Decision details

To approve an exemption pursuant to Contract Procedure Rule 19.8 relating to a contract with Illy Systems Ltd for the provision of a hosted drug and alcohol treatment information data system.

There are a number of significant risks associated with conducting an open procurement process for the continued delivery of this System:

§     A full tender procedure has no commercial benefit to the Council. There is no competitive market position to be leveraged by conducting a procurement.

§     Engaging an alternative service provider would result in the need to migrate patient records, including all documentation and complex prescribing data, for over 3,450 people currently in drug and alcohol treatment, to the new data system provider. This exercise would require extensive ICT support to manage the process, and is likely to carry significant additional costs. 

§     An alternative provider would also pose a significant risk of downtime and retraining of staff for both alcohol and drug Service Providers.

§     Going to the market can increase costs as inflation, transition and time for undertaking the procurement process are factored into the pricing be it the existing supplier or a new provider.

§     If records are not migrated smoothly or prescriptions are missed off,  or if there are disruptions in service provision, individuals could return to using illicit drugs, which poses risk to health and wellbeing.

§     If an Exemption is agreed, a new maximum length contract with Illy would end around Dec 2028. The main contract with Turning Point for the provision of the Community Alcohol and Drug Service is due to end on 31 Mar 2028. This therefore provides the opportunity to review this service when procuring the main Community Alcohol and Drug Service contract and explore whether there is an opportunity to align the tendering processes.

If an Exemption is not granted, then the procurement will need to continue following the current timetable with all of the above risks.