Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Microsoft Unified Support Contract
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Executive Decision Notice – 13 July 2023 Page 1
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE
PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES
Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by
Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon:
Title of decision
MICROSOFT UNIFIED SUPPORT CONTRACT
Reference No. 844
Date of decision Thursday 13 July 2023
Call-in expiry date Thursday 20 July 2023
Relevant Select
Committee
Finance and Corporate Services Select Committee
Relevant Wards N/A
Decision made
Cabinet Members
making the decision
Councillor Ian Edwards – Leader of the Council
Councillor Douglas Mills – Cabinet Member for Corporate
Services
Decision Approved
That the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for
Corporate Services:
Agreed to the 2 -year, 9-months Microsoft Unified Support
contract with Microsoft, to be co -termed with the existing
Microsoft 365 Licensing Agreement at a cost of £136,330
fixed over the proposed contract term.
Reason for decision A 33-month co-termed support contract results in significant cost
savings when compared to arranging yearly renewals.
The London Borough of Hillingdon uses Microsoft 365 for critical
Email and Collaboration (Teams, SharePoint) services, and
Microsoft Azure for hosting/delivery of critical business systems
requiring server infrastructure. Microsoft Unified Support
provides the following benefits and assurances to London
Borough of Hillingdon ICT Staff:
• Direct access to Microsoft's critical situation specialists,
with a 1- hour response time for Critical (service affecting)
incidents.
• Guided assistance across Microsoft technologies,
including planning for emerging technologies, security features,
and optimising workloads.
• Access to Digital training resources developed by
Executive Decision Notice – 13 July 2023 Page 2
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Microsoft support engineers.
Alternative options
considered and
rejected
1. Cancel Microsoft Unified Support contract. ICT Officers
would lose direct access to Microsoft Critical Situation
Specialists. Standard Service Response times of between 2-8
hours would apply to any incidents logged with Microsoft,
increasing the impact of any service- affecting incident. Guided
assistance and digital training would not be available to ICT
officers or LBH Staff. This option is not recommended: Microsoft
365 provides critical email and collaboration services, and
Microsoft Azure hosts key business critical systems for which
business areas expect high quality support and maintenance.
2. Arrange Microsoft Unified Support Contracts annually.
ICT have sh own that over a period of 3 years an annually
renewed contract will cost much more than a single 33- month
co-termed contract (details in supporting information).
Therefore, this option is not recommended.
3. Tender for a Microsoft 365/Azure Support Contract with
3rd party resellers. This is not recommended: Such a process
will introduce a delay in the contract start date, and to obtaining
direct access to official Microsoft specialists in the event of a
critical incident. Since the products we use are pro duced by
Microsoft, it makes technical sense for Microsoft to support
those products.
Classification Part II – Members’ Only and Not for Publication
Link to associated
report
That this report be declared as exempt from publication as it
involves the disclosure of information in accordance with Section
100(A) and paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) to the Local
Government Act 1972 (as amended), in that the report contains
information relating to the financial or business affairs of any
particular person (including the authority holding that
information) and that the public interest in withholding the
information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
Relevant Officer
contact & Directorate
Michael Clarke – Central Services
Any interest declared
by the Cabinet
Member(s) /
dispensation granted
N/A
Executive Decision Notice – 13 July 2023 Page 3
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in
[Internal Use only]
When can this
decision be
implemented by
officers?
Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice
only from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is:
5pm on Thursday 20 July 2023
However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a
valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise
the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold.
Councillor scrutiny
call-in of this
decision
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this notice
may request to call- in this decision. The request must be before
the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above.
Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call -in App (link below) on
their devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be
sought from Democratic Services if required:
Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure)
Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The
Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and
Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive
decision, including links to the reports where applicable.
If you would like more information on this decision, please contact
Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email:
democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk.
Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people including
Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group
Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on the
Council’s website.
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