ESCC NB Adoption South East CMS

Tender description

In 2015, the Department of Education (DFE) mandated the creation of Regional Adoption Agencies (RAA) across the UK, resulting in approximately 20 RAA projects, and involving well over 100 Local Authorities (LAs). As such, East Sussex have now joined up with West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and Surrey to make the RAA entitled Adoption South East (ASE), which incorporates approximately 120 staff. Setting up ASE has involved multiple projects which began in 2019, and with ESCC taking the role of lead Council, ESCC are taking on the majority of the work, particularly from the IT perspective. ASE officially went live in April 2020, and its supporting IT infrastructure includes a centralised ASE website, mailbox, and a single enquiries phone line. At present, ASE are gathering both business and technical system requirements for a joint ASE Case Management System and wish to explore technical solutions currently on the market which could support ASE's business processes, and data sharing across the agency. This solution should work in conjunction with existing CMS's within each of the four sovereign organisations, however integration with existing systems is not a 'must have' requirement.