MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE RESOURCES SELECT COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2002 COMMENCING AT 9.30 AM
Present :
Mr G S Kendall (Chairman), Mr M J Cunningham, Mr C R Hancock (deputising for Mr J F Howe), Mr P D Joyce, Mrs M J Lloyd, Mr V J Morey, Mr K Pearson, Mr G P Price, Mr I R Stephens, Mr R A Sutton, Mr D T Yates
Apologies :
Mr J F Howe, Mrs M J Miller
Portfolio Holder :
Mr R R Barry
Also Present (Non Voting) :
Mr J R Adams, Mr A C Bartlett, Mrs B D Clough, Mr J H Fleming, Mr P G Harris, Mrs M A Jarman, Mr C H Lillywhite, Mr R G Mazillius, Mr A J Mellor, Mrs E Oulton, Mr R C Richards, Mr A A Taylor
35. MINUTES
RESOLVED :
THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2002 be confirmed.
36. ‘DELIVERING THE COUNCIL’S E-GOVERNMENT AGENDA’
Presentations
The Chairman welcomed Members and explained that each company had been asked to provide details of how they would deliver and manage the Council’s e-government agenda. It was hoped that the presentations would clarify the following issues :
Estimated costs of delivering the e-government agenda
Details of how this might impact on existing Council resources
The financial and other benefits that might be achieved from outsourcing
Partnering options available to the Council
Funding options available to the Council
Estimated timescale for successful delivery of such a project
Case studies of other local authorities the company may have worked with.
(a) Right Now Technologies
The Select Committee received a presentation from Mr Martin Gillate, e-Government Consultant of Right Now Technologies.
The presentation focussed on a database package which was designed to improve customer services and links.
Mr Gillate gave examples of case studies of other local authorities that Right Now Technologies had worked with : Rotherham and Bedford
A question and answer session followed the presentation.
(b)
SAP
The Select Committee received a presentation from Mr Phil Bradbury of SAP, a large software company.
During the presentation the following key points were addressed.
* Mr Bradbury named other local authorities that SAP had provided software for such as Hampshire and Leeds.
* It was emphasised that to deliver e-government a partnership approach was required to provide the necessary tools and capability.
* The cost and timescale of delivery were variable depending on the objective of the authority.
* SAP considered the benefits of outsourcing to be; access to people and skills, share responsibility and potential access to funding.
A question and answer session followed the presentation.
(c) Steria
The Select Committee received a presentation from Mr Dennis Sullivan, from Steria
During the presentation the following key points were addressed :
* To achieve successful delivery of the e-government agenda, partnership was an effect approach. Partnering options available to the Council included:
Managed Services Partnership
Contractual Strategic Partnership
Joint Venture Company
* The cost of delivering the e-government agenda was estimated at between £5 - £10 million for technical solutions plus any add on costs
* 2-3 years was the typical timescale for delivering the main components of the e-government agenda.
* Funding options included central government and the use of efficiency savings.
* Steria had worked with other local authorities including :
Norwich City Council
LB Bexley Council
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Birmingham City Council
(d) Deloitte & Touche
The Select Committee received a presentation from Chris Sullivan from Deloitte & Touche.
During the presentation the following key points were addressed :
* The estimated costs of delivering the e-government agenda was £8 - £15 million with a timescale of 3-5 years.
* The approach would be work in partnership and create a clear reporting structure between the Council the main board and service integrators.
* It was indicated that in the early stages of delivery the principal impact would be to supplement existing resources in delivering e-government.
* Deloitte and Touche indicated that they supporting partnering with either a Single Supplier (SS)or a Consortium/Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
* Suggesting funding options included : exploring the Council’s capital and revenue resources, the partners ability to invest, sharing investment and to reduce costs
A question and answer session followed the presentation.
(e) Yokogawa Marex
The Select Committee received a presentation from Mr D Fisher of Yokogawa Marex.
* Yokogawa Marex was a global company with a base in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
* Members were advised that Yokogawa Marex would deliver e-government in four phases. The plan was to achieve this goal through outsourcing the Council’s ICT business to their company. The main stages of the business plan were : -
1 Examine applications, system integration and other consultation work, at a cost of £95,000
2 Examine scope of further outsourcing at a cost of £1,000,000
3 Existing equipment would be re-used, maintenance at a cost of £1,000,000
4 The delivery of e-government would be achieved over a 3 year plan.
* It was indicated that some existing Council staff would be taken on by the company and those remaining would stay inhouse.
A question and answer session followed the presentation
Throughout the presentations, it was noted that e-Government was as much about changing and re-engineering the way the Council operated to improve service delivery as about software and hardware development.
CHAIRMAN