1. That the award of a contract to London Grid for Learning Trust (LGfL) for a period of five years from 1 April 2017 for an estimated sum of £3,600,000 for the provision of network services. This includes wide area network (WAN) data connections, broadband connections, and the voice usage service be approved.
2. That it be noted that the contract is estimated to save the council £220,000 over the term of the contract and that there is flexibility to remove some services within the term dependent upon progress with the shared service. The annual cost will reduce in line with the services removed.
3. That it be noted that the contract costs are variable being based partly on telephone call charges, which will fluctuate with usage, and that future changes to requirements may influence the cost. Further that there will also be additional one-off costs from moves, adds and changes to the estates which have been estimated within the contract value.
4. That it be noted that in the event of any slippage in the signing of this contract, that the incumbent, Virgin Media Business (VMB), who are providing the service via LGfL, will continue to provide the services as detailed in this report under the roll over arrangements until the contract is implementable. If the contract is approved then the service will be provided under the LGfL arrangements from 1 April 2017.