MD2294 Information Services Shared Service

DD525 approved a competitive procurement for information services for the GLA in July 2011. Following a competitive procurement process, IDOX Ltd were contracted in February 2012 to provide information services to the GLA for five years with an option to extend the contract for a further two more years. This contract expires in February 2019.

Information services provided by IDOX Ltd are currently available to all members of GLA staff. Contracted services include the following:

The IDOX contract is presently overseen by the Opinion Research & Statistics Manager within the

Intelligence Unit (IU), with support from the IU Business & Contract Support Officer (approximately 0.2 of a post). The LFB Business Intelligence Team provides contract management services and access to KOHA (stock database system) on behalf of the GLA.

In 2016 GLA officers reviewed the contract and identified areas for savings. Contract negotiations were undertaken in January 2017, and services and charges agreed for the final two years of the contract which provided savings of approximately £53,000 per year. Contract management information demonstrates that the services provided are well utilised.

The LFB has a well-established knowledge management team (Business Intelligence Team), who LFB have confirmed would be able to provide management services in relation to the provision of information services under a new contract. GLA officers would manage the existing service provision until the end of contract, while LFB would lead on the commission of new services on behalf of both organisations. In doing so, the GLA would extend the benefits of the service to LFB, and create efficiencies in the use of resources and physical space at City Hall required to deliver services.

In accordance with normal practice, the LFB and the GLA will enter into a Working Arrangement and an Arrangement for Delegation document to cover the services to be provided. The TfL Procurement team will be consulted.

The procurement process for the new shared service arrangement would commence in July 2018 and services would commence in February 2019 for four years (with an option to extend for a further two years).

The London Assembly Oversight Committee was formally consulted on the proposal to enter into a shared service arrangement with the LFB for the provision of information services. Without a Committee meeting in June, a consultation paper was circulated to committee members and a decision to agree the proposal was reached by the Chair on 22 June 2018.

The primary objective is for the LFB to lead on the contracting of information services for both themselves and the GLA, to extend the benefits of the service to LFB, and create efficiencies in the use of resources and physical space required to deliver services.

The proposals in this paper will not have a negative impact on any groups identified under the Equality Act 2010.

The effect of the shared service arrangements will be to transfer existing library stock from the lower ground floor basement and 2nd floor business lounge to join LFB archive materials. All GLA library stock is already recorded on KOHA (LFB online stock database), and will still be available to GLA staff on request. This will provide additional, much needed, space at City Hall.

Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £468,000, to enter into a shared service agreement with the London Fire Brigade (LFB) for the provision of the GLA’s information services, with costs incurred over 4 financial years in 2018-19 (£117k), 2019-20 (£117k), 2020-21(£117k), and 2021-22 (£117k).

The 2018-19 costs will be funded from the Information Services budget within the Intelligence Unit. Future years’ budgets are indicative and subject to the GLA’s annual budget setting process.

Section 401A of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) permits the GLA and the functional bodies to provide professional technical and administrative services to one another, or for them to delegate the discharge of such functions between themselves. The information services activities described in this MD fall within the ambit of s 401A.

The London Fire Commissioner is a corporation sole and a functional body under section 424 of the GLA Act. Under section 327A of the GLA Act, the London Fire and Rescue Service is the “personnel, services and equipment secured by the London Fire Commissioner for the purposes of the carrying out of the Commissioner's functions”. The London Fire and Rescue Service operates under the name of the London Fire Brigade (LFB). For convenience this description is followed here.

Administrative arrangements between public bodies that are in the public interest and that do not involve placing any particular private sector commercial supplier at a competitive advantage or disadvantage generally fall outside EU public procurement rules, particularly if the activity in question is performed on a cost recovery basis, as is the case here.

If there were any employees wholly or mainly assigned to the information services activities currently performed at the GLA, including employees of IDOX Ltd, those employees would automatically transfer to the LFB under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) upon delegation of those functions to the LFB. Some due diligence will need to be undertaken to establish whether TUPE is likely to apply. If there are no such employees, then TUPE will not apply.

The Mayor is required to consult the Assembly before exercising any power conferred on the GLA by section 401A of the GLA Act; officers have confirmed in section 1.8 that this has been done.

The shared services documentation should cover issues such as payments for the services to be
provided, review, termination arrangements, obligations and liabilities.

Under section 38 of the GLA Act the Mayor may delegate the exercise of any function exercisable on behalf of the Authority by the Mayor to any member of staff of the Authority. The proposed delegation of authority to the Executive Director of Resources to prepare, finalise and subsequently execute on behalf of the GLA, documentation putting into place the arrangements under section 401A, is consistent with this.

The decisions requested of the Mayor (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling 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 economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and 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.

In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor 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 and foster good relations 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 (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

The services required must be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code.