The Chair pointed out that that officers would not be able to discuss detail about  specific companies as it is commercially sensitive information.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement gave an overview of the report stating that we now have two bidders, both whom could deliver the contract, final tenders will be received shortly then the evaluation process will begin.

Councillor Makin queried what support would be available for residents who do not use the internet.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement said we will retain other channels of access and people will not be disadvantaged if they do not have on-line access but we will  encourage as many people to go on line as possible.

Councillor Moulton asked whether the budget for the customer contact project was set aside in 2012-13, If more money will be  required and what will be on the website this year.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement said the bidders will submit an implementation plan and timescale by September; it will include interactive portals on waste, streets and parking services. By April 2016 we expect further services including those relating to parks and leisure, planning and complaints and freedom of information requests to be on the website.  We have scheduled in resources, we have asked bidders to state in their tenders what resources they require and this will be taken into consideration during the evaluation.

The Director of Corporate Services said there is an overall price and bidders must come within that.

Councillor Grocott asked for clarification on how bidders will be incentivised to include the maximum number of services in their integration and the link between department savings and how this will feed into the customer contact programme.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement said the bidders’ quality score is weighted by the number of service integrations they include in their tender. 

The Customer Contact programme underpins activity set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy. We also looked at the Target Operating Model for each service to determine where services are looking to move customers on line so that the programme helps departments to meet their savings targets.

The Director of Corporate Services said it may not immediately be apparent which savings are linked to the customer contact programme, for example libraries and the on-line booking system will be delivered through the customer contact programme.

Councillor Badenoch asked officers to clarify if we are spending £3.5 million on the customer contact programme, including the electronic document management system, with the savings embedded although we do not know what they are.

The Director of Corporate Services said it was agreed not to build in savings until we are sure what can be achieved. This was agreed in the 2012 Cabinet paper and once the final solution is selected we can state with confidence the expected savings. The basis on which the programme was agreed by Cabinet was that it was part of making the council more business like and efficient and is being funded from reserves earmarked for this purpose.

Councillor Dehaney asked what provision there will be for customers who go on line but English is not their first language.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement said as part of the specification both officers and customers will be involved in designing and testing the website to ensure that it is designed in a way that customers will understand.

Councillor Hanna asked what safeguards we have to ensure that the contract is open ended so we can make changes to the website if we need to, and if this will incur an additional cost.

The Assistant Director of Business Improvement said the specification within the contract will include details of financial penalties if there is a failure and we will hold contractors to account. We are also negotiating an upfront competitive day rate with contractors should the need to do additional work arises.

RESOLVED

The Commission thanked officers for their report and would like an update on the progress with this work in due course.