ICT Services and the ICT Contract between Steria and London Borough of Bexley
The Contract
Steria is Bexley’s ICT Contractor and strategic ICT partner.
As part of the 10 year contract it is Steria's responsibility to provide resources
to run the ICT Services at Bexley. The majority of locally based Bexley ICT staff
were part of a TUPE arrangement negotiated prior to the start of the contract.
However, Steria do employ additional staff at Bexley and also employ a large
number of additional staff throughout the UK and Europe, both in the public and
private sector. For further information regarding a career within Steria please
visit  www.steria.co.uk.
The Contract commenced on 1 April 2001, and will run for 10 years. Steria
is contracted to provide all Bexley’s ICT Services, including procurement
of ICT hardware, software, peripherals, voice and data networks. All procurement
is within the OGC G-Cat framework and Steria acts as Bexley’s agents for
this.
The Contract is worth approximately £35m over the ten-year term (at
year 1 prices), that is approximately £3.5m per annum. A central
ICT budget covers the core, contracted payments to Steria.
Server/PC Information
There are approximately 125 servers in use within Bexley.
At present the Council has approximately 2076 desktops and 378 laptops, including
those in Adult Education Establishments but excluding Schools. There are also
247 PDA’s or other handheld devices currently in use.
PCs and file, print and Exchange servers are refreshed at regular intervals
(every 4-5 years) under the Council’s Office Automation Refresh Programme. Servers
are generally supplied by Steria under the terms of the ICT Contract (and thus
are included in the overall budget figure), but on occasion may be purchased
from Bexley budgets.
Hewlett Packard via Steria currently supplies all Bexley’s ICT equipment. The
Council has an established Portfolio of hardware and software products that are
certified for use within the Office Automation environment. This gives users
a defined choice of desktops, laptops, printers and peripherals. Where specialist
solutions are required, these may be procured from another supplier, providing
prior approval has been sought.
Software
All Bexley’s computers have Anti-Virus software and Anti-Spam software
loaded. Both products are server based, however no further details can be provided
owing to security reasons.
5% of Servers, 95% of Desktops and 50% of Laptops have access to the Internet,
again the software for this is server based, and again no further details can
be provided owing to security reasons.
Security
There are currently 298 individuals who are linked to the data network externally
(such as Home Workers). Bexley have a security product for mobile/remote access,
however no further details can be provided owing to security reasons.
Bexley has a Firewall in place, however no further details can be provided
owing to security reasons.
Bexley has corporate governance in relation to IT security in place and an
approved Information Security Policy.
Although Bexley has not yet implemented the BS7799 standard, it is intended that
it will be implemented, however there is no agreed timescale for its implementation.
Bexley is also in the process of implementing IS27001 (Information Security Management).
Network
British Telecom and NTL are Bexley’s telecoms network providers. BT
also provides the Council’s Internet Service.
Bexley runs a Virtual Private Network, however no further details can be provided
owing to security reasons.
ICT PROJECTS IN BEXLEY (IEG & Transformational Government)
There are several IEG Projects that have recently been completed and a number
that are currently underway and planned within Bexley, the main ones being:
- The Customer Contact Centre is now in place.
- There are a number of web-based self Service (WBSS) initiatives that have
been introduced including public access to Information Services.
- E-procurement is now operating, including Payment Cards and electronic invoice
processing.
- The implementation of Home Working and other more flexible forms of working
away from the desk has been increased.
Further information about Bexley's IEG progress can be found on the Bexley
web site.
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