Agenda and minutes

Minute of the Meeting of the Major Contracts Governance Group held on 14 September 2021 to be noted.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 14 September 2021.

DECISION

APPROVED the Minute for Signature by the Chairman

Consider report by Director Finance and Corporate Governance.  (Copy attached.)

1.1         The Chair welcomed Alan Dickie, Kevin Hislop, Grant Newman, Jonathan Scully, and Craig O’Sullivan from CGI to the meeting.  There had been circulated copies of a report that outlined key information of the third quarter performance of the CGI contract.  This included information on contract governance, information on the transformation programme that was being delivered by CGI and key service delivery performance information.  The contract between CGI and Scottish Borders Council was signed in 2016 and was subsequently amended and extended in 2020 which included a programme of IT transformation work.

1.2         With regards to Governance, meetings of the Executive Review Board and the Supplier Management Board did not occur during the third quarter period due to pressures of work.  It was assured that these meetings would be rescheduled for quarter 4.  Transformation projects had been ‘RAG’ assessed with three Transformation Projects being identified as ‘red’; these projects were Bulk Print, Lync Telephony Upgrade and End User Device for curricular settings.  Due to global shortages of available equipment, the project to refresh IT equipment in the Council Chamber and Committee Rooms had been placed at ‘amber’.  With regards to the project to increase bandwidth in the Council’s wide area network, five schools were noted as complete and the four remaining schools were noted as progressing.  100% of priority 1, 2 and 3 applications of the 77 key applications that CGI managed on behalf of the Council had met their performance targets during September.  With regards to Risks and Escalations, two risks identified as ‘amber’ which were carried forward from previous periods associated with Windows 2008 server support being withdrawn and the end of support for a number of end-of-life Windows 7 devices still operated by the Council had risk remediation plans identified.  CGI employed 68 staff at the end of September 2021 and planning was underway for the recruitment of the 2022 graduate recruitment process following the successful employment of nine Borders Graduates in 2021.

1.3         Office 365 and Bulk Print projects may be merged into a subsequent document centre project as a number of synergies had been identified.  Corporate SIP Implementation Project had been moved to a ‘red’ status.  Members discussed that the project had proven to be problematic and had been dependent on BT undertaking infrastructure work.  Nick Byers, IT Manager, had been in regular contact with BT whom had on a number of occasions moved back the deadline.  Members enquired whether the status of the project could be escalated at a higher level and stated that obtaining a full understanding of costs once estimates and a date for project completion is received would be a worthwhile undertaking.  Members insisted on a high-level discussion with BT/Openreach with the option of inviting key people to the Group if possible.  Members enquired why the MacBook’s; Corporate Comms & Planning project was ‘on hold’ at the request of Scottish Borders Council.  The Director Finance and Corporate Governance advised he would follow-up to ascertain why.

1.4         CGI confirmed that Service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Before proceeding with the private business, the following motion should be approved:-

“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 6 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the aforementioned Act.”

DECISION

AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business detailed in the Appendix to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 6 and 8of Part I of Schedule 7A to the Act.

Private section of the Minute of the Meeting of the Major Contracts Governance Group held on 14 September 2021 to be noted.  (Copy attached.) 

Members considered the Private Section of the Minute of the Meeting held on 14 September 2021.

Consider report by Director Finance and Corporate Governance.  (Copy attached.)

Members considered the Report by Director Finance and Corporate Governance.

Consider Report by Chief Officer Roads.  (Copy attached.)

Members considered the Report by Chief Officer Roads.

MEMBER

Councillor Haslam left the meeting during consideration of the above item.