Issue - meetings

The Head of Finance will update the group.

The Head of Finance updated the group about the procurement of a new financial management system that had been agreed at Cabinet on 18 August 2016. The general exception rule 15 procedure had been used as the procurement timescale made compliance with forward plan rule 13 impracticable. 

The Head of Finance explained that the council was awaiting sign off from one of the partner councils that had participated in the joint procurement and that the procurement standstill period required by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 would then be applied. The new system would take 12 months to implement.

Members queried:

·         The functionality of the system;

·         How installation of the system would be managed; and

·         Whether consideration of the implementation risk should be added to the corporate risk register.

In response, the Head of Finance explained:

·         That the functionality of the new system would be far superior to the current aging system.

·         Installation would be overseen by an in-house project board working to an implementation plan, with the Director of Corporate Resources as project sponsor, progress would be reported to the Senior Leadership Team and could be brought back to the F&A PDAG as a regular update item over the next twelve months; and

·         The Head of Finance would liaise with the Chief Internal Auditor about the corporate risk register.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets on a proposal for the replacement of the Financial Management System in 2017

RESOLVED

            That the contract for a new financial management system be awarded to Company C, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

            REASON

            The Council’s current FMS contract expires in November 2017 and the Council is required to purchase a new FMS to ensure that an effective and robust financial system is in place.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets reported that no extension was permitted to the current contract for the Council’s financial management system (FMS), which would expire in November 2017.  A procurement exercise had therefore been carried out, jointly with Adur-Worthing Council, to choose a modern, fit for purpose replacement FMS.  Implementation of the new FMS system would run concurrently with the old system, with the intention of a go-live date in the summer of 2017.

Details of the results of the tender process were submitted.

Whilst the Finance and Assets Policy Development Advisory Group had not met since the tender exercise had concluded, the views of the members of the Group had been sought and all those who had responded supported the proposal.

            RESOLVED

            That the contract for a new financial management system be awarded to Company C, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

            REASON

            The Council’s current FMS contract expires in November 2017 and the Council is required to purchase a new FMS to ensure that an effective and robust financial system is in place.