Agenda item

That Cabinet:

1. Approved the ‘Digital Transformation Programme’ as set out in Appendix A2.

2. Authorised the Director: Policy, Strategy and Digital in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Performance, Finance Director (S151 ) & Monitoring Officer to take all steps required, including entering into necessary agreements, incurring relevant one-off (and first year) costs up to £18m (incorporating the approved £3.7m from September 2021 Cabinet for DTP1), and procuring and awarding any contracts above £500k to deliver the Digital Transformation Programme within the programme budget envelope and as outlined in this report.

3. Approved the updated Digital Transformation Programme Board governance and Terms of Reference at Appendix A3a and A3b, which will also govern previously agreed projects (from September 2021 Cabinet) and formally consolidate and combine them into the single Digital Transformation Programme.

4. Authorised the Director: Policy, Strategy and Digital in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Performance to take all steps necessary to Direct Award a contract to Virgin Media Business for the supply of Internet and Connectivity Services with a contract value of up to £1.49m for up to three years.

5. Authorised the Director: Policy, Strategy and Digital in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Performance to take all steps necessary to procure, award and implement a telephony contract with a contract value of up to £0.62m for three years.

6. Noted that a report will be brought to Cabinet annually to update on the programme’s progress and benefits tracking.

7. Noted an increase to the expected one-off costs of the Digital Transformation Projects (DTP1) agreed by Cabinet in September 2021, which are included in the overall budget to be approved in this report, and the risk of increase to the ongoing costs outlined for Telephony project agreed by Cabinet in April 2022, which will be managed by the Programme within its total proposed financial envelope.

8. Noted that the Digital Transformation Programme has scheduled gateways within all projects to enable the review of funding against organisational priorities and redirect if required in accordance with the Council’s decision pathway.