Bristol City Council has signed Fujitsu Services as its digital strategic partner for the next five years in a deal valued at up to £25 million.
The newly published contract notice indicates that it went into operation at the end of last month and is aimed at boosting the council’s capacity meet its digital transformation and other ambitions.
The plan for the partnership was outlined in Bristol’s Digital Strategy 2022-27, published last year, which points towards a single partner arrangement to ensure consistency in the approach taken and solutions adopted by the council.
It says the partner will provide expert skills, technical advice, strategic support and practical capacity, and the deal would be on a no-commitment basis, so the council will only have to spend money when needed and give itself flexibility in delivering digital projects.
Retaining control
“It will also support us in future proofing our organisation and we will retain full decision ownership and cost control through a no-commitment, non-exclusive contract,” the document says.
While the strategy is not prescriptive on individual projects, it highlights four relevant strategic ambitions: to provide easier access to services through a user centred approach combined with improving digital inclusion; to make the digital estate simple, stable and secure; to build internal skills to make the best use of available tools and technologies; and adoption of the right technologies, processes and culture to support collaboration and problem solving.
It adds that the council will identify and scope projects that may need external support over the lifetime of the strategy.
