DMFD194 Shared Information Service with GLA – extension of existing contract

1.1 Report LFC-0739 to the London Fire Commissioner (LFC) explains that the LFC seeks approval for expenditure to extend an existing contract for two years for an Information Service, which is be delivered as a shared service with the Greater London Authority (GLA), The contract was let to Idox Software Ltd, after competitive tendering.

1.2 In 2018, the GLA agreed to a shared service arrangement whereby the LFC would procure and manage a contract for an Information Service for the benefit of both organisations. The Mayor approved the arrangement on 13 July 2018 (MD2294) and the LFC approved (LFC-0078 – October 2018) that the Director of Corporate Services initiate procurement action and to finalise and execute a shared service agreement with the GLA under section 401A of the Greater London Authority Act. In February 2019, the LFC agreed (LFC-0128) to accept the successful tender for the provision of a shared Information Service from the supplier for the value set out in the confidential Part 2 report.

1.3 The original contract was for an initial term of four years. Governance approvals at the GLA and LFC secured approvals for funding for four years, but did not include approval for a two-year extension allowed by the contract with Idox Software Ltd.

2.1 The GLA originally outsourced its information services in 2012. A new contract, managed as a shared service by the LFC, was put in place in 2019. The contracted information services, available to all staff within the GLA and the London Fire Brigade (LFB), includes:

i. provision of an enquiry service (covering a range of activities from profiling to literature searching)

ii. access to full text books, journals and newspapers

iii. training to strengthen information literacy

iv. production of fortnightly alert bulletins, highlighting new policy announcements, reports, official statistics, publications and research articles across a range of policy subject areas

v. supply of a weekly information bulletin covering all policy areas relevant to the GLA

vi. access to social/urban affairs databases to enable GLA users to carry out their own searches for research articles.

2.2 LFB’s knowledge management function (within the ICT Business Intelligence Team) provides contract service management in relation to the provision of information services under the contract. LFB has full access to the Information Services provided under the contract.

2.3 The cost of the four-year contract, which is fully covered by the GLA, is set out in the confidential Part 2 report and is funded from the GLA’s Information Services budget in the Intelligence Unit. Where the LFB or GLA draw off additional services from the contact, these will be met directly by the LFB or GLA respectively from existing budgets (for example for books, publications and journals).

2.4 LFC was able to negotiate a mid-contract saving, via a contract variation, which saw the costs reduced by the value set out in the Part 2 report. The estimated cost is estimated at the value set out in the Part 2 report, making the total for the two-year extension.

2.5 LFB will continue to have responsibility for managing the contract and for administering the day-to-day services for the benefit of both the LFB and GLA. LFB will not be making any money from providing this service.

2.6 GLA officers agreed that this extension should be implemented and Mayoral Decision 3052, agreed on 15 February 2023, gives approval for the GLA’s expenditure on this contract.

3.1 The LFC and the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience are required to have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) when taking decisions. This in broad terms involves understanding the potential impact of policy and decisions on different people, taking this into account and then evidencing how decisions were reached.

3.2 It is important to note that consideration of the Public Sector Equality Duty is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken.

3.3 The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation.

3.4 The Public Sector Equality Duty requires decision-takers in the exercise of all their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

i. eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other prohibited conduct

ii. advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

iii. foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

3.5 Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:

i. remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic where those disadvantages are connected to that characteristic

ii. take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it

iii. encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.

3.6 The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities.

3.7 Having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:

i. tackle prejudice

ii. promote understanding.

3.8 The equality impact assessment for the original shared service and contract is still applicable and indicates that the proposals in this report will not have an adverse effect on any persons with a particular characteristic.

Workforce comments

4.1 No staff side consultation is proposed on this report.

Sustainability comments

4.2 There are no specific sustainability implications arising from this proposal.

Procurement comments

4.3 LFB’s Director of Corporate Services initiated the original tendering process, which was carried out by LFB Procurement, with TfL procurement staff, supported by officers from the LFB Information Management team and GLA Intelligence Unit.

4.4 As set out in the original decision (LFC-0078) in 2018, an Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) tendering exercise was undertaken. The procurement process involved the GLA, whose officers jointly assessed tenders received. The LFC agreed to award a contract as set out in report LFC-0128 in February 2019. That contract was for four years, with the option of a two-year extension.

Conflicts of interest

4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to declare from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.

5.1 This report requests approval to extend and existing contract by a further two years for a shared information service with the GLA, with LFB acting as the contract manager. The cost of the contract will continue to be met by LFC and reimbursed by the GLA. The cost incurred by LFC to manage the contract and any additional services that are requested will be contained within existing resources.

5.2 The cost in staff time for the management of the contract by LFC is equivalent to the estimated value of the additional services received from the service. LFC officers will work with the GLA to ensure the accounting treatment for this is presented correctly.

5.3 There are no direct financial implications for the GLA arising from the proposed decision to be taken by the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience. Financial implications for the GLA have been addressed in Mayoral Decision 3052.

6.1 Section 401A of the GLA Act 1999 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 Service described in this report fall within the ambit of section 401A.

6.2 The Mayor must consult with the London Assembly before entering into any such arrangement involving the GLA; this role has been delegated to the GLA Scrutiny Committee, as permitted under section 54(a) of the GLA Act and paragraph 2.6 of this report indicates that this consultation has taken place.

6.3 Administrative arrangements between public bodies that are in the public interest and that do not involve the placing at a competitive advantage or disadvantage of any particular private sector commercial supplier 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 in respect of the shared service agreement between the LFB and GLA.

6.4 If there were any employees wholly or mainly assigned to the Information Service currently performed at the GLA those employees would automatically transfer to the LFC under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) upon delegation of those functions to the LFC. GLA have informed LFC that there are no employees wholly or mainly assigned to the functions/services transferring so it is considered that TUPE will not apply.

6.5 The original procurement was undertaken in accordance with the GLA’s and the LFB’s public procurement obligations and EU procurement law (as applicable at the time) and the proposed extension will be undertaken both in accordance with our legal duties and in accordance with the GLA and Commissioner’s procurement standing orders and polices.

6.6 Under section 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the LFC is established as a corporation sole with the Mayor appointing the occupant of that office. Under section 327D of the GLA Act 1999, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the Mayor may issue to the Commissioner specific or general directions as to the manner in which the holder of that office is to exercise his or her functions.

6.7 By direction dated 1 April 2018, the Mayor set out those matters, for which the LFC would require the prior approval of either the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience (the "Deputy Mayor"). Paragraph (b) of Part 2 of that direction requires the LFC to seek the prior approval of the Deputy Mayor before “[a] commitment to expenditure (capital or revenue) of £150,000 or above as identified in accordance with normal accounting practices…”. Accordingly, the expenditure identified for the new asset management system, set out in more detail in Part 2, requires prior approval.

6.8 These comments have been adopted from those provided by the LFC’s General Counsel Department in report LFC-0739 to the LFC.

Part 1 Appendix - Report LFC-0739 

Part 2

Part 2 Appendix - Report LFC-0739