Purpose

The current contract for the
Council-wide managed print service and print device fleet came to
an end on 31 October 2025. 

 

After consulting STAR Procurement,
it has been agreed that the Council can directly award a new
contract to the existing supplier using the CCS (Crown Commercial
Services) Framework.

 

Content

(i)                 
To grant approval
for the awarding of a five-year contract to Konica Minolta UK from
February 2026, to supply the Council with multi-functional devices
(printers/photocopiers) and related consumables at an approximate
cost of £0.108m per year. The estimated total value of the
five-year contract is £0.540m. 

Reasons for the decision

The Council’s current
contract for the provision of multi-functional devices (MFDs) and
consumables expired on 31 October 2025.

 

The current contract expiring means
the existing MFD devices are not supported, and this is a risk to
the Council. There is a significant Digital Transformation
Programme currently being delivered at Tameside Council, which has
resulted in much reduced capacity being available to support a
competitive process via the framework. In addition, the
much-reduced capacity also impacts the ability to support the
change to a new supplier (in terms of new device onboarding,
technical configuration, security and end user
training).

 

Following engagement with STAR
procurement the Council has decided to direct award the contract to
Konica, the current supplier via the Crown Commercial Services
RM6174 Lot 2 Framework.

 

Working collaboratively with
Konica, service areas and internal IT staff, a list of current
devices has been reviewed, opportunities to rationalise have been
identified and device replacements scoped. 

 

Contract terms of 2 and 3 years
were considered, but the associated quarterly costs were
significantly higher. A 5 year contract was identified as the most
cost-effective option, with an annual rental cost of
£0.083m.

 

The total annual cost
comprises:

•         
Rental: £0.083m

•         
Average “click charge”
(print and consumables): £0.025m.

•         
Total £0.108m

 

For comparison:

•         
A 3-year contract would incur an
annual rental cost of £0.108m.

•         
Adding the average click charge of
£0.025m results in a total annual cost of
£0.133m.

 

Alternative options considered

(i)                 
To undertake a
mini competition via the Crown Commercial Services RM6174 Lot 2
Framework. 
The lack of capacity to change to a
new supplier, being out of contract and the impact on
operations/residents were reasons for the not taking this option
forward.

(ii)              
Do Nothing
This was rejected as it would have
put the Council out of support and left the organisation with no
printing facilities.