Renewing a contract.

Question

We have a contract coming to an end - our website hosting and maintenance. The price is fair, they give us an excellent service and are always very helpful.  Do we have to go through the obtaining of 3 quotes if possible or can we just choose to contain with the current provider.

Our financial regulations go into detail about setting up a contract, quotes etc, but do not specifically mention 'renewing' a current contract.

Any advise or legislation quotes gratefully received.

Answer 1

The phrase "If it ain't broke - don't fix it" comes to mind.

In our council, all we do is review various contracts on a regular basis, and as long as the committee is satisfied that it is satisfactory value for money then we don't change it.
Beware too that any new provider may not give you the same level of service - cheaper isn't always better.
We as a council preferred to deal with local people if we could, but when the new chairman and his cronies took over, it was decided to look for a 'better' service than could be provided by a small local 'one man band' (actually it was a two man partnership but lets not confuse the council with facts). What we have ended up with, was a vastly expensive annual cost where if councillors have a tech problem they have to ring the helpline and not bother the clerk. Generally I find the service is worse than the local business. But I was out voted.
Conclusion, more expensive is not better either.

Caroline

Comments

Thank you for the reply.  I couldn't agree more with the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.  We have had the same website company for a couple of years now and as I said, great service at a reasonable price. Now a newish councillor is demanding that we have a look at other companies as they are 'too expensive'.  He has suggested one supplier, strangely enough it would appear that one of his friends works there.

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Ah - newish councillors - don't you just love them.

Depending on your relationship with the Clerk, I would be tempted to have a quiet word for their advice.

If the newish councillor really wants the matter discussed you must have it put on the appropriate agenda. Then you need to do your homework and prepare a solid case for remaining with the current provider. Get the clerk on side!

Questions that come to mind are: Who owns the domain name? The provider or the council? Is it a .gov site and does the new provider cater for such sites - renewals etc). How is the transfer to be managed - who is going to populate the new website with all your current content - will the new provider do that? Have you got an in-house backup of your current website and all its contents. (Once the old contract is terminated you will not have access to any backups on the providers site). How much will it cost to train the clerk to use the new website. (I'm thinking in terms of wasted hours learning a new system just for a small reduction in annual price).  Not all content management systems are the same - some are a pita.

Then you should get three quotes for the website hosting - that will give some leverage perhaps and is good practise.
The clerk will just love to chase those up for the council. /s

I hope the newish councillor declares an interest at any discussion!

HTH
Caroline

PS I have been told that the company that handles .gov sites is changing and has already caused us a problem in renewing recently.