Description of risks to contract performance
The Authority has identified the following risks that may require modification of the Framework Agreement, including an increase in contract value where permitted by the Procurement Act 2023. Increases in service demand or activity volumes, changes in legislation, regulatory requirements or national policy.
Financial and budgetary pressures may influence the scope, pace, and overall delivery of the Cloud Transition Programme (CTP). This includes potential changes in funding availability, cloud consumption costs, and wider fiscal constraints. Strong financial governance, regular budget oversight, and ongoing cost optimisation measures will support effective management; however, external funding decisions and future budget allocations remain outside the direct control of the programme and may affect delivery outcomes.
Future organisational and technology requirements may evolve over the lifetime of the agreement, including the adoption of additional cloud services, capabilities, and emerging technologies that are not currently defined. Such changes may require adjustments to service scope, contractual arrangements, or implementation priorities to ensure continued alignment with strategic objectives.
The pace and scale of cloud adoption may vary throughout the contract term, resulting in fluctuations in demand for cloud services and associated resources. Variations in migration timelines and service consumption could impact capacity requirements, delivery schedules, costs, and service expectations. Effective governance, including ongoing demand forecasting, capacity planning, and robust change management, will be essential to maintaining alignment between service provision and organisational requirements.
The migration of existing services and technologies to cloud-based environments may present integration and transition challenges, particularly where legacy systems or complex technical dependencies exist. These factors have the potential to affect delivery timelines, increase implementation complexity, and impact service continuity. A structured migration approach, supported by testing, validation activities, and phased deployment, will be critical to mitigating these risks.
The discovery of previously unidentified technical, operational, security, data, or business process dependencies during the migration lifecycle may impact programme delivery. Such dependencies could introduce additional complexity, increase costs, affect timescales, create compliance considerations, or reduce the anticipated benefits of migration. Ongoing assessment, stakeholder engagement, and proactive dependency management will be essential in minimising potential impacts.