Issue details

To agree the procurement to allow the continued use of the SIMS software in Kent maintained schools for a period of up to seven years.

Following a joint EU compliant procurement with East Sussex, Surrey and Brighton and Hove Councils, the ICT Division would like to procure the SIMS MIS software for Kent maintained schools and establishments to allow the continued use of the software for school MIS purposes including the statutory returns required by the Department for Education.

The SIMS MIS system has been used in schools for many years and has remained the schools preferred MIS solution despite other alternatives being available on the market.

Various Kent support units e.g. Kent EiS, Kent Schools Personnel Service, Kent Schools Finance, currently offer services to schools and academies based around the use of the SIMS MIS software and this forms part of the overall business plan for these various units and their Directorate.

Kent, on behalf of its maintained schools and establishments, currently pays Capita Children’s Services Limited approximately £500,000 per year (or approximately £4.00 per pupil) for the use of the SIMS MIS software under the Kent LA SIMS License.

The amount paid under this procurement arrangement does not include academies which are not permitted by the software vendor to acquire the SIMS MIS software through the Kent LA SIMS Licence and as such have to make their own licensing arrangements.

The expenditure incurred is de-delegated from the schools delegated funding and is subject to the agreement of the Schools Funding Forum each year. The number of schools covered by the licence is reviewed annually to ensure Kent is not paying for schools that have converted to academy status and if a school converts to an academy part way through a financial year a credit is claimed from the software vendor for the period from the academy’s conversion date to the end of the financial year.

Kent, on behalf of its maintained schools and establishments, currently pay Capita Children’s Services Limited approximately £500,000 per year (or approximately £4.00 per pupil) for the use of the SIMS MIS software under the Kent LA SIMS License.

The amount paid under this procurement arrangement does not include academies which are not permitted by the software vendor to acquire the SIMS MIS software through the Kent LA SIMS Licence and as such have to make their own licensing arrangements.

The expenditure incurred is de-delegated from the schools delegated funding and is subject to the agreement of the Schools Funding Forum each year.

The number of schools covered by the license is reviewed annually to ensure that Kent is not paying for schools that have converted to academy status and if a school converts to an academy part way through a financial year a credit is claimed from the software vendor for the period from the academy’s conversion date to the end of the financial year.

By doing this procurement for all Kent maintained schools and establishments under the Kent LA SIMS Licence arrangements, the cost for the continued use of the SIMS MIS software for these schools is considerably lower when compared to what an individual school would be required to pay for the same software as a single school (approximately £10.00 per pupil).

This procurement will allow schools the continued use of the software for a period of up to seven years and will remove any risk to the authority of being challenged over the continued use of the software by Kent maintained schools and establishments without a suitable procurement having been put in place.

There are no equality implications arising from this decision.

Various Kent support units currently offer services to schools and academies based around the use of the SIMS software in schools and this forms part of the overall business plan for these various units and their Directorate.