Territorial Support Group (TSG) Firearm Uplift

This paper requests the approval of the business case and to initiate the procurement for the second wave Territorial Support Group (TSG) Firearms Uplift. TSG officers will not be routinely armed and will be trained to enable more deployment of firearm resources. This is one strand of the overall firearms uplift and is a contingency option.

The DMPC is asked to

1. Approve the business case and initiate procurement for the second wave Territorial Support Group (TSG) Firearms Uplift and the associated funding of £11.06m from the Armed Uplift budget.
2. Approve the Single Tender Action and subsequent contract award of four contracts, which will not exceed a total cost of £1,645,475.

Introduction and background

The MPS is looking to develop a second wave capability to meet the threat of a Marauding Terrorism Firearms Attack (MTFA), in the wake of the attacks in Paris in November 2015.

Issues for consideration

This proposal will allow the MPS to deploy more firearms resources to an MTFA than are currently available. The MPS will also be able to work more closely with other blue light services to assist in the treatment of casualties and the evacuation of people from areas secured by Armed Response Vehicles (ARV) and Counter Terrorist Senior Firearms Officers (CTSFO).

The second wave TSG officers will continue to maintain their current deployments and response, allowing non CT related activity in support of MPS crime reduction and crime prevention to continue. This proposal does not lead to the routine arming of the TSG and provides a contingency option to support ARVs and CTSFOs.

Due to the confidential nature of the proposal the detail is held in Part 2.

Financial Comments

The proposed cost of £11.06m, which includes £2.238m capital spend will be funded from the Firearms Uplift budget. The funding of the capital will be from the Firearms Uplift budget and will be paid for by a revenue contribution to capital.

Note that the uplift programme will require an annual revenue budget for training and equipment of £1.065m from 2018/19. This creates a budget pressure as it is currently unfunded within the revenue budget.

Legal Comments

The recommendation can be lawfully approved in accordance with MOPAC Contract Regulations and EU/UK Procurement law.

In accordance with the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation approval is required by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime for all MPS requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above, and to approve contract exemptions (such as direct awards).

Equality Comments

There are no direct equality issues arising from this proposal.