Decision details

Doncaster Council are currently approaching the end of a 3 year contract with Microsoft for the licensing of the Desktop Software and Productivity Products. A new contract must be in place by the 1st of June 2019.
The council’s ICT desktop estate runs on Microsoft Desktop Operating Systems (Microsoft Windows) and productivity products (Microsoft Office).
An Enterprise Agreement is the most efficient way to meet the council’s requirements for Microsoft software. Microsoft software underpins the majority of the council’s day to day working, line of business applications and customer interactions.
Licensing the organisation this way will secure unit pricing for 3 years to allow predictable cost management and flexibility.
In February 2018 Microsoft made a major announcement how the UK Public Sector would receive price support from May 1st 2018.
As part of the UK government’s Cloud-First policy, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has signed a new, non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft that will help the government’s ongoing digital transformation agenda and the UK governments Cloud-First policy. This arrangement is called Digital Transformation Arrangement (DTA).
The products chosen on this recommended option leverage Microsoft 365 technologies that are heavily discounted in the Digital Transformation Arrangement.
The new technologies that are deployed with Microsoft 365 better serve our workforce, customers, residents and partners by offering enhanced security, collaboration, information protection, new online services and a modern workplace environment.
This option will allow the council to stay current with software versions to protect against vulnerabilities.
Future savings will be made by utilising the included cloud services which will drastically reduce the requirement for on premise hardware, support and 3rd party products that are currently in situ.
In January 2019 procurement tested the market, sending our requirements to all suppliers on Lot 1. From the responses, it was discovered that our incumbent supplier still offered best value.

DECISION TAKEN
Enter into two contracts:
1. A 3 year contract with Trustmarque solutions Ltd (a reseller for Microsoft) and
2. A 3 year Enterprise licensing agreement with Microsoft for licensing of Doncaster Councils Desktop, Server and Productivity software, choosing Microsoft 365 products that allow for the use of cloud technologies to support a modern and agile desktop. DCST will be named as an Affiliate on the DMBC licence with Microsoft and as such DMBC will be responsible for the actions / omissions of DCST.
The route to market for this contract will be the KCS Framework Y17038 – Lot 1 – Microsoft, which is a fully EU compliant framework.

Option 1 – Buyout of current Enterprise Agreement.
To buy out of our existing Enterprise Agreement would mean the council is only eligible to deploy the software versions current at the time of purchase. To ensure PSN and PCI-DSS compliance the council it’s imperative that software versions are supported and up to date. By choosing this option, the council would still need to make further investment every 3 to 4 years.
Furthermore, after the buy-out, the council would need to review ways to purchase additional Microsoft software for new users and new software consumption. Unit pricing would not be consistent, meaning a new user and their desktop might not be the same today as tomorrow.
License tracking and monitoring would be hard to control. Software versions would become inconsistent across the estate. Service Desk Support, Operations and Line of Business applications would be
impacted due to this, resulting in a decrease in resolution times, customer satisfaction and service disruption.
This option would also require investment into on premise hardware to replace aging systems for email messaging, security appliances and other 3rd party products to continue BAU.
Option 2 – Procure a new Enterprise Agreement ‘Like for Like’
Option 3 – Do nothing
This option is not recommended. The current Enterprise Agreement procured licenses on a subscription model meaning the licenses we use are not perpetual. Doing nothing leaves the council in a position of significant risk as at the end of the current contract the council in no longer licensed to use Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Email Services and other productivity products that are heavily used. This option would be extremely disruptive to the council and affect business as usual operations and delivery of services to residents and service users.