CP2219-22 Finance System Procurement - Critical Friend

Devon County Council (DCC) is replacing its financial system, together with some ancillary systems. We are looking to commence the procurement of a solution in July 2022, full implementation and decommissioning of the existing system by December 2025. The current system is over 25 years old. DCC is keen to use this opportunity to alter its working practices to increase efficiency, visibility, access and integration within the authority and for wider stakeholders. We want to ensure that we source a finance system that is going to inform DCC of best practice and provide efficient and effective ways of working. The solution will be a driver of change for us, rather than be a system adapted to suit our current ways of working. We are keen that the organisation we work with is a market leader and works to deliver technology that will develop with us, ensuring continuous improvement and fit with other Council systems. Alongside the new system, as part of a gateway review process, we are looking to bring in external expertise to the planning and delivery of the project. it is proposed that the project bring in a third party, at critical points, to provide external scrutiny and an impartial view of risks and progress. We would like to procure a single organisation with strong knowledge of recent financial system implementations at County Council level to provide this support to us. This advice would need to be system agnostic, and the provider should not have an interest in either bidding for the system implementation, the system chosen for procurement, or in the implementation partner chosen alongside the system to implement it with us. The work will consist of a number of reviews for us commencing June 2022 and completing no later than December 2025.