Decision details

To request authority to vary a contract in respect of the provision of data and applications solutions with IDOX SOFTWARE LTD.

That the Director of Inclusive Regeneration and Climate Resilience:

i)               Approves the variation of the contract in respect of the provision of data and application solutins with IDOX SOFTWARE LTD as follows:

a)    To vary the contract to reduce the Charges for the fifth Contract Year (the period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) by £21,091.97.

b)    To vary the contract to include 2.5Tb of additional Idox Cloud Storage for a duration of 13 months at an additional cost of £5,958.33.

c)    Thereafter, the Contract Charges due and payable for the fifth Contract Year will be £110,458.33 excluding VAT.

The Council entered into the Contract on 1 September 2022.

Officers have concluded that the Contract requires to be varied as follows:

a)    To reduce the Charges for the fifth Contract Year (the period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) by £21,091.97 to take into account delays accrued between April 2025 – March 2026 by the Provider.

b)    To include 2.5Tb of additional Idox Cloud Storage at an additional cost of £5,958.33.

Alternative options include the termination of the Contract, seeking a higher Charge reduction amount or not seeking to adjust the Charges at all. The termination of the Contract is not a viable alternative since the migration of Planning, Building Control, Land Charges and Public Protection to a Cloud platform is a requirement of the business and Idox Cloud were identified as the most suitable product solution by an in-depth options review prior to commencing the Contract. The value of the reduction is deemed to be in line with the impact of the delay and has been agreed to by key stakeholders and the project sponsor. Not seeking reduction of the Charges would reduce the value for money achieved by the Council and would demonstrate poor contract management. Therefore, the Contract variation is the preferred option.

The alternative option to increasing Cloud storage space would be to store documentation on SharePoint temporarily until the end of the current contract with IDOX (September 2027). This is not a long-term solution and a larger amount of Cloud storage would then need to be negotiated as part of the next contract. It also introduces significant risks of document loss. Therefore a quote was requested from the Supplier for 13 months of additional storage, to expire in conjunction with the overall contract. The costs have been reviewed by the Head of Planning and Development and deemed to be acceptable.

None.