Decision details

The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement covers all Microsoft products that support our workforce including Office 365 and other client access licences for several different Microsoft products.

The current agreement expires 31 December 2025 and has previously been renewed every three years since December 2016. The price at entry of every contract is fixed for three years and as such each new three year term will include an inflationary uplift on previous pricing.

We are going to market via Crown Commercial Services framework using the nationally negotiated Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA24) which attracts the very best pricing for all Government organisations.

The contract will include the option to move to the Office 365 E5 licences for all users. The E5 licence includes Teams calling licences, significant cyber security improvements and Power BI Pro. All products are important to the continued efficient working of the council and enabling of future service improvements

A move to Office 365 E5 includes annual financial discounts offered by Microsoft to support the transition from existing systems. Based on current pricing in the SPA24 framework the council’s annual costs will be as follows:

•         Year 1: £1.737m

•         Year 2: £1.887m

•         Year 3: £2.062m

We will be seeking a decision to award the contract renewal and to take advantage of the discounts on the E5 licences.

RESOLVED -  

1)    That approval be given enter into a new Microsoft Enterprise Agreement contract for a further three years.

2)    That authority be delegated to Terence Hudson, Head of Technology, to enter into the necessary agreements to Upgrade Office 365 licences to E5 using the additional discounts offered by Microsoft.