NPoCC Development and Upgrade of Mercury

• This paper concerns the award of a contract on behalf of NPoCC (National Police Coordination Centre) for the development and support of Mercury in order that it continues to meet the requirements of UK Policing.

• Mercury was originally developed for the management of police resources and mutual aid for the London 2012 Olympic Games and funded by the Home Office. Since that time KPMG have provided a number of tactical upgrades as well as supporting the maintenance of the system. This contract has ended.

• The proposal here is to request approval from the Metropolitan Police Service to sign a new contract with Informed Solutions who will help implement these requirements, as well as providing a flexible capability to enhance Mercury into the future, subject to suitable funding streams being identified.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

• Approve the award of a 2 year contract for up to £2.2m to Informed Solutions with option to extend for two further years (1+1) for the support and development of Mercury. The total potential contract call- off value over the 4 year period is up to £2.2m, however the initial minimum guaranteed contract value is £164.25k, together with £10,188 for Metropolitan Police Service Commercial Support, to be funded from the NPoCC Budget.

• Approve that future Mercury developments can be called-off from this contract subject to NPoCC having confirmed there are sufficient funds in advance in line with their governance.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The Metropolitan Police Service hosts the NPoCC, and provides business support services including procurement under a collaboration agreement. As a consequence, MOPAC are the contracting entity for the NPoCC. However, the operation of the NPoCC is independent from the Metropolitan Police Service.

1.2. NPoCC has separate budget from the Metropolitan Police Service and are responsible to ensure appropriate funds are in place before commissioning any work.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. NPoCC works with all forces across England and Wales as well as Police Scotland, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and non-home office forces including Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and other national police units to undertake a rolling program of capacity assessments for a wide range of specialist police skills.

2.2. This information contributes to improving the way UK policing serves the public by understanding capacity to respond to national threats and in times of crisis.

2.3. The data allows for more informed decision making to improve interoperability and to understand “multi skilling” and the effect it can have on impeding the provision of mutual aid.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The maximum amount that NPoCC is committing to spend under this contract covers an initial “Discovery” phase and 100 contracted days per year for two years, and totals £164,250.

3.2. Should NPoCC choose to extend the contract by an additional two years and also call-off the maximum 700 days during each of the four years, then the total contract spend would be in the region of £2,200,000. NPoCC will need to ensure additional funding above the current budget of £400k is in place prior to authorisation of any call-off spend.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the Regulations). Public contracts for goods and services valued at £184,302 or above must be procured in accordance with MOPAC governance and the regulations. This report confirms the value of proposed contract exceeds this threshold and, accordingly, the regulations are engaged.

5. Equality Comments

5.1. Any equality and diversity issues were considered as part of the SPF framework (Metropolitan Police Solution Provider’s Framework) award that this contract is being called off from.

6. Background/supporting papers

6.1. Report