Acquisition and Implementation of a Billing and Customer Management System for a Gas Supply Company

Concepts

• information technology
• contact management
• financial systems
• customer relation management
• database management system
• customer management system
• electronic data management (EDM)
• a gas supply company
• a billing and customer management system
• acquisition

Location

Antrim

Description

Acquisition and Implementation of a Billing and Customer Management System for a Gas Supply Company

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
• 48100000 - Industry specific software package
• 48217000 - Transaction-processing software package
• 48333000 - Contact management software package
• 48442000 - Financial systems software package
• 48445000 - Customer Relation Management software package
• 48612000 - Database-management system
• 48613000 - Electronic data management (EDM)

Indicators

• Contract modified due to additional needs.

Legal Justification

Under the contract, Lognet licenses, and provides support and other services for, a customised Maxbill billing and customer management system (system) to FES. FES relies on the system to provide a platform for billing all types of customers across all varieties of sectors of domestic and commercial properties. The system provides a pricing platform to calculate a customer bill which in turn enables the business to report for month end financial and regulatory purposes. The system is also the main point of information for the customer services team to answer queries and faults relating to a customer account. Any changes to a customer's gas meter are also updated through the system and come from the network operator (with each network operator having its own billing structure that has to be adhered to within each network area). The system is a crucial part of FES' business and is the main source for reporting across all areas of the business. The system has been heavily customised by Lognet to meet FES' specific (and very complex) business requirements. The system has also been heavily customised by Lognet to meet Northern Ireland regulatory and market structure requirements; in particular the regulatory and licence requirements that apply specifically to FES. The Northern Ireland gas market regulations are very different to the rest of the UK (and indeed the Republic of Ireland); the market is very customer focused, and billing systems integrate annual reporting requirements and price controls to ensure fair pricing for customers and regulatory compliance, therefore a level of flexibility is needed, which in turn requires a fairly complex system. When a new licence or regulation is implemented at industry level, due to the complexity of the system, FES is reliant upon Lognet to further develop, customise and then support the system to adapt to the new requirements. In addition to the complexity of the FES billing worksteams and NI specific market and regulatory customisation, the system has also been integrated with multiple third party software providers' products, which is a bespoke arrangement to FES. This includes integration with meter reading, PayPoint transactions, information that comes from the network operator and servicing of direct debit payments. The system is a bespoke and proprietary utility system that has not been licensed by Lognet to any third party for resale/support. FES does not hold sufficient licence rights to undertake, nor would it be capable of undertaking, the requisite development and support services necessary to meet its complex requirements. Lognet is therefore the only party that can renew the licences and provide the support required by FES for the system for the period specified above. FES does not believe that there is any alternative "off the shelf" solution that would be readily available to meet its, or the NI regulatory/market, requirements. It is also FES' belief that any potential alternative new solution that may be available would require heavy customisation to meet these requirements. Any potential alternative solution would involve FES acquiring, and paying another supplier to develop and customise, a new system (to provide the same functionality as the current system already offers, which would involve substantial cost duplication and significant inconvenience for FES), which would take a minimum 2-3 years to customise and implement. Even if it transpired that FES' belief was incorrect and an off the shelf system was in fact available, a software development and implementation project of this scale would require a minimum of 1.5 years from sourcing to go-live. FES therefore does not believe that there are any other feasible alternative short-term solutions to extending the existing licensing and support of the system for the period provided for in Amendment 2, particularly due to the volume of customers FES holds, the complexity of billing transactions and workflows, regulatory and market requirements and the fact that only Lognet can renew the licences and provide the support required for the system during the extension period. FES therefore considers there are significant economic and technical reasons why a change in contractor cannot be made in the circumstances.