Approval is sought to renew the annual maintenance for Herefordshire Council’s Capita Schools Information System (SIMS) licences. The SIMS licences are held in perpetuity by the council and purchasing the annual maintenance allows the schools to continue to meet DfE statutory regulations in respect of managing their pupil data.
The Council holds perpetual rights to SIMS licences and renewing the support ensures that the system is adequately updated, maintained and ensures availability of any system upgrades. Support and maintenance for this product can only be obtained directly through Capita Business Services Ltd, the proprietor of the software.
Following consultation with Schools and a formal Request for Information from alternative software providers in 2018 it has been established that the system continues to meet the requirements of both the schools and Local Authority. Schools have requested that the annual maintenance is maintained thereby retaining SIMS as the software of choice for the management information system in local authority controlled schools. Market research shows that the product currently holds a market share of 82%, due to the reliability of the product and ability to meet with the ever-changing needs of schools’ requirements and alignment with legislation.
In addition SIMS software enables the Council to upload information relating to pupils and contacts from the schools SIMS system into the Council database enabling the accurate maintenance of information at both school and Council level.
A contract was awarded to Capita in 2012 for a period of 5 years, since then the contract has been renewed twice on a single year basis and the current arrangement expires in March 2020 and, thereafter reverting to the standard local authorities pricing at the rates shown below. I would like to seek an extension to the current arrangement and extend the contract on a 3 + 2 basis.