Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for an Electoral Management System (EMS)

Descriptions

The Electoral Services team are currently using an on-premises system that has been in place for fourteen years. The system has been used to maintain electoral registration and election management for six parliamentary constituencies with a total electorate of 396,000. Electoral Services is looking for a system that will allow them to effectively manage all aspects of electoral administration to ensure that the integrity of the process is always met and deliver an efficient year-round service to electors, with functionality to easily communicate with them. In addition to meeting the requirements of running elections, it should enable effective recruitment of election staff as well as providing them with a self-service portal. Our Customer Services team also provide support to the Electoral Services team, so the ability for them to view areas of the system, with limited access to create/edit elector details. This should be intuitive and easy to use. The ideal system will meet current and new changes to legislation, enable the team in successfully and resourcefully managing elections and registration, support canvassing processes. The Council is moving away from on-prem solutions and will be gradually reducing its on-prem server provision. This contract will need to be delivered via the cloud that reduces the security risks of an on-premises system. Scope The Council requires a fully compliant Electoral Management System (EMS) that meets current legislative requirements and will quickly and easily meet any legislative changes as they occur in the future. The software needs to be able to fully support: • the management of the elections process and electoral registration • canvassing processes and mobile working for canvassers • management of elections staffing with a portal to enable self-service and the ability to effectively manage payments and recruitment. • management of election accounts with efficient transaction processes, for the recording of payments for goods and services. • appropriate administrative control to enable the team to manage staffing changes including passwords. • Customer Services to have a view of the EMS to enable them to support general enquires - the viewable information controlled by Electoral Services • any Council IT security requirements • compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) • reporting, immediate and scheduled - can include built-in templates but should provide the option to change or configure customisable reports and allow simple outputting of screens to Word/Excel • accessibility - access must be secure, meet best practice guidelines and facilitate agile working practices.