Purpose

Following a procurement exercise in 2021,
Democracy Counts Ltd was awarded the contract to supply the
Electoral Management System (EMS) for the Electoral Registration
Officer/Returning Officer (ERO/RO). The timing of this procurement
was strategically aligned with the 2022 election cycle, which
ultimately did not include any scheduled elections. The EMS
contract was set to expire in 2026, coinciding with (what was to
be) a natural fallow year (i.e. no scheduled elections), thereby
reducing the risk and operational burden of transitioning to a new
supplier during an active election period.
However, since 2022, there have been developments that have
introduced additional complexities that make the originally
envisaged procurement in early 2026 problematic.

The Government’s English Devolution intentions, and Greater
Essex being within the Government’s Devolution Priority
Programme, would envisage (subject to the necessary orders being
made nationally) the first Greater Essex Mayoral election in May
2026. As part of the Devolution Priority Programme, Government also
oversaw the enactment of The Local Authorities (Changes to Years of
Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025 which, for Tendring,
concerned the change in the scheduled year of elections for Essex
County Council from 2025 to 2026. . Given the current position that
there would be combined elections to deliver locally on 7 May 2026,
potentially changing EMS provider early in 2026 poses an
unacceptable risk to the delivery of those elections.

The direct award to the current EMS provider for a six month period
puts the potential date for a new EMS contract beyond the scheduled
elections date of 7 May 2026 and is sufficiently early to allow for
any implementation of a new system to be managed ahead of the
elections scheduled for May 2027. An exempt from the Council's
procedure rules was approved for this direct award, from the
Council's Corporate Director for Finance and IT and from the
Council's Leader (as Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and
Governance) (attached).

Content

That the current Electoral Management System
(EMS) supplier (Democracy Counts Ltd) be given a direct award by
this Council for 6 months from March 2026 in the sum of
£7,500 to then provide for the procurement exercise to be
undertaken for an EMS supplier from Autumn 2026 (rather than Spring
2026).

Alternative options considered

The option of continuing with a process to
procure an EMS supplier from March 2026 was considered and, for the
risks referenced elsewhere, was discounted. The contract with the
current provider could not be extended and, as such, the option of
extending the current contract was discounted.