Microsoft enterprise agreement approval

Report: 15
Date: 19 February 2004
By: Commissioner

Summary

Authority is sought to sign an Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft. Two options are offered with the preferred being a three-year agreement as this provides additional benefits.

A. Recommendation

That the Committee authorises the signing of a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement for a period of three years.

B. Supporting information

Introduction

1. Microsoft (MS) are a key strategic supplier of software to the MPS with the whole of the AWARE infrastructure built upon their products. It is essential therefore that we have arrangements in place to provide the ability to:

• obtain updated the versions of their software, as part of our life cycle maintenance programme, to ensure that we always have in place supported products
• exploit new capabilities provided as part of the ongoing development of the products

Enterprise agreement

2. The current Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which provides for the updated versions of software is due to expire at the end of January 2004, although MS have agreed as part of our negotiations to extend this date to the end of February. There are two options available to us in moving forward; we can either:

• Renew the current agreement for a further 12 months, at which time a new agreement must be signed
• Sign a new 3 year agreement based upon terms negotiated by the OGC to provide software updates and product exploitation support capabilities

Current situation

3. As a result of the success of the AWARE network, and its rapid growth in support of the operational business, the number of desktop licenses to be provided by a future agreement for the period beyond February 2004 must increase from the current 15,271 to 20,000 units to reflect the number of units connected to date. It is also anticipated that the number of desktop units will continue to increase to 25,000 by 2007, as more of the “standalone” machines are connected to the network and the number of mobile devices increases.

Options’ costs

4. The costs for the two options are set out in the exempt appendix at agenda item 17.

Additional benefits

5. As part of the new agreement the MPS will be able to take advantage of Microsoft's Software Assurance for automatic access to new technology and productivity benefits. These facilities are as follows:

• Home Use Program (HUP)
  MPS employees could have copies of the products in the Microsoft Office System (Microsoft Office, OneNote™, FrontPage®, InfoPath™, Publisher, Visio®, and Project) for which the MPS has licenses, to install on their home computers for personal use.
• New Version Rights
  With Software Assurance, MPS would receive access to new versions of licensed software released during the term of the agreement to deploy at our own pace. New Version Rights simplifies the procurement process and shortens the business process cycle. We could reduce the costs associated with acquiring new version releases and immediately take advantage of the latest technology.

C. Equality and diversity implications

Contract award is expected to be neutral in terms of equality and diversity. Microsoft products form an integral part of Disability Discrimination Act compliant workstations already available via the MPS’ Information Systems Catalogue.

D. Financial implications

The financial implications of signing the new agreement set out in the exempt appendix.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: P E Scutchings, Group Director of Technology.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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