Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for Finance and Resources

Eileen Hudson, Principal Records Officer, presented the report and stated the following:

 

 i.  since 2010, the offsite document storage service has been provided by Box-it North Midlands, who are based in Uttoxeter. They are a franchise operated by R P Storage Ltd

 

ii.  the Council have been out of contract with Box-it for a significant period of time, and so a retendering process now needs to take place for the storage of NCC’s paper documentation. The current contract terms with Box-it are to store documents, with a select number of boxes having to be stored in archival (or specialist) storage conditions. They offer a delivery and collection service twice a week to NCC sites and provide a service for confidential destruction of paperwork when requested. They also provide materials, such as file storage boxes and security tags;

 

iii.  the retendering process provides the opportunity for the Council to futureproof its archived paper data and approval is being sought to re-tender for the provision of an off-site data storage service for approximately 22,739 boxes, with significant additional modifications over and above the existing service provision;

 

iv.  the process will be to procure a hybrid document management solution using a competitive procedure with negotiation;

 

v.  the proposal is to move to a hybrid model of service that offers:

 

·  a physical paper archive solution;

·  a scan on demand service;

·  a significantly reduced box delivery and collection service;

·  a bulk scanning option with file preparation;

·  an improved box tracking audit system;

·  an electronic document management storage solution.

 

Resolved to

 

(1)  note that approval is being sought,via the spend control process put in place by Nottingham City Council’s Chief Finance Officer, to spend up to £800,000 on the procurement of a hybrid total document management solution and that the procurement will only proceed once approval has been given;

 

(2)  subject to (1) above:

 

(a)  approve procurement of a hybrid total document management solution service provider (as detailed in paragraph 3.1 of the report) using a competitive procedure with negotiation;

 

(b)  delegate authority to the Head of Legal Services to approve the outcome of the competitive procedure with negotiation and award and enter an initial 5-year contract, with the option to extend for a further 3-years and then a further 2-years contract, with the successful provider, subject to satisfactory contractual performance:

 

(c)  note each Corporate Directorate Service Delivery Area will be given responsibility for:

 

  i.  document digitisation suitability;

 

  ii.  document record management (including document retention period policy compliance;

 

  iii.  UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 compliance;

 

  iv.  ensuring sufficient resource and budget allocation to ensure UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 compliance;

 

(d)  note the intention to de-centralise the budget for the document management solution and devolve this to each Corporate Directorate Service DeliveryArea.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

 i.  NCC currently stores 22,739 boxes at Box-it’s offsite storage facility. 2,359 of these boxes require storage in higher cost archival conditions, due to the age of these documents, and the need for them to be kept in their physical format in perpetuity;

 

ii.  The contract has expired, and therefore approval is sought to retender the operation with modifications to the original 2010 specification;

 

iii.  The annual cost of the current contract primarily only covers the cost for storage, delivery/collection of boxes, and any new box materials. The Box-it service has included the delivery of around 1,500 boxes to various NCC sites per year. The current process is to return the boxes to the offsite facility once the contents are viewed. As a matter of convenience, standard practice, and cultural habit, sending files to Box-it has been the default option for most service areas for many years;

 

iv.  In line with changing approaches to the management of paper records by organisations across the public sector, Information Compliance recommends that NCC moves away from purely archiving records to one where records are futureproofed and digitised. NCC have a legal requirement to physically maintain some records in hard copy, usually in perpetuity. The need to retender provides an opportunity for NCC to adopt a new approach to the way the organisation manages paper records. The preferred option would be to consider a hybrid model, storing paper files where legally required to do so, and then digitising paper records when requested to view by colleagues, as well as those with the longer retention dates where it would be cheaper to scan and destroy rather than storing physically. This option will help to support the organisation’s future aims;

 

v.  In a recent Financial Controls Assessment carried out by Ernst & Young, the auditors identified several serious concerns including a weak control environment, ineffective systems, and a culture which is not focused upon compliance. It was found that there were issues around the inability to find documents and document retention. Although this audit related to financial records, it is evident through work conducted by Information Compliance that these issues are likely to be reflective across all areas in the authority in relation to the data that they hold;

 

vi.  The transformation of the offsite storage service will help underpin the corporate planning theme referred to in the Information Assurance Board Report (18 May 2023). By rethinking how NCC manages and futureproof its information assets, and by taking a longer-term view of records management, NCC can deliver best value outcomes for Nottingham;

 

 vii.  It is envisioned that the process of digitising records will become a longer-term project, with little to no cost savings initially. But with the reduction of paper records stored, and the move to store files digitally, the costs will reduce over the longer-term period of the contract, for which the savings can then be built into larger bulk scanning projects if required;

 

viii.  Information Compliance believe that, where possible, a programme of digitising records would be beneficial to NCC for the following reasons:

 

·  Service areas could quickly access information which would reduce delays caused when waiting for boxes to be delivered, improving efficiency within teams, and delivering a better service to our citizens;

 

·  It is evident through the procurement frameworks related to document management that it is more cost effective to adopt a hybrid model of storage and scanning;

 

·  It will improve the efficiency of those colleagues classed as hybrid workers to access records from wherever they are working;

 

·  There will be a reduction in risk of records degrading over time or from records being mislaid or lost;

 

·  There is the future potential to transfer existing digitised documents from decommissioned systems currently used by NCC onto a new EDMS creating one centralised system to store documents;

 

·  Improved protection of data through IT mechanisms, through providing a better inventory of records than what NCC has at the current time, using metadata to categorise the sensitivity of the information contained, and adding in automatic retention periods;

 

·  A reduction in storage costs will be made over the timeframe of the contract, although a certain number of records would still need to be retained in hard copy as defined through legislation (such as deeds, births, deaths, and marriage registers) – these could still be digitised for ease of access and to support the reduction of deliveries;

 

·  The proposal will help support NCC’s Carbon Neutral aims by requesting less physical box deliveries, a reduction in documentation being printed, reducing the need large amounts of physical storage, and therefore decreasing utility usage (such as electricity).

 

  ix.  The proposal will help support NCC’s Carbon Neutral aims by requesting less physical box deliveries, a reduction in documentation being printed, reducing the need large amounts of physical storage, and therefore decreasing utility usage (such as electricity).

 

Other options considered

 

 i.  Information Compliance have approached the current supplier and a number of other suppliers for their costings of storage, delivery, and destruction of physical boxes, as well as the scanning and storage of digitised records, with the provision for the use of their own box and document management system. Suppliers have provided the costings in order for the calculation of the projected costings for this report. However, Box-it have not provided new costings for scanning. The new costs include the payment of the uplift and perm-out fee charged by Box-it within the box storage cost projections. There will be further work undertaken with service areas and Information Compliance to understand if the amount of current archival storage is necessary, which may bring the costs down further.

 

ii.  Option 1 – Storage only approach (i.e. storage, delivery, destruction of physical paperwork, use of supplier’s box tracking platform)

 

This option would be the same approach taken by NCC that it has done for the past 13 years, therefore remaining as the ‘status quo’, which is currently unsustainable and not good value for money. Deliveries would still take place to various NCC sites twice a week for colleagues, with the option for the supplier to destroy boxes on NCC’s behalf. The only change would be the use of a supplier’s box tracking platform to reduce the current risk with the internally built-in house database. This would not support more agile working, will not achieve efficiencies in terms of staff time and resources, not assist with required digitisation projects as well as not supporting NCC’s CN28 aims.

 

iii.  Option 2 – Digitisation approach (i.e., digitise everything and only store the records that need to be retained in their physical format, destruction of boxes, use of the supplier’s document management system and box tracking system)

 

This approach will not be suitable or affordable given the staff resource and financial constraints that NCC is currently facing. There is no one size fits all approach to digitisation, and so this ‘big bang’ approach would not be suitable across the varying teams within the organisation.

 

iv.  Option 3 – Hybrid approach (i.e. a scan on demand service to reduce deliveries and stored paperwork, supplier’s document management system and box tracking system, storage of boxes where required and when not cost effective to scan)

 

This would be the desired option for this new tender and from conversations with suppliers, would be the best approach to digitising records. Scans can have a level of service dictated to the supplier which could ensure documents can be delivered electronically to colleagues within 24 hours, and then after a set time, the physical paperwork can then be destroyed - reducing physical storage costs. With this reduction of costs over time, it will release funds in the budget to tackle bulk scanning projects, such as citizen records

 

v.  Options 2 and 3 will require input from across the organisation, with the assistance of staff within Information Compliance. There will need to be extensive thought and planning within each team to create specified file definitions and categorisations so that electronic scanned files can be indexed and utilised effectively by those staff members who need them to undertake their day-to-day work.

 

 vi.  It is envisaged that changes to the provision will enable internal variations to be made on how the system is managed. At the present time, the budget is centralised, maintained by the Information Compliance team. This means that there is no incentive for services to maintain and manage their physical records. By moving towards a more service-based approach, service areas will be responsible for paying to store their own records, paying for box deliveries and destructions. This will help to prevent unnecessary spend on retaining boxes past their retention date and reducing or removing deliveries to sites when the scan on demand service will suffice, allowing for service areas to be involved in the management of their own records with guidance on the relevant statutory requirements from Information Compliance when required.

 

 vii.  Options will also require consultation with the services that request delivery of boxes and FM Services regarding the impact of changes to the type of offsite storage service that is delivered.