BOROUGH OF POOLE

CABINET

2 NOVEMBER 2004

MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN

e-GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT PLAN 2004/2005

PART OF THE PUBLISHED FORWARD PLAN – YES

STATUS – STRATEGIC POLICY

1. Purpose of the Report

1.1To consider the update of the Information and Communications Technology Investment Plan for 2004/2005 onwards with specific regard to e-Government.

2. Recommendations

2.1The Cabinet are asked to allocate £493,000 to specific projects in the e-Government programme from the approved 2004/2005 e-Government resources in order to deliver the remainder of the Council’s e-Government Development Plan for 2004/2005.

3.Background

3.1At its meeting on 27th January 2004 the Cabinet approved a draft ICT plan subject to further consultation to confirm individual Service Unit needs.

3.2On 27th April 2004 the Cabinet committed £120,000 from the e-Government funds available for 2004/2005 in order to deliver an interim e-Government Development plan for 2004/2005

3.3This allowed Officers to move forward with the Authority’s e-Government agenda and continue work on smaller projects set out in the IEG3 statement. Since April 2004 the ODPM has produced a paper ‘Defining e-Government Priority Services and Transformation Outcomes’. This defines those items which are mandatory, discretionary and best practice and clarify what citizens can expect to be able to do electronically with their local authority by December 2005. Supplemented by comprehensive implementation guidance from the IDeA’s eGovernment Strategic Support Unit, the paper provides a detailed framework of Government expectations for the delivery of e-Government.

3.4In this context Officers have brought forward a final investment allocation for 2004/5 which deals with the delivery of a range of the Priority Outcomes. It additionally provides investment to support internal and web infrastructure developments. These allocations were discussed and recommended by the e-Government Member Steering Group on 27th September 2004. Details of the proposed allocations are available at Appendix A.

4.The proposal for E-Government Plan 2004/5

4.1The project allocations provide a framework for the further development of existing core projects that support the authority’s e-Government Strategy. Many of the projects being outlined will also provide support to the Customers First Programme. Following the Priority Outcomes Paper and Guidance, new projects have also been specifically scoped to ensure delivery of the outcomes in the required timescales. A list of the Projects and descriptions are given in Appendix A.

4.2The project allocations total £493,000 to be funded from within the existing e-Government resources approved in the ICT Investment Plan in April 2004. This includes the reallocation of £60,000 from previously identified projects which have been re-prioritised within the framework of the ODPM Priority Outcomes. The main contributions to this are from two projects (LLPG and Book It) which have been re-scheduled for next financial year.

4.3The allocation of these funds leaves only £79,000 of Council Resources to be allocated to the remaining e-Government programme next financial year. It does not commit the Council to any spending over and above this remaining £79,000. Larger projects are already being delivered in a phased programme where individual standalone phases are funded and work is completed up to the allocated funding level.

5Future Plans

5.1Further planning is underway to develop firm proposals with service units, e-Government Officer and Financial Services for the investment requirements for the next financial year (05/06), as part of the overall Budget Strategy process.

KATIE LACEY

ACTING HEAD OF IT SERVICES

Background Papers

INTERIM IT INVESTMENT PLAN – REPORT TO CABINET 27TH APRIL 2004 – KATIE LACEY

MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN CAPITAL PROGRAMME AND FUNDING 2004 TO 2008 – REPORT TO CABINET – BOB JACKSON

Name & Telephone number of Officer Contact

Kate Symons - e-Government Corporate Development Officer, 01202 633030

APPENDIX D

Appendix A

Project
/ Description /
Amount
Boroughofpoole.com Developments
Website Infrastructure /
  • Purchase and implementation of corporate software to allow the monitoring of performance of the corporate website, in order to demonstrate rising and sustained use (Required Outcome 26)
  • Investigation into the integration of A-Z information with the taxonomy of the Local Government Category List (Required Outcome 3)
  • Investigation and development of the website to ensure conformance with level AA of W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards on website accessibility (Good Outcome 20)
/ £43,500
Website Content Enhancement /
  • Corporate resources to support the identification of missing information on the website and to work with Service Units to ensure that a high standard of information is available. This will support a range of Priority Outcomes, provide a sound basis for the Customers First Programme and ensure achievement of the Providing Information category of BV157.
/ £45,000
e-Payments /
  • Rolling out the current facilities to other Service Units and to integrate payments with their business applications (Required Outcome 10)
/ £3,750
Apply For It/Report It /
  • Purchase, develop and manage the installation of e-Forms software (Contributes to Required Outcomes 1, 7, 8 and 17 and Good Outcomes 11 and 13)
/ £19,750
Council Tax, Business Rates and Benefits Online /
  • Providing online facilities for the public to check Council Tax and Business Rates balances. (Required Outcome 11)
  • Providing benefit claimants and Landlords with online access to benefit information (and eventually online claim forms) (Required Outcome 17)
  • Allow the public to make direct debit arrangements for payments online in real time. (Good Outcome 11)
  • Allow the organization to send e-bills to citizens who pay by direct debit. (Good Outcome 11)
/ £103,750
Loop Developments
Loop Infrastructure /
  • Change the development method/technology to integrate into a more modern framework
  • Revise the structure and improve navigation flow; introduce consistent look & feel standards and search across site Improvements to existing look and feel and functionality of portals
/ £18,300
e-employee Portal and Applications /
  • Further develop the Starters and Leavers application to allow rollout across the organisation. Develop the organisation chart to include out-posted workers, multiple managers and civic temps
  • Integrate a number of employee related applications to ensure re-use of date and consistency
/ £34,950
Corporate Projects
Electronic Document Management /
  • Developing and implementing the next phase of the corporate system into a further set of Service Units
/ £224,000
Total / £493,000

Costs

Solution 1 - Government Connect and Capita Direct Public Solution
DESCRIPTION OF ITEM / TOTAL PRICE (£) / ANNUAL MAINTENANCE (£)
Authentication Solution
Government Connect / 10000 / 10000
Hardware
DIS Box - to include hardware, software (Windows2003, Biztalk2004), support (3 year HW, 1 Year SW) and services to build the DIS and connect it to the Government Connect / 10000
Test/POC / 7000 without virtualisation
*Internal Costs
IIM Server - DiS Box set up – overview / investigation / 250
IIM Server - DiS Box set up – Access / Administration / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Training (x6 days) / 1500
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Audit / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Transfer – System Administrator / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Transfer – Dot Net / 250
Project Management / 3000
Capita Solution
Direct Public - Benefits / 17500 / 2188
Direct Public – Council Tax / 17500 / 2188
Direct Public - NDR / 12500 / 1563
Ingres for above modules / 9500 / 1250
Fixed Cost Implementation Services : Project Management, Technical Consultancy and Tailoring / Testing / Q&A for all modules / 15300 (tbc)
*Internal Costs
IIM Server - Infrastructure Overview / 250
IIM Server - handover / 500
Project Management / 3750
IIM Server - Integration with our website / 1000
User Testing / 2750
Additional Implementation Services / 5000
TOTAL COST / £118,300 / £17189
Solution 2 - Solution Government Connect and BoP Inhouse Development Alongside XML Adaptors
DESCRIPTION OF ITEM / TOTAL PRICE (£) / ANNUAL MAINTENANCE (£)
Authentication Solution
Government Connect / 10000 / 10000
Hardware
DIS Box - to include hardware, software (Windows2003, Biztalk2004), support (3 year HW, 1 Year SW) and services to build the DIS and connect it to the Government Connect / 10000
Test/POC / 7000 without virtualisation
*Internal Costs
IIM Server - DiS Box set up – overview / investigation / 250
IIM Server - DiS Box set up – Access / Administration / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Training (x6 days) / 1500
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Audit / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Transfer – System Administrator / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Skills Transfer – Dot Net / 250
IIM Server - Biztalk Project Management / 3000
Project Management / 15000
In house Integration Development Web Team / 20000
In house Integration Development DBA Unix Team / 10000
Capita Solution
Direct Public - Benefits / 0 / 0
Direct Public – Council Tax / 0 / 0
Direct Public - NDR / 0 / 0
Ingres for above modules / 0 / 0
Additional Consultancy / 5000 / 0
TOTAL COST / £82,750 / £10000

*Assumption – we have sufficient Academy skills inhouse to implement the solution, although consultancy days can be purchased at approx £850 a day.

Solution 3 - eCitizen and Capita Direct Public Solution
DESCRIPTION OF ITEM / TOTAL PRICE (£) / ANNUAL MAINTENANCE (£)
Authentication Solution
E-Citizen / 0 / 1750
*Internal Costs
IIM Server - Infrastructure Overview / 250
IIM Server - handover / 500
Project Management / 3750
IIM Server - Integration with our website / 1000
User Testing / 2750
Capita Solution
Direct Public - Benefits / 17500 / 2188
Direct Public – Council Tax / 17500 / 2188
Direct Public - NDR / 12500 / 1563
Ingres for above modules / 9500 / 1250
Fixed Cost Implementation Services : Project Management, Technical Consultancy and Tailoring / Testing / Q&A for all modules / 15300 / N/A
TOTAL COST / £80,550 / £8,939

*These figures are very broad estimates based on the high level of information available at this stage. The figures shown above are subject to change following further investigation which is required in order to confirm costs.

It has been recognised that the costs for Solutions 1 and 3 exceed the tendering limit of £25,000. For the procurement of the Government Connect solution there is an option to purchase through the registered G-Cat provider to reduce the procurement timescales. For the procurement of Capita Direct products it may be possible to progress through an ‘Exception to Competitive Tendering’.

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11.Recommendations

In order to meet the ODPM Priority outcomes we would recommend the implementation of Solution 3 and to set up a separate project to define and plan the implementation of Solution 1 to implement Government Connect which will replace eCitizen for authentication. There should be close considerations between these two projects.
Taking this approach will satisfy the timescale requirements for ODPM priority etc, and enable us the opportunity to further investigate the possibility of partnerships e.g. Bournemouth for DIS boxes etc. to take advantage of discounts etc.

The costs to implement Solution 3 exceeds the tendering limit of £25,000. It is therefore recommended that the procurement of Capita Direct products should be progressed through an ‘Exception to Competitive Tendering’ based on the following reason:

Standing Order 24(a) – negotiated tender with existing contractor - Where the Executive has approved that for an exceptional reason(s) it is desirable in the best interests of the Council that a tender shall be invited for the execution of work or the supply of goods and materials from a contractor currently engaged by the Council for a particular reason(s);

Further justification to support this reason is as follows:

  • Alternative suppliers would have no knowledge of the Academy database schema and would therefore need to undertake extensive data analysis/mapping in order to implement a comparable system. This would also require major input from Borough of Poole staff to assist with this process, therefore increasing timescales and the total cost of the solution would therefore be far greater than that offered by Capita.
  • In addition alternative suppliers would have to approach Academy to develop a set of connectors to their back end data that another supplier could then use to provide a web front-end. However, the cost of developing these connectors is likely to be similar to that of the Capita solution itself based on previous experience, which would significantly increase the cost of alternative suppliers.
  • The Capita solution facilitates quick and easy integration with other existing systems (e.g. ePayments), whereas alternative suppliers would have little or no understanding as to how these other systems operate. There is therefore a significant risk that alternative supplier would not be able to support the full range of functionality required by the Authority.
  • The Capita solution is a proven product and has already been implemented in a number of local authorities, using a tried and tested implementation methodology.
  • ICT & Business Support have reviewed the cost breakdown for the Capita solution (both in terms of software and implementation services) and believe that it represents a realistic cost for an implementation of this nature/scope.
  • The implementation of this project is required to meet the ODPM priority outcomes R11and G11 by Dec 31st 2005. The Capita solution is the only one that could realistically be implemented within this timescale, so we would risk not achieving ODPM targets using an alternative supplier.

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APPENDIX D