Bid number (for EG use) | |
Lead bidder | Aberdeen City Council
Jim Lamb
Assistant Director (Client Services)
Finance & ICT Services
Tel: 01224 522121
e-mail: jiml@aberdeencity.gov.uk |
Brief description of the aims of the project | The vision is the creation of an ICT Shared Service Centre which will standardise and bring together the delivery of agreed core IT and communication services to participating public sector organisations in Grampian. This would provide the future potential for other support services to be shared leading to further service improvements and efficiency savings. |
Clear description of what the EGF money would be used to buy | - Development costs to allow organisations to move to common systems within the EGF timeframes.
- Legal, consultancy & training costs to set up any new organisational arrangements and 3 rd party contracts.
- Incremental equipment and building costs required to establish a shared purpose-built data centre.
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Partners to the project likely to commit resources | Aberdeen City Council Aberdeenshire Council Moray Council Aberdeen University Robert Gordon University Aberdeen College NHS Grampian Grampian Police Grampian Fire & Rescue. |
Names of other organisations with whom the project has been discussed (to assist the introductions process) | Scottish Enterprise Grampian |
Evidence that suggested approach has been deployed successfully elsewhere | - NHS Shared Services Initiatives;
- Many private sector examples in multi-divisional companies (e.g. Accenture, HP,)
- Ontario Government Shared Services Bureau
- Recognised as best practice in UK Government publications and guidance
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Are there any restrictions to enlargement of the project (i.e. number of partners) | In principal no, but the key challenge is reaching agreement on common standards and systems and the associated governance arrangements that can be supported by all partners. The complexity of achieving this would rise significantly if the number of partners increased and it is considered that an initial implementation is best done within the Grampian region, where organisations already work closely together and key decision makers have met regularly to develop this concept over the past 2 years. For organisations with charitable status (e.g. Universities), VAT levied on staff employed under some shared vehicle is an additional cost that cannot be reclaimed and will remain a significant barrier to participation. The first 17.5% efficiency savings on any staff costs are lost to VAT under these arrangements. |
Benefits projected from the project | Through rationalisation and economies of scale, the project will achieve cost savings on ongoing operations, further savings through sharing of future development costs, and the provision of more comprehensive ICT services than would otherwise be possible with organisations acting individually. Specifically, disaster recovery planning and stronger IT security would be more affordably achieved. The adoption of a common communication and IT platform will create opportunities for more flexible working and collaboration across the region. This project is also a pre-requisite to the development of shared services and integrated business processes in other support areas - e.g. HR, Call Centres, Finance and Procurement. Taken to their full potential, these developments will benefit citizens in the region who would experience a truly integrated, proactive public service. A single call or single contact would handle any type of request for service. |
Estimated financial projections | Total | 2004/5 | 2005/6 | 2006/7 | 2007/8 |
Overall project cost | | £150K | £3M? | £5M? | £5M? |
Estimated projected benefits | | | | 0.5M? | £1M? |
(to be verified through discovery phase) | At this stage there are a number of options as to how the project could develop and its potential scale. The costs and benefits are therefore tentative figures to be verified at the discovery phase leading to a full business case in the phase 2 bid. |
Is a pilot required - see guidance notes | No. |
Additionally: why is EG funding required | This project represents a radical restructuring of the way in which public sector ICT is delivered and requires substantial up front investment for implementation. It is unlikely that the local partners, although enthusiastic about the project, could afford the full initial investment. In addition, some of the significant issues to resolve will be those around governance and the change management of aligning systems and processes across different organisations. The profile and commitment of an EG funded initiative and the associated accountability to achieve milestones for the release of funds will in itself provide participating organisations with the focus to implement this project. |
Is this project complementary in any way to other EG work | Yes, this project is fundamental to the achievement of key aims of the EG programme. The process of ICT integration planned for this project is a pre-requisite to achieving wider service integration across other support activities. |
Is "stage 2 development funding" requested? | Yes. The level of detail required for a stage 2 bid will require a full analysis of IT delivery across participating organisations, and a detailed cost and service delivery model for the implementation of new arrangements and substantiation of anticipated benefits. This "discovery" phase will require the assistance of external consultants working with partner technical specialists. The sum of £150K has been requested in 2004/5 to cover this work. |