A ground-breaking e-government collaboration deal, the
North Yorkshire ICT Partnership, last week saw a seventh council
pull out of a what had been a nine-council
partnership.
The City of York Council withdrew from what had been one of the
largest e-government Pathfinder projects.
The North Yorkshire ICT Partnership was founded in June 2002 with
nine council members but by December 2003 it was down to only
five.
Two more dropped out earlier this year and last week City of York
Council decided it would not sign a 10-year contract, originally
valued at £270m.
City of York Council said it would not be able to achieve the
savings it had expected under the contract and it also cited the
government's withdrawal of £650,000 funding as a reason for
withdrawing from the project.
A council executive report stated that, if the deal went ahead,
York would pay between £8.8m and £10.3m over 10 years, which was
more than the council had anticipated.
James Drury, head of public services at City of York Council, said,
"Each council is going to make its own decision, and it is not as
simple as 'there is a contract and there is a price'.
"There are political and legislative decisions as well. If a
regional government comes into being, it could mean the demise of
some of the partner councils.
"Central government could do away with the county council, for
example. This has implications for a 10-year contract."
Drury added that City of York would still meet its e-government
requirements.
Earlier this year under a pre-contract agreement, technologist and
business process service provider Agilisys carried out work on a
pilot customer relationship management system and website
implementation, both of which were supported by the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister.
Charles Mindenhall, chief executive of Agilisys, said the firm had
made a substantial investment in technical development, pilot
projects and staff recruitment, in areas such as web development,
systems integration, business consultancy and change
management.
Mindenhall said, "We are pleased to have had the opportunity to
work with the City of York Council throughout the procurement
process."
But he acknowledged that the council faced a range of pressures.
"Councils need to make their own decisions on whether to remain in
the partnership and we can understand the constraints they face in
making decisions."
The shrinking North Yorks partnership
Summer 2002 - The North Yorkshire ICT Partnership founded,
comprising nine councils.
Winter 2003 - Partnership down to five councils: Ryedale, City
of York, Hambleton, Richmondshire and North Yorkshire.
Spring 2004 - Ryedale and Richmondshire drop out and pilot
projects begin.
Autumn 2004 - City of York leaves the partnership. Just North
Yorkshire and Hambleton councils remain.