Archived decisions

Contact: Stuart Giddings, ext 7961

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That approval is given to open negotiations with a single nominated supplier, EXOR, to provide a specialist computer system module to deal with the requirements of the County Council's County-wide Roads Term Maintenance Contract for operation in 2002/03, subject to the supplier meeting the specification and price requirements.

2. Reasons

2.1 To improve service levels the Department plans to introduce a single system to be used by all offices involved in road network maintenance management for the county.

2.2 To avoid disproportionate technical difficulties in the operation of previously installed systems, it is proposed to invite only the supplier of a range of other network management systems, which are already installed in the Department, to tender for the supply of a maintenance management system module.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 Amendment of the existing Term Maintenance Contract (TMC) mainframe system was ruled out due to the plan to phase out the mainframe systems as part of the County Council's IT2000 strategy.

3.2 Inhouse development of a new bespoke system was ruled out due to high costs, lengthy development times and increased risks.

3.3 Selection of an off-the-shelf system by competitive tender was ruled out because of concerns about disproportionate technical difficulties associated with operating it with existing systems.

3.4 The use of SAP was ruled out due to the technical complexity and specialist nature of the required application, but the specification of the system includes the ability to exchange transactions with SAP.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer consulted - Not applicable.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor K B Estlin

7. Introduction

7.1 In accordance with Standing Orders authorisation is required to open negotiations with a nominated software supplier to provide a specialist computer system for the Council's £200 million County-wide Roads Term Maintenance Contract (TMC) due to start May 2002.

8. Background

8.1 A number of computer programmes are in use for managing various aspects of the highway network and its maintenance. These include:

(i) Highway Referencing System Inhouse Oracle system/

Exor system

(ii) Highway Inventory Exor system

(iii) Bridge Maintenance Exor system

(iv) Traffic Count Database TARA 2000

(v) Street Lighting Management Inhouse Oracle system

(vi) Schedule of Rates Inhouse Oracle system

(vii) Term Maintenance Contract Inhouse Oracle system

(viii) Highway Inspections Inhouse Oracle system

(ix) Highway Assessment Inhouse Oracle

Management Programme system

(x) New Roads and Street Works Exor system

Act System

(xi) United Kingdom Pavement Exor system

Management System

(UKPMS)

(xii) Spatial Database Manager Exor system

(GIS)

(xiv) SurveyPlus Data Collection Exor system

(xv) Public Enquiry Manager Exor system.

8.2 Previously, the majority of these systems were developed inhouse; many are now reaching the end of their useful life. A major shortcoming has been the lack of integration, resulting in a need to duplicate data input and an inability to share information between different parts of the organisation.

8.3 In order to deliver Best Value in Network Management there is a need to implement an integrated suite of highway network management systems. It is considered that this can best be provided by systems that have been developed by the private sector, due to the high costs, extended time scale and risks involved with inhouse development.

8.4 A number of key business systems have been purchased from EXOR. Initially these were low cost items designed to meet the specific needs of the Technical Advice Group and Structures section, with no specific intention of using these as part of an integrated system. A competitive tender was used to select UKPMS and EXOR was successful in winning that contract. The ability of each supplier to provide a complete highways management suite was evaluated and included in the scoring process, which included an evaluation of quality aspects related to system integration and expansion. Subsequently, single tender approval for a Customer Service System and for a Street Works System was granted following a report to the Planning and Transportation Resources Sub-Committee on 15 January 2001. This was based on recognition of the need to use a single supplier to allow the integration of systems.

8.5 Whilst there are a number of commercial software companies that supply network management software for local authorities, disproportionate technical difficulties would be faced with the operation, support and maintenance of the existing systems if the Council attempted to install a maintenance management system from an alternative supplier. These would be incompatible due to different database structures and other features and would require further programmes to be written, in order to allow the different systems to co-exist. It is most likely that complete integration would not be fully achieved. The additional expense, delay and complication of implementation would be followed by a most complex task of system maintenance. Day to day operations and support would be complicated and it would be necessary to rework the costly, time-consuming and risky systems integration every time either supplier released amendments to their continually developing systems.

8.6 The proposed new module from the current supplier is capable of sharing information with the other installed modules, eg the Maintenance Manager module can automatically update the Highways Inventory module when new items of highway maintenance work are undertaken. The ability of the Public Enquiry Manager module to directly interact with the Maintenance Manager module is essential for the provision of better information to the public and the support of call centres, as required to satisfy e-government obligations. The use of poorly integrated systems would jeopardise proposals for the improvement of the efficiency of the road network management, resulting in either increased costs or reduced service quality.

8.7 The total amount of the charges from EXOR for this system are estimated at £100,000 for the purchase of 70 licences, £5,000 for installation plus £20,000 per annum maintenance. The value of this contract to EXOR will be £205,000 over five years. Funding of £100,000 has been earmarked from the current financial year for the new measures and £50,000 has been built into the base budget for the 2002/03 financial year. Additionally, provision for a further £20,000 per year from the base budget will be made to cover future maintenance costs.

8.8 There will also be costs to cover implementation, annual support, server costs and links to the SAP system for the County Council's IT Services Department. These are estimated at £13,000 for the first year and £16,000 per year thereafter, plus £3,000 at some time to set up the interface with the SAP system. These IT costs will be partly funded from the budget provision and partly from the IT support budget. However they are likely to be offset by savings on the existing system.

9. Maintenance Manager Works Ordering System Requirements

9.1 At present the County Council does not have a modern county-wide electronic system for issuing highway works orders, receiving invoices and making payments. The three directly controlled areas currently use a limited inhouse computer based system to issue highway works orders developed by the Surveyor's Department. A number of district councils have similar such systems, but they are generally either small inhouse systems or from a variety of minor software companies. The present method for works ordering and financial management varies across the county. This ranges between hand-filled duplicate forms to electronically generated orders. Whilst the Department's current electronic method is deemed to be acceptable, the various other methods employed around the county have been found to be time-consuming and inefficient. Experience has shown that it can be difficult to ensure that the works orders are issued and returned promptly, they can also be difficult to trace in the event of follow-up works, audit or additional enquiries. This hampers the ability to provide data to officers for informing the general public with prompt, accurate, up-to-date information regarding highway maintenance enquiries, a requirement that featured highly in the MORI study.

9.2 In addition, the various systems hamper the ability to obtain management information for the purposes of budget monitoring, highway maintenance trend analysis, locations of maintenance, etc which are all key factors of Best Value.

9.3 A specification for a new highway works ordering system has recently been completed. This system will enable the electronic issuing of highway works and retrieval of information relating to budget, timing, customer reports and enquiries, and will also provide the necessary information for management. The system will include a digital map-based interface which will enable a quick, precise location of highway works/maintenance.

9.4 It is intended that the electronic integrated system will replace the various existing paper-based and electronic systems of issuing highway works orders throughout the county, including those within district council agents dealing with network management services.

9.5 The County Council already has a number of Exor modules. The Exor works ordering system (known as 'Maintenance Manager', currently owned by the County Council, but used solely for holding the highway inventory information) is designed for further integration with these other modules. Integration with existing Exor modules would provide the facility to make useful network information readily available (and viewable on GIS). This would increase the benefits of the Works Ordering System as a tool for providing quick and accurate responses regarding management, budget and inquiries from staff and the public.

10. Nominated Supplier/Proposed Tenderer - Exor

10.1 Exor has developed a reputation as being a market leader in software production for highway management systems in the United Kingdom. Following a competitive tendering process, the firm was awarded a contract to provide UKPMS in the department. Exor was also appointed to supply a Customer Service System and a Street Works System.

10.2 The Exor Maintenance Manager system is widely used, developed and proven. This company is also in a position to upgrade it to meet legislation and developments, such as key performance indicators. It would therefore be advantageous in exploring the use of the Exor Maintenance Manager, with a view to commissioning the system from the company subject to the specification and price being agreed.

10.3 Exor meets the client and IT specification requirements for the Network Management software, is very competitively priced and is committed to working closely with its customers to provide a long term support and improvement service. As is common with most software companies, Exor encourages its customers to join a customer support group, which regularly meets to discuss modifications and future improvements to the software and where ideas can be exchanged. In this way the requirements of Best Value are being met, while still providing a product that is very competitive in price.

10.4 The specification for the new Maintenance Manager System identified a list of 65 essential requirements. The Exor demonstration identified that its product met all of them. Exor has also stated that most of the desirable and longer-term requirements are likely to be included in future releases of the software. No other software supplier came up to the same level as Exor.

10.5 The Exor products fit with the County Council's IT2000 strategy, as they are capable of being deployed on the IT2000 platform. Exor is also currently planning to release a version of its Highway Suite, which can be accessed via a web browser interface. This will have the added advantage of making the system easy to share with other organisations, ie district and parish councils, and also enable easier access by the public.

11. Negotiated Contract

11.1 Standing Orders provide an option to negotiate with contractors in suitable cases without inviting competitive tenders. Prior authority is required to allow negotiations to proceed. The appropriate technical and financial vetting processes will be undertaken in compliance with Standing Orders.

12. Conclusion

12.1 The department has identified strategic benefits in selecting a single supplier for its key Network Management systems.

12.2 Exor has demonstrated its ability to provide good quality products at competitive prices. It meets or exceeds all current specification requirements for a county-wide works ordering system. Its customer base is nation-wide and it has demonstrated its willingness to listen to customers and work with them to continue system development. The company has a good reputation, confirmed by other local authorities. The ability of EXOR systems to integrate with the Council's IT2000 and GIS systems is proven.

12.3 Funding for this software package and its maintenance will be met from the highway maintenance and IT support budgets.

6692/SG