Archived decisions
5. The Role of IT Consultants
5.1 Implementation of the proposals was seen as involving a programme of business change which would impact upon all Council departments and the way services were delivered. The Cabinet report of 19 December 2005 noted that programme management needed to have "the experience and expertise to successfully deliver this complex business change programme". The report also stated that the Project Team would be "multi-disciplinary, resourced from across the organisation, and will include some external staff with specialist contact centre skills". It was clear therefore from the Cabinet report that successful delivery of the programme would involve retaining a mixture of internal staff and external specialists who had direct experience of implementing similar projects with other organisations.
5.2 After a series of seven successive short term appointments of the one external consultant, to assist with preparatory work on the project, commencing 13th June 2005, that consultant ("Consultant A") was then engaged on a longer term contract, as Programme Manager, commencing 3rd April 2006. The total value of the contracts for the services of Consultant A during the period commencing 13th June 2005 and ending with the projected end date of the long term contract, in March 2008, is £415,939.
5.3 A number of other external consultants were then retained to undertake roles on the Project Team, as follows:
5.3.1 Consultant B was engaged as BPR (Business Process
Reengineering) Project Manager on 1st February 2006, at a rate of £625 per day, for six months. The total value of this contract was £81,875. Consultant B was then re-engaged in the same role on 9th August 2006, at a rate of £608 per day, for 140 working days. The value of this further contract is £85,120. The total value of contracts for the services of Consultant B is £166,995.
5.3.2 Consultant C was engaged as Transition and Operational Readiness
Manager on 1st May 2006, at a rate of £530 per day, for a period of seven months. The total value of this contract was £81,090. Consultant C was then re-engaged as a Project Manager on 1st December 2006, at a rate of £547.24 per day, for thirteen months. The total value of this further contract is £148,849. The total value of contracts for the services of Consultant C is £229,939.
5.3.3 Consultant D was engaged as BPR Manager on 28th August 2006 for
12 months, at a rate of £635 per day for the first six months, and £620 per day for the second six months. The total value of this contract is £138,050.
5.3.4 Consultant E was engaged as Lagan Configuration Manager at the
end of January 2007 at a rate of £480 per day. This was extended at the end of May 2007 for a further 120 days. The total value of the extended contract is £96,000.
5.3.5 Consultant F was retained on preparatory work from 16th August 2004
to 16th November 2004 at a rate of £588 per day. A further contract was placed from 17th November 2004 to 17th March 2005 at the same rate. The total value of contracts for the services of Consultant F is £82,320.
5.3.6 The Programme Manager, and all Consultants A - F, were engaged
through the one agency, Commerce Partners (a trading division of Partners Group Ltd). This means that the total value of contracts awarded to the one agency, Commerce Partners, in respect of services provided to the Contact Centre programme is £1,129,243.
5.3.7 In the course of the investigation, it has come to light that another
consultant ("Consultant G") engaged on a different corporate IT project, the Electronic Document and Record Management System, was also engaged through Commerce Partners on a series of six successive short term contracts between 2nd October 2006 and 19th March 2007. The total value of contracts for the services of Consultant G is £74,800. Together with the contracts awarded on the Contact Centre project, this means that the total contracts awarded to the one agency, Commerce Partners, in respect of IT consultancy services between 17th November 2004 and 31st March 2008, is £1,204,043.