We will track here amendments to this resource that reflect changes in law and practice.
A case study detailing the materials available on PLC Public Sector that would assist local authorities with shared service projects.
Borset City Council wants to outsource its IT function. Its neighbouring authority, Borsetshire County Council, is thinking of doing the same thing. Both councils want to explore working together to establish whether their IT needs can be outsourced as a combined package to:
Benefit from any economies of scale the market can offer.
Make savings by eliminating duplication.
Any shared service project will lead to numerous issues that will need to be addressed:
Practice note, An introduction to shared services (www.practicallaw.com/5-503-5841).
Practice note, Shared services delivery structures (www.practicallaw.com/2-503-5847).
Practice note, Key legal issues in shared services projects (www.practicallaw.com/2-503-5871).
Practice note, Local authority joint ventures (www.practicallaw.com/0-503-1671).
One of the first issues that will arise is whether the local authorities have the necessary powers to collaborate in this way. In addition to having the requisite powers, the formal decision-making process must be followed:
Practice note, Acting as a legal adviser to a decision-maker (www.practicallaw.com/1-384-7175).
Practice note, A practical guide to the judicial review procedure (www.practicallaw.com/9-376-4010).
The parties then enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) before embarking on the project. The MOU sets out which council is responsible for the scoping exercise and the eventual procurement:
The project has established the business case to proceed with the shared services arrangement. The councils then consider how to procure a private sector partner to run the new shared IT service:
Practice note, Public procurement in the UK (www.practicallaw.com/5-383-9734).
Practice note, Public procurement of ICT (www.practicallaw.com/3-376-3565).
They decide the competitive dialogue procedure is most suitable because of the complexity of the project:
The Competitive Dialogue procedure can be lengthy and costly, so the officers working on the project need to produce a summary briefing for inclusion in the report to members to explain why this is the best procurement option:
The partners will also need to think about what documents are required for the procurement process:
Standard document, Invitation to participate in a dialogue (www.practicallaw.com/5-383-4406).
Practice note, Evaluation of tenders (www.practicallaw.com/2-386-8761).
The partners may need some assistance assessing key issues for the specification.
Practice note, Special issues in IT outsourcing (www.practicallaw.com/6-372-6005).
Practice note, Transferring IT systems (www.practicallaw.com/7-107-3544).
Practice note, Legal protection of software (www.practicallaw.com/7-202-4703).
The new service will involve a transfer of staff from both councils and one of Borset City Council's existing sub-contractors to the new provider. The councils must consider how to apportion liabilities, what indemnities to give the new employer, and the best and most cost-effective way of protecting the employees' pensions:
The councils need to consider what documents they will need to deal with the proposed transfer of staff:
Borsetshire County Council then decides it does not want all of its staff to transfer; some will be seconded instead:
Practice note, Secondment agreements (www.practicallaw.com/4-200-2057).
Standard document, Secondment agreement (www.practicallaw.com/2-200-2119).
Borsetshire County Council holds a lot of sensitive information about its service users in its data centre. It wants to ensure that it has the right to require the service provider to carry out all necessary checks and monitoring in relation to its staff as is required under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006:
Once the specification is determined, the councils also need to draft the contract terms (or use an Office of Government Commerce (www.practicallaw.com/9-237-2961) (OGC) precedent) and think about how they will manage the contract (what service levels to apply and how they will be measured):
The councils also need to consider whether the service provider will occupy the whole or any part of the councils' premises and, if so, on what terms:
Another council may want to purchase under the contract too. The OJEU notice (www.practicallaw.com/9-385-1432) must permit this and the contract terms specify how such third parties will access the contract. The terms may also provide for the councils to receive a commission from the service provider in respect of any third party spend going through the contract. This commission is intended as a contribution to the councils' procurement costs. The below clause will need tailoring if the third parties will share any staff, premises or other resources:
The partners carry out a successful procurement process to find their private sector service provider. They must now ensure that contract award complies with the provisions brought in under the Remedies Directive: