The proposal is to vary the Financial Management System to take up the optional 2 year extension, add a further 12 month extension, and add two new modules (Business Tax Portal and Spend Analysis).
Varying the contract as proposed represents value for money as it postpones the need for a new procurement exercise and the potential cost and resource implications of onboarding a new supplier. It also means the council gets the maximum possible benefit of the previous procurement. The Business Tax Portal is required for the Council to comply with the Government's 'Making Tax' Digital' agenda, and the Spend Analysis module will make the Commercial Services team more efficient and help to identify opportunities for savings e.g. by packaging similar contracts.
The total value of the proposed variation is £500,000 and this will bring the total value to over £2m.