Key information
Decision type: Director
Reference code: DD2135
Date signed:
Decision by: Fiona Fletcher-Smith, Executive Director of Development, Enterprise and Environment
Executive summary
The GLA wishes to extend its licence to purchase Labour Insight, a software package produced by Burning Glass Technologies, which provides access to quarterly data feeds on job vacancies for London. The data will be used to support strategy development within the Economic and Business Policy team as well as being made available as a general labour market information data source for providers of skills and employment provision in London.
Decision
That the Executive Director-Development, Enterprise & Environment approves:
1. Expenditure of up to a maximum of £75,000 for the extension of the software licence for Labour Insights for 15 months; and
2. An exemption from the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code to undertake a formal tender process or seek a call-off from a suitable framework for goods or services between £10,000 and £150,000.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 The GLA wishes to extend its licence to purchase Labour Insight, a software package produced by Burning Glass Technologies, which provides access to quarterly data feeds on job vacancies for London. The data will be used to support strategy development within the Economic and Business Policy team as well as being made available as a general labour market information data source for providers of skills and employment provision and other stakeholders in London.
1.2 A key rationale for the extension is due to slippage in the Government’s timeframe for devolution of the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which was originally planned for 2018/2019, and which was confirmed in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in 2016 as now being expected to take place in 2019/2020. The extended timeframe reflects the complexity of the negotiations in London in order to allow the Greater London Authority to demonstrate meeting the readiness conditions set by Government for devolution to take place. Consequently development work relating to the Skills Strategy to inform AEB priorities has also slipped.
1.3 The first year’s supply of data, which was approved through Director’s Decision DD 1459 has proved valuable to a number of stakeholders who took part in a series of user groups to gauge impact of the data, which is now made freely available as a resource on London’s Datastore.
1.4 The data will be used by GLA Economics to support the evidence base for both the forthcoming Skills Strategy as part of the skills devolution arrangements as well as for the Economic Development Strategy.
1.5 A single source justification was sought for the first year’s use of the licence because no public or other commercial sources of data were available on the job postings in London that included detailed information on occupations, sectors, skills. The technology to provide this functionality in the UK is sold to the public sector via Burning Glass reseller Active Informatics. A single source justification is being prepared in support of the extension request.
1.6 Since 2012, the Burning Glass technology has sourced London (and UK) job postings daily from thousands of sites using AI ‘robots’ or ‘spiders’ to crawl the web to look for jobs. No single job site accounts for more than a few percent of the data feed, which includes data from employers-own websites, those posted on Government sites such as Universal Jobmatch and the Apprenticeship Service, as well as those posted by agencies and on job boards. Burning Glass is uniquely placed to provide timely data on job postings that includes information on: standardised industry (SIC) codes, standardised occupation (SOC) codes, location at Local Authority level, salary, qualification requirements, contract-type and job-type
2.1 The GLA wishes to extend the licence to purchase Labour Insights, which is software providing access to quarterly data feeds on job vacancies for London produced by Burning Glass Technologies. A Single Source Justification is being sought because no public or other commercial sources of data are available on the job postings in London that includes detailed information on occupations, sectors, skills in the format or timeframe required by the GLA.
2.2 It will enable access to timely data on job postings for vacancies available in London, which can be
broken down by a number of variables such as: qualifications/skills, occupation, sector, job—type,
source of advert, pay and low-level geography.
2.3 The data will be used by GLA Economics to support the evidence base for both the forthcoming Skills Strategy as part of the skills devolution arrangements as well as for the Economic Development Strategy.
2.4 The data produced through use of the software will be published on the London Datastore to assist skills stakeholders and providers across the region in identifying skills needs through published vacancy data.
3.1 Officers confirm that the procurement and commissioning of the activities described above will
conform with requirements made under the public sector equality duty, and that any increased
knowledge of skills and employability needs of particular learner groups will be used to inform future
specifications for work.
4.1 The procurement supports the Mayor’s skills and employment priorities and remains a key
recommendation of the former LEP’s CSF funded research.
4.2 It will inform the Jobs and Growth Priorities of the Skills for Londoners’ Taskforce and supports the priorities set out in the Local Growth Deal for London and the Skills for Londoners Capital Fund prospectus.
4.3 The data produced through use of the software will assist skills stakeholders and providers across the
region in identifying skills needs through published vacancy data.
4.4 The data will be made available publically through the London Data Store, which is the Mayor’s free
and open data-sharing portal where anyone can access data relating to the capital.
4.5 The supplier has agreed to grant the GLA access to 5 quarterly data feeds for the price of 4, at no extra cost to the GLA, covering the following periods:
Quarter 2 2017 data (Apr May Jun)
Quarter 3 2017 data (Jul Aug Sep)
Quarter 4 2017 data (Oct Nov Dec)
Quarter 1 2018 data (Jan Feb Mar)
Quarter 2 2018 data (Apr May Jun)
with the agreement to supply data terminating at the beginning of July 2018, once quarter 2 2018 data has been supplied.
5.1 The cost of up to £75,000 for the software license will be funded from the Skills Strategy budget held within the Economic Business Policy Unit for 2017-18 and 2018-19.
6.1 The report above indicates that:
6.1.1 the decisions requested of the Director relate to expenditure for the commissioning of supplies and services which fall within the GLA’s statutory powers to do things facilitative of and conducive to the discharge of its general functions; and
6.1.2 in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:
• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people (further details on equalities are set out in section 3 above) and to the duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not;
• 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 Section 9.1 of the GLA Contracts and Funding Code (“the Code”) requires that competitive tenders be sought for supplies with values of the proposed contract value or that those supplies be called-off from a framework accessible to the GLA. Section 10 of the Code provides that exemptions from that requirement may be approved on a number of specified grounds including where there is a complete absence of competition for the supply in question. Officers have indicated at section 1.5 and 1.6 of this report that this is the case here, as Burning Glass technology are the only suppliers in the market who are capable of providing the software and required information. The director may, therefore, approve the proposed exemption and award of contract if satisfied with the content of this report.
6.3 Officers should ensure that appropriate documentation is put in place and executed by the GLA and the supplier in respect of the extension.
Single Source Justification for extension of licence for use of Labour Insight tool from the Burning Glass reseller Active Infomatics.
Single Source Justification for procurement of Labour Insight tool from the Burning Glass reseller Active
Infomatics.
DD 1459 City Skills Fund — final stage of procurement
Signed decision document
DD2135 Extension of the software licence for Labour Insights (signed)