24031 Cambridgeshire County Council ITDS Decoupling (Further Competition under ESPO 664_21 Consultancy Services, Lot 10)

Cambridgeshire County Council are running a further competition under the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) 664_21 Consultancy Services Framework covering Lot 10 Strategic Projects

The outline scope of the services required is as follows:

IT and Digital Services (ITDS) in Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) and Peterborough City Council (PCC) are currently delivered through a shared service arrangement. The Councils have required a decision to decouple (end) this arrangement and create their own IT services.

CCC is currently delivering the activities required to successfully decouple the Shared Service and create their own separate IT and Digital Service. We have communicated the decision to decouple to all affected staff, including the Trade Unions and are currently in the process of consulting on the future organisational structure and roles required. Work has also already commenced to decouple the shared technology between CCC and PCC.

Scope of proposed work

Programme Management - there will be multiple workstreams that will require project management resource to deliver and monitor actions, risks, issues, stakeholder identification and management, plus knowledge of service delivery in the IT sector.

People and Organisations - both ITDS staff and those in the organisation they support have been through a lot of change, so careful management of risks and issues is key.

Microsoft Tenant - there is currently a shared tenant between both organisations. CCC will be setting up a new one and have a technical partner on board.

Applications and Contracts - There will be several Applications (systems) and Contracts that are shared. The provider will support the Finance & Contracts team as required. The applications which are to be split will require appropriate technical resources to support the activity, including data migration and system testing.

Communication and change management - CCC will require robust communications and change management activities to support staff through the transition period, for both ITDS staff and service, but also for the organisation as required.

The Authority proposes to enter into one contract for an initial period of 9 months with the preferred bidder, with an option to extend for 3 months for any work to completed should it be required.