Orange enables Derby City Council to save £200k per year Tweet

Orange announced that it has been selected as the sole mobile communications supplier by Derby City Council, enabling the Council to make savings of an estimated £200,000 per year.

The deal will see Orange primarily supply the council with 1,500 voice connections and Orange Wirefree Extension, which allows reduced-rate calls between the Council’s landline and mobile phones through a virtual private network. This will ensure that the Council can keep its employees in touch with one another without worrying about costs.

Orange will also provide the Council with dongles and BlackBerry® devices for its employees who need to stay connected when out of the office, plus telemetry SIMs that will manage its road signage and car parking meters. In addition, Orange has provided 500 3G dongles under the Computers for Pupils and HATUG (Home Access Targeted User Group) schemes, which allow underprivileged children or those who are not in the school system to have access to computer equipment for their studies. This is run via a Managed VPN, which supplies a dedicated, secure and scalable connection to the Council’s network.

Robert Ainger, Director of Corporate, Orange UK said: “We are delighted that the Council has selected Orange for all of its mobile communications needs. Over the last five years, we have built a positive relationship with Derby City Council and we look forward to continuing working closely with the team there to help make continued efficiencies and improve their delivery of services.”

The Council appointed Orange following a reverse eAuction in which the other main mobile operators were involved. There were two main elements to the eAuction; an invitation to tender and closed bids, where operators were asked to provide a quote for all of the services the Council required.

Councillor Mike Carr, Derby City Council said: “Derby City Council is one of the first councils to use an online reverse auction as a method of procurement. We selected Orange as it was the only operator involved in the process that demonstrated that it could deliver against all of our requirements and allow us to make significant savings. Thanks to these savings, we will be able to re-invest and deliver more services to our local community.”

The contract with Derby City Council is set at a fixed price for 24 months and started on 1 February 2010.

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