To seek approval to utilize the final 3 year option to extend the contract Wider Area Network for North Yorkshire Schools

This document recommends the contract for the provision of a Wide Area Network Solution for NYCC Schools is extended for a further period of 3 years agreed by NYNet and NYCC Legal Services. The extension shall commence 1st April 2022 and end 31 March 2025 following the variation signed on 30th July 2021. Due to the overall value of the contract the extension is to be internally approved before official paperwork is put in place. An extension agreement will need signing to fall in line with the previously signed variation.
Extension from 1st April 2022 – 31st March 2025

A key decision is required as the previous decision conducted at award only covered the proposed contract term before it was varied in 2021. This therefore means that the new length of contract (additional 3 years) requires a further decision to remain legally in line with Procurement regulations. The further 3 year extension which was added into the contract by means of a variation last year (2021) is estimated to cost in the region of 1.1 million which exceeds the £500k threshold. Therefore, on all accounts a new Key Decision is required for the new extension duration.

Opting to take the extension will ensure that the contract will continue throughout the LGR exclusion zone, therefore minimising the impact on resources needed to conduct a re-procurement exercise during this time. The specific 3 year extension was advised by NYCC Legal services and a variation was agreed and signed by both parties in July 2021 as a fall back should the need for the extension continue at the end of the first extension period (April 2022)
Although the extension will be beneficial during this time, the LGR progression is not the sole reason behind the need for an extension but rather the Authority would like to continue its work with Nynet and development in the contract as this is part owned by the Authority. The Corporate contract with NYnet is currently in place until December 2024 and it is believed at present, should we extend the Schools Nynet contract we can streamline the two together. With the Schools Nynet contract extended we can arrange for the Corporate Nynet contract to run in line and when both the Schools and Corporate contract end an option to consolidate the contracts in future may be explored. A new procurement initiative was declined because of this.