DD1415 London Land Commission Database

1.1 The London Land Commission (LLC) was established and approved by the Mayor in MD1540 to better co-ordinate the way that information on public land holdings is captured, processed and managed. The objective of the LLC is to boost the supply of housing in London.

1.2 One of the main requirements to enable the LLC to discharge its functions will be a technology system to manage the land based data. The Mayor has made a commitment that the first phase of such a system will be made available by December 2015. MD1540 also approved a sum of £100,000 for the provision of such a system.

Options for the LLC technology system

1.3 A team from the GLA (Housing and Land and the Technology Group) carried out an evaluation of available options for a potential system. The main options explored were to:

• Undertake a shared service via a system in use elsewhere
• Commission the development of a bespoke system
• Customise an existing GLA system

1.4 The two leading candidates for a shared service are the Government e-PIMS systems and the TfL land management system. Both were examined but not considered suitable, at least to meet the December 2015 deadline.

1.5 The GLA has a very successful record of producing bespoke IT systems for business requirements and this remains an option but, for cost and time reasons, this option was considered not viable at present.

Recommended option

1.6 During the investigations, a bespoke system currently used by the GLA’s Planning department, known as the SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment) system appeared to meet a number of the core requirements of the LLC. The SHLAA system code base can be technically extended and customised to provide the additional features and functions required by the LLC database.

1.7 Discussions with the SHLAA system supplier also indicated that the additional functions required for the LLC technology system could also be developed by the supplier, who is unique in its ability to provide the bespoke continuation of the SHLAA functionality. For these reasons, the GLA Team concluded that this should be the recommended option.

2.1 The objectives to be met by this project are:

• To agree the scope of works and timetable with the supplier
• Carry out the agreed changes to the SHLAA system using established system development methodology
• Bring the project to an orderly close.

2.2 At the successful completion of this project, the outcomes are expected to be a fully functional technology system that meets the agreed scope and containing an initial import of London land data from a number of external systems including the e-PIMS, TfL land management and NHS database.

3.1 In keeping with established GLA practice, the user facing components of the LLC technology system will meet the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative standard to a AA standard. It is not considered that the system will adversely impact on any group with protected characteristics.

Links to Mayoral Strategies

4.1 Increasing London’s housing supply and the spatial development of the capital is one of the most important Mayoral strategic objectives. The creation of the LLC underpins this objective and as does the use of appropriate technology to facilitate the work of the LLC.

Risk Management

4.2 In keeping with best practice, this project will be conducted using the GLA’s Risk Management Framework.

4.3 The main risk identified to the project is time. The December 2015 deadline for the launch of the system presents a challenge. The mitigation actions proposed are:

• To rank individual functional requirements in priority order and agree a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) i.e. the set of functions that will meet the core requirements for the December deadline.
• Develop the MVP functions in close collaboration with the Housing and Land team so that any changes required are made as quickly as possible.
• Complete the development of the remaining (non MVP) functions once the deadline has been met.

Procurement and the Contracts and Funding Code

4.4 The SHLAA system is a bespoke technology system which was built by OpenIQ Ltd in 2013 for a cost of around £40,000 (procurement reference ITC11265 and Approval reference MD1050). To date, a further £6,000 has been spent on technical support and maintenance work. It is currently in use by the GLA’s Planning Team and provides a key input to the Mayor’s London Plan.

4.5 The purpose of the SHLAA system is to identify parcels of land in London that have the potential for housing. The system uses mapping technology to identify these parcels of land and also uses complex algorithms to calculate housing capacity and density figures for each parcel of land, taking many factors into account.

4.6 There is a close correlation between what the SHLAA system does and what the LLC will need from a technology system. There are a number of additional features and functions the LLC needs, which can be technically accommodated .

4.7 The supplier is unique in its ability to provide the bespoke development services on the existing SHLAA system to create the LLC functionality. To commission a bespoke system for the full requirements of the LLC would exceed the amount approved in MD1540 and would not offer value for money.

5.1 The cost to add the LLC functionality to the SHLAA system will be £20,500, plus up to £28,500 to import data from third party suppliers, giving a maximum total development cost of £49,000 in 2015/16. These costs will be funded from the London Land Commission (LLC) budget of £1,000,000.

5.2 The import of data from third party suppliers will depend on whether system amendments are needed for the new interfaces between the SHLAA system and several other external databases. The full costs have not been clarified for this work but will not be more than £28,500.

5.3 There will be additional support costs of £6,000 which will be met from the LLC funding for the 2015/16 to 2017/18 financial years (£2,000 per annum). The on-going revenue support costs for years beyond this will be met from the existing Housing and Land directorate budget.

5.4 The full costs for the SHLAA and LLC systems from 2013 to 31 March 2016 will total £68,500 and the support costs for the two systems from 1 April 2016 – 31 March 2020 will be £12,000.

5.5 Full estimated contract costs (to OpenIQ) until 31 March 2020: £80,500. The maintenance and support costs, excluding those applicable to the LLC, for the SHLAA system have and will continue to be met by the Technology Group using existing resources (software maintenance budget)

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Director fall within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of the economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested of him, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 of this report.

6.3 Section 4.1 of the Contracts and Funding Code (the ‘Code’) requires the GLA to procure the services competitively or call off the services required from an accessible framework. Therefore ordinarily the services required would be procured in accordance with Section 4.1 of the Code. However, officers have indicated in sections 1 and 4 of this report that there should be an exemption from the Code on the basis that the LLC database will be a continuation of the SHLAA database which cannot be separated from the LLC database, and the supplier is unique in its ability to provide the bespoke development services on the existing SHLAA system to create the LLC functionality.

6.4 If the Director is satisfied with the content of this report and that the case made for the proposed exemption from the Code is adequate justification for an exemption, the Director may approve the exemption sought under Section 5 of the Code.