Issue - meetings

Decision

That Cabinet approves the award of the contract for the Microsoft Subscription Agreement at an amount of £540,000 for a period of 3 years commencing on 1 April 2026.

Reasons for the decision

A Microsoft Subscription Agreement was required to ensure the Council can continue to use Microsoft applications, which include Windows Server software, Email, Word and Teams applications. Microsoft Intune and Defender applications provide device management and cyber security on all corporate laptops, tablets and mobile devices.

Changing to another provider would have been a massive undertaking meaning all devices would have needed to be rebuilt, including servers and laptops. Servers would also need rebuilding, and most software suppliers do not test on non-Microsoft environments. Days of downtime and much external support would have been needed to attempt this scale of change.

Other options considered and rejected

Option 1 - moving to an alternative environment. This option was discounted for a variety of reasons; these reasons included:

-       all laptops, servers, and applications would have required full rebuilds or replacement. Many third-party software solutions used by the Council were not compatible with or tested on alternative provider platforms. Migration to a new environment would have required significant external support, meaning periods of significant service downtime. The introduction of such a change would have led to significant operational and security risks.

-       Option 2 - Not renewing the contract. This option was also not deemed to be viable as these licences provided critical business systems, including email, teams and file access, meaning officers and councillors would be unable to perform core duties. This option would also introduce a significant security risk as devices would lose security protection, creating unacceptable cyber -security threat.