Decision details

The purpose of this report is to seek approval for a new 3-year contract, with the option to extend by 1 year (3+1), with an estimated value £1,460,000 over 4 years for the Core Infrastructure Managed Service, which shall include the following Services:

·       Managed Cloud Service, including:

o   Cloud Consumption

o   Managed Azure Site Recovery Service

o   Managed Azure Backup

o   Managed Detection & Response Professional Service

o   Fortigate Appliance Managed Service

The proposed contract will also provide for the renewal of various support maintenance agreements and licences which support the core infrastructure above: 

·       Managed Infrastructure Support (HCI)

·       Additional Node / Server & VMware License

·       Cisco Nexus Licenses

·       NetApp 3^rd Party Support

·       Gold Maintenance Netscaler support

Lastly, for the proposed contract will also include provision for professional services to implement Sentinel security monitoring services. 

We have been using ANS as the incumbent provider for over 3 years, providing essential managed services for our core infrastructure including (not exhaustive) the design, implementation and support of our cloud footprint, Microsoft Azure and our remote access infrastructure, Always on VPN.

The proposed contract is intended to commence on 20 January 2023.

Funding for these services is available via the BCIS Infrastructure budget.

That the Director of Finance & Commercial Services approves the commissioning, procurement strategy and award of a 3 year contract with an option to extend by 1 year (3+1) services contract, with an estimated value of value £1,460,000 over 4 years though the CCS’ G-cloud 13 Framework to deliver the Council’s Core Infrastructure  Managed Service.

A new 3 (+1) year contract with ANS for their managed service will enable us to continue to use their range of services to support our core infrastructure enabling vital access to business-critical ICT applications and systems.

Alternative options would risk disruption to service or loss of quality of service.  This could prevent key services from carrying out their core duties and needing to invoke service wide business continuity measures.

·       Allow the existing contract to time expire.  This is not an option as the Council requires a functioning ICT Service to enable users to access all appropriate ICT systems. To cease having a Cloud provider would have significant impact as council services would lose access to all ICT systems and Applications.

·       Extend the current contract.  This creates the risk of contravening the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and leaving the Council exposed to the risk of legal challenge. 

·       Insourcing the service.  This is not an option as it is not practical for the Council to operate a cloud service and as it does not hold the Intellectual Property Rights to the required functionality.

·       Alternative technologies. The Council currently doesn’t have the development or technical resource available to fully implement and support such a deployment and certainly not within the current timelines.