Information technology services

Tender description

Hertfordshire County Council (the ‘Council’) is a large shire county in the south-east of England with a population of 1 200 000. Hertfordshire is a 2-tier authority with 10 district and borough councils providing complementary local services to residents. The Council provides social care for adults and children, schools and education, public libraries, public health (from April 2013), highway and road maintenance, environmental services, trading standards and household waste sites as well as a fire and rescue service. Project Background In the Council today, many work processes have the requirement for authorising signatures at key stages of the work process. Whilst many associated documents are produced and shared electronically, there is still the need for documents requiring proof of acceptance to be printed, signed, and re-entered digitally. This manual element of the work-flow, hinders realisation of benefits that are possible: improved response time, better record retention, reduced paper filing, increased efficiency and faster output. Magnifying the problem is the signing of multiple documents, which often is required. Frequently, the signatories are located remotely. Routing time is needed to obtain proper signatures. In addition, paper must be physically stored. Once signed, paper documents become ‘documents of record’ and must be retained and protected to serve their purpose. This requires infrastructure: storage, protection, maintenance, access control, and eventually, disposal to control storage costs. Search and retrieval costs for documents of record can be substantial. Digitally signed documents offer faster cycle times for issuing documents and digital documents are more efficient to store, maintain, protect, trace, and search. Outcomes The Council has identified the following outcomes for this project: Outcome 1 The successful implementation and supply of a Digital Signatures solution and supporting services. Outcome 2 The establishment of a collaborative working relationship between the Council and the selected provider that is underpinned by continuous improvement. Outcome 3 The achievement of value for money for the taxpayers of Hertfordshire. Outcome 4 Increased productivity, evident through the adoption of Digital Signatures in HCC processes. Instructions The pre-procurement market engagement will comprise: —Submission of the Provider Questionnaire (please see Appendix A — separate MS Word document). Provider Questionnaires must be received by 12:00 Noon, 20.5.2016. To participate in this pre-procurement market engagement, organisations must submit their completed Provider Questionnaire, together with any supporting documents, through the In-Tend system by the return deadline of 12:00 Noon on 20.5.2016. Provider Questionnaires cannot be uploaded after the closing date/time. Please log in or register at www.supplyhertfordshire.uk