Commercial: Harrow Council £31m ICT partnership

Eversheds has advised the London Borough of Harrow on the procurement of a replacement ICT strategic partner.

Contracts were signed on the c£31m project – part of Harrow’s “Project Minerva” Initiative – on 14 April 2015, with Sopra Steria being selected as the successful supplier.

Eversheds suggested that the project represented a new hybrid approach to ICT procurement.

“Although the full range of services are to be delivered under the Sopra Steria umbrella, the contract is unique in that Sopra Steria will be obliged to restructure the current services into a SIAM/tower model, including a service integrator layer, during the contract period,” the law firm said.

“This approach gives the council the flexibility on contract expiry to re-let the contract as either a full SIAM/tower project or adopt a multi-sourcing approach (as is currently endorsed by the Government). Additionally the contract allows for true incremental change via a ‘new projects’ mechanism that allows the parties to work more closely on further service transformation initiatives during the term of the contract.”

Ash Woodcock, Senior Associate at Eversheds, said: “This is a cutting edge project which not only provides great value for money and flexibility for LB Harrow, but also demonstrates an innovative approach to Towers/multi-sourcing for other procuring authorities and private sector organisations to pay close attention to.”