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RESOLVED: Cabinet approved the
spend through a direct award procurement. As the total cost for the
4 year contract will be £700,000 this is a key
decision.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
 

A 4 year contract is the most cost effective as,
though it does not realise any budget savings, it will ensure costs
for the platform and epress (newspaper and magazine provision) are
frozen at the year 1 price for the duration of the contract
avoiding any costs of year on year inflationary uplift.

Moving to a single 4 year contract will be much more
efficient as currently officers from libraries and the procurement
team are managing 3 contracts for all e-lending resources.
Currently these contracts are re-procured annually with no benefit
in doing so.

Customers will receive the maximum benefit from a
single, consolidated e-lending platform providing access to
e-books, e-audiobooks, e-newspapers and e-magazines all of which
are currently accessed through separate platforms and separate
logins. Borrowbox is by far the most popular of the platforms with
our customers.

Existing stock that we own on current platforms will
either be provided by the new supplier or credit given to purchase
new stock to the same value as part of the contract.
 
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: Currently
much officer time is wasted on the re-procurement and managing of
multiple supplier contracts. Moving to a single 4 year contract
with one provider will be much more efficient and will save
capacity within service and the procurement team. There has been
little benefit in regularly re-procuring in the past as certain
suppliers have had a monopoly on certain resources. This is no
longer the case.