St Helens Council Communications Platform Tender

St Helens Council has entered a period of significant change, and a number of factors including personnel, support and flexibility have resulted in a desire to review its communication platforms. The aim is to ensure the Council has flexible platforms in place which are fully supported and can adapt to the changing needs of the Council, while enabling modern ways of working for staff including hot-desking, remote and mobile working and a changed relationship with customers including the ways people contact us "channel shift".

Over the coming years, the Council will look to adopt even closer working relationships with partners and stakeholders in the public, private and charitable sectors. The platform and services must take this collaborative approach into consideration.

To meet our requirements for flexibility and agility, and to meet ongoing and future needs, the Council's preferred approach is for a managed service providing a fit for purpose hosted / cloud based communications platform.

The Council is looking to review and consolidate all mobile and landline connections into one single telecoms supplier. Through the use of a hosted / cloud based solution, the core telecoms estate should be rationalised and simplified allowing for the removal of ISDN services.

The contract will be expected to be flexible in terms of technical capabilities, and be able to respond to organisational growth and/or reduction for the duration of the contract.

The contract will initially be awarded for three-years, with an option to extend for a further two years extension (1 + 1), subject to satisfactory service delivery.

It is envisaged the contract commencement date will be from the date the underpinning Nortel Avaya infrastructure and supporting services have been transitioned to, and accepted on, the new platform.