available capacity.
 
IDS continues to struggle to recruit certain
key posts that were identified as part of its Phase 2 structure. In
addition, the volume of work is increasing and the gaps in capacity
are severely impacting on IDS ability to deliver digital solutions
required in a timely manner. Much of the work is required to
support the financial challenge agenda. As the volume of work
continues to grow and the urgency to deliver on key corporate
transformational projects which support delivery of financial
savings, IDS needs to be able to flex its resources up and down to
meet demand in a timely manner whilst providing the best value for
money.
 
IDS has used a mix of contractors and
undertaken numerous tender exercises over the last 2 years to
secure suppliers to deliver specific pieces of work. However, this
mixed economy is time consuming to implement and manage and is not
the most cost effective, value for money approach. The resource
augmentation framework will allow the service to better manage
demand and address resource needs. The framework will allow IDS to
drive better pricing through economies of scale.