Decision details

Councillor Tahir Rafiq, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR, presented the report which sought approval for Bury Council, in partnership with, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM), Stockport Council, Oldham Council and Rochdale Council, to commence a joint procurement process in the summer of 2021 for Wide Area Network (WAN) services under the collective title of GM One Network.

Decision:

That Cabinet approves the decision to join the joint procurement exercise and endorses the use of ICT Capital Investment and Corporate Reserves to fund the delivery of this work.

Reasons for the decision:

It is recommended that Bury Council proceeds with joining the GM-One procurement as a founder member and approves a potential £1.3m from the existing ICT capital scheme for a new wide area network. This will allow a faster implementation of the next generation of WAN technology i.e., a software defined WAN, allows us to fully realise the benefits of the investment in the LFFN and the increased transmission speeds that go with it.

Other options considered and rejected:

Option 1 - Do Nothing – including not lighting the fibre delivered under the LFFN programme

This option is discounted as each organisation needs effective network services and wishes to leverage the infrastructure. This option could require repayment of the DCMS funding for LFFN as a condition of the grant funding is to use the fibre.

Option 2 - DIY – involving each organisation procuring network services separately across the LFFN infrastructure

The incremental benefits of doing this alone as opposed to collaboratively are predominantly linked to existing contractual commitments as there are wider savings to be had from engaging more widely.

Option 3 - Collaboratively light the fibre with other LFFN partners

This option has been pursued on the basis that it represents the most effective means of lighting the LFFN infrastructure. It is expected to generate service improvements plus wider strategic benefits described below with additional gains as other organisations leverage the network, plus it avoids unnecessary procurement spend and duplication of activities. The network design would still enable each organisation to manage its services across this shared network.