Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 6th December, 2006
|
Bath & North East Somerset Council |
||||
|
MEETING: |
Council Executive |
|||
|
MEETING DATE: |
6th December 2006 |
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER |
13 |
|
|
TITLE: |
Transfer of IT Equipment Disposal Service |
EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN REFERENCE: |
||
|
E |
1527 |
|||
|
WARD: |
All |
|||
|
AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM |
||||
|
List of attachments to this report: none |
||||
1 THE ISSUE
The Council's redundant IT equipment must be disposed of without compromising security and in an environmentally safe way. The cost of this service is approximately £16K p.a., which cost is currently 80% offset by refurbishing and selling on some of the redundant equipment. Linear Way Industries, which until now has provided this service, has been restructured to focus on providing only the Council's Print Services. Transferring the IT equipment disposal service to another area would be financially beneficial and operationally efficient.
2 RECOMMENDATION
The Council Executive is asked to agree that:
2.1 The IT equipment disposal service should transfer to the Council's partner HBS, waiving the need to apply Contract Standing Orders (i.e., the tender process).
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 Transferring the IT equipment disposal service to HBS will save the Council the present operating: £3-5K p.a. net.
3.2 HBS will contribute to the site costs at Dartmouth Avenue, where it would occupy un-used space on a short-term tenancy agreement.
3.3 The transfer will remove the risk of future liabilities which could be incurred if the Council continues to operate the service in-house.
4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES
Sharing resources, working together, and finding new ways of doing things
Taking responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and over the long term
Improving our local environment
5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES
Reducing Landfill
Developing a sustainable economy
6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY
Creating and developing a better quality of life for the area through
o Sustainable Communities and Transport
o Safer and Stronger Communities
o Healthier Communities
7 THE REPORT
7.1 The IT equipment disposal service has for more than 6 years disposed of the Council's IT equipment securely and environmentally safely, a service which would cost the Council some £16K p.a. if done by an external contractor. Instead the service has been provided on essentially a break-even basis by refurbishing some of the better redundant equipment and selling it, thus offsetting approximately 80% of the operational costs.
7.2 The service was until 31 May 2006 part of the Production Services unit of Linear Way Industries and operated from the Council's Dartmouth Avenue business unit site. Linear Way Industries was restructured, effective 1 June 2006, to refocus solely on the Council's Print Services. The IT equipment disposal service does not fit logically within the Print Services.
7.3 The Council's partner HBS has offered to take on this service, including the employment of the single member of staff, in exchange for occupying some of the un-used space at the Council's Dartmouth Avenue site. A short-term tenancy agreement, contracted-out of the security of tenure provisions, would be set up on terms to be negotiated with the Assistant Director - Property, including a clause emphasising that the Council is under no obligation to maintain this arrangement for any length of time. HBS will agree that their continued service provision is not contingent on their tenancy agreement.
8 RISK MANAGEMENT
8.1 The report author and Lead Executive member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.
9 RATIONALE
9.1 Transferring the IT equipment disposal service to HBS will provide the Council a complete, end-to-end service under the terms and conditions of their existing Partnership Agreement with the Council.
9.2 HBS currently procure and maintain all the Council's IT equipment and taking on the disposal service would complete the full cycle of use.
9.3 Additional benefits in transferring the service to HBS:
Disposal costs will be reduced. There will be no costs to the Council. In addition, HBS will contribute to the site costs at the Dartmouth Avenue business unit.
HBS will continue to provide the service to the community in recycling IT equipment to schools, charities, etc. as a priority (before sale to members of the public)
HBS would employ under TUPE conditions the one member of staff currently working in this service. The transfer would be a positive development opportunity for this officer to expand his skills and experience working in a larger IT environment.
10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
10.1 Keep the IT equipment disposal service under the auspices of Print Services. This option would have at two major disadvantages:
Diffusion of the Print Services resources at a time when the Council has asked for an extended service. Directors Group have agreed a range of proposals on how to improve the procurement of Council communications materials, amongst them that 93All printed materials must be sent to Linear Way Industries who will either print in-house or place with an external printer.94 It is estimated that if all Council print requirements are put through the Print Services, the print volume will increase by 30-50%. All management and administrative resource will therefore need to be concentrated solely on the core business of delivering print services.
Print Services would have to pick up the remainder of the costs of this now unrelated service, i.e., the difference between the true cost of the service[£16K p.a.] and the offsetting income from sales [£12K p.a.]
10.2 Tender the IT equipment disposal service to an external provider. The following are among the disadvantages to this option
The Council would still have to provide some of the up-front operations, e.g., recording asset numbers for all equipment and keeping records of all items disposed of. This would mean that the Council would be retaining some of the costs of the service by employing someone to do this work or paying HBS to do it as the equipment is made redundant.
Issues of security: one of the key operations of the existing service is that all hard drives are `wiped clean' so that, whether the equipment is disposed of by sending it to refuse or is re-sold, there is absolutely no trace of any Council data. It is unlikely that this aspect of the operation would be transferred to an external contractor because of issues of security; thus, the Council would have to retain yet another part of the service and have to pay for it, as above.
11 CONSULTATION
11.1 Executive Councillor; Trades Unions; Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Stakeholders/partners; Staff; Section 151 Finance Officer;
11.2 Say HOW consultation was or will be carried out (mandatory)
12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION
12.1 Social Inclusion; Customer Focus; Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Young People; Equality (age, race, disability, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation); Human Rights; Corporate; Health & Safety; Impact on Staff; Other Legal Considerations
13 ADVICE SOUGHT
13.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.
|
Contact person |
Mary Rozmus-West, 01225 396851/4432, 07980 998702 |
|
Background papers |
none |
|
Please contact the report author if you need to access this report in an alternative format |
|