Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Councillor Youd, Lead Member
for Finance and Support Services and chairman of the Procurement
Board), in exercise of the powers contained within the
Council Constitution
do hereby approve:
 
·     
to Award the Contract for Mobile Voice and data
Services.
 

Detail required

Answers

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

Mobile Voice and Data Services

Name of Successful
Contractor

Virgin Media O2

Supplier Registration Number

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

02591237

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Private Limited Company

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Non-SME

Contract Value (£)

£60,000 per annum estimated average

Contract Duration

36 Months

Contract Start Date

01/05/2023

Contract End Date

30/04/2026

Optional Extension Period 1

24 Months

Optional Extension Period 2

N/A

Who will approve each Extension
Period?

Strategic Director (extension <
£150k)

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Matt Wall

Lead Service Group

Service Reform & Development

How the contract
was procured?

(to be supplied by
procurement)

Direct Award

Framework Details (where
applicable)

(procurement body, framework reference
& title, start/ end date

Crown Commercial Services
Mobile Voice and Data Services Framework RM6261 Lot
1
13/12/2022 to 12/12/2024

Funding Source

Revenue Budget

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s
Employment Charter

 

EC: Committed to sign Charter

 

EC: Accredited Living Wage
Employer

 
The Reasons are:
The existing contract for the provision of mobile
voice and data services with EE (BT) has now expired and there is a
requirement to renew this arrangement for the continuation of these
services which enables staff to have a mobile device whilst
undertaking their duties.
During 2022 Crown Commercial Services (CCS)
announced their intention to put in place a framework solely for
the provision of Mobile Voice and Data Services (MVDS).  CCS launched the new framework in December 2022
following a full and robust compliant tendering exercise, and
webinars were arranged in January 2023 to publicise the framework
to the wider public sector.
 
MVDS has four Lots, and an assessment has been made
using the MVDS price comparison tool using Lot 1 direct award. This
allows for a direct comparison against the published catalogue
rates of the four suppliers on Lot 1, BT, Gamma, Virgin Media O2
and Vodafone.
 
The Council’s existing tariff and number of
connections were plugged into the tool, and this produced results
which showed VMO2 ranked first with a saving of around 80% versus
what we are paying now. The current annual cost to the Council with
BT is approximately £120,000, and by switching to VMO2, this
would be reduced to around £26,000. This was based on 1500
connections on an all-inclusive voice/ SMS with shared data
tariff.
 
In addition to this the Council spends
approximately £40k per annum on mobile devices (2022
expenditure). A comparison of the device price books from both BT
and VMO2 showed little difference in the cost of devices, based on
the most common device in use, which is a Samsung A12, this would
cost £179 with VMO2 and £177 with BT.
 
Analysis of call charges between the two suppliers
were similar and, in most cases, cheaper with VMO2 with only
roaming calls and messaging outside of the UK being more expensive
with VMO2. These charges would only kick in outside of any bundle
allowances, and analysis of the bills from the last six months
shows that calls and messages made outside the UK is
minimal.
 
The transition to VMO2 and migration/porting of
numbers from BT will be organised by the DDaT team who currently manage the overall day to
day operation of the contract. 
This forms part of the wider organisational
Innovate Third Party Spend programme and in turn helps create
savings by the reduction of the annual billing being aligned to
that workstream with the total annual spend being reduced from
£160K to an estimated £66K producing an estimated
saving of £94K dependent on organisational demand.
 
Keeping in line with Salford’s Digital Cyber
posture, all mobile phones procured are to align to industry
security standards, this will be done via SCC’s current
Microsoft Licensing model mitigating the need to purchase another
product. We are looking to improve the devices as part of our wider
hardware refresh programme, this will further drive digital usage
in an agile methodology, complementing the [MY]Work principles.
Allowing DDaT to further connect the
wider workforce where roles do not necessarily lend to the need for
them to have a laptop. Digital, Data and Technology’s
approach to “not leaving anyone behind” from a digital
point of view is firmly at the forefront of this approach in
enabling a fully digital diverse workforce.
 
The improvement of
devices for our staff, this will further drive digital usage in an
agile methodology, complementing the [MY]Work principles. This also
allows us to further connect the wider workforce where roles
don’t necessarily lend to the need for them to have a laptop.
Digital, Data and Technology’s approach to “not leaving
anyone behind” from a digital point of view is firmly at the
forefront of this approach in enabling a fully digital diverse
workforce.
 
Options considered and rejected
were: None
 
Assessment of Risk: High
The Council needs to have in
place a compliant contract to enable the purchase of mobile devices
and associated voice and data services, to provide staff with the
equipment they need to undertake their duties in an agile way,
whilst in and out of the office and in the community.
 
By not doing so the Council
could be at risk of not being able to provide its staff with the
proper equipment to carry out their duties and may place them at
unnecessary risk, for example where a member of staff is lone
working.
 
The source of funding
is:
Revenue Programme
 
Legal Advice obtained: Yes
 
Financial Advice
obtained: Yes
 
Procurement Advice obtained:
Yes
 
HR Advice obtained: Not
applicable
 
Climate Change Implications
obtained: Yes
 
The following documents have
been used to assist the decision process: None
 
Contact Officer: Matthew Wall
Telephone number: 0161 793 3818
 
This matter is also subject to
consider by the Lead Member for Finance and Support Services The
Lead Member has been consulted and is supportive of the proposed
contract.
 
The appropriate Scrutiny
Committee to call-in the decision is the Procurement
Board
 
 
 

Signed:       Cllr Youd          Dated:        26 April
2023.
           
   Lead Member
 
 
 
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE
ONLY
 
*          
This decision was published on 27 April 2023  
*          
This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 5 May 2023 unless it is called-in in accordance
with the Decision Making Process
Rules.