PCD 1388 Intranet Replacement Final Business Case

PCD 1388 Intranet Replacement Final Business Case

This decision seeks approval for replacing the current MPS Intranet with a modern, fit-for-purpose version using the MS SharePoint platform, at a capital cost of £1.6m and project revenue cost of £259k. 

A new Intranet solution was originally approved in March 2022.  However, a re-tender became necessary when the MPS discovered the preferred supplier had a subsidiary in Belarus and so was non-compliant with Government sanctions.  

For the re-procurement, the MPS has selected a UK supplier and has conducted exhaustive checks to ensure that there is no risk of breaking Government procurement rules and no risk to the reputation of the MPS and MOPAC. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve capital funding of £1,626,000 (£436,000 in 2022/23 and £1,190,000 2023/24) fully funded from the Digital Policing (DP) MOPAC approved capital plan and revenue funding of £259,000 in 2023/24 to replace the MPS intranet with MS SharePoint platform fully funded from the MOPAC approved (DP) budget 

2. Approve the procurement strategy for implementation and support of the new Intranet through the Crown Commercial Services Framework Agreement which is G-Cloud 12.   

3. Approve delegation of contract award to the MPS. 

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background  

1. This project intends to replace the MPS Intranet with a modern fit-for-purpose version. In doing so, the MPS will have an effective collaboration, information and engagement tool for its staff. Officers and staff will be able to work together, engage with leadership, and continue to develop the workplace improvement and welfare initiatives that are already underway (e.g. Network of Women) that are part of Met Direction.  

2. The new Intranet is the critical tool for providing front line officers with easy access to policies and best practice, supporting improved professionalism and standards. This is key to delivering the Commissioner’s vision of More Trust, Less Crime, High Standards. 

3. This approach is in line with national policing guidance as issued by the Police Digital Service 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. This project benefits the other major change programmes that are scheduled to go live in the next 18 months, notably the Command & Control and Connect projects that will use the same IT platform to create their policy, guidance and best practice materials. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. Capital is from the approved capital plan for 2022/23 and 2023/24 and no further funding is sought from MOPAC. 

2. The project delivers cashable revenue benefits of £220k per year through reduced maintenance costs as the MPS is leveraging more value from its contract with Microsoft and terminating the contract with the current suppliers. These savings begin once the current solution is decommissioned in March 2024. 

4. Legal Comments  

1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) is a contracting authority  as  defined  in  the  Public  Contracts  Regulations  2015  (“the  Regulations”).  All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £189,330 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. 

2. The report identifies a Crown Commercial Services framework agreement as the preferred route to market for the proposed contract award.  This will represent a compliant route where the ordering processes laid out in the framework agreement are followed. 

3. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above”. 

4. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve the procurement strategy for all requests to go out to tender for contracts valued at £500,000 or above. 

5. Paragraph  7.23 of  the  MOPAC  Scheme  of  Delegation  and  Consent  provides that the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent for the approval of the award of all contracts, with the exception of those called in through the agreed call in procedure.   

5. Commercial Issues  

1. Following a down-selection and evaluation process, Content & Cloud Ltd was selected as the preferred bidder. This process has enabled the MPS to drive competition and achieve a value for money proposal to build a new Intranet and support the business change to transition from the old solution. 

2. The exercise was re-run during September and October 2022 after the initial preferred supplier was found to have a subsidiary in Belarus. The MPS decided not to proceed with that supplier as per the Cabinet Office directive on contracts with companies with links to Russia and Belarus. The new preferred supplier is UK-based and has been exhaustively checked by MPS Commercial Services using the industry-standard Dunn & Bradstreet company database. There is no risk of breaching procurement rules and no reputation risk to the MPS and MOPAC. 

3. The successful bid is £542,748.50 less than the aborted bid from the previous supplier. This has been possible because over the summer whilst the MPS investigated contractual and cyber mitigations against the risk of Belarussian involvement and then re-tendered, the project team took the opportunity to reduce the scope and complexity of the requirement. The aspects of the project considered most risky by bidders were moved in-house. Many Epiforms and workflows have been converted to modern O365 equivalents, removing the need for the new supplier to undertake that work. 

4. This will be a two year contract with an option to extend for two periods of 12 months each.  

5. Content and Cloud Ltd are based in London and with turnover of £13m and less than 250 staff, are classed as a small medium enterprise (SME). This contributes to the Mayor’s ambitions and the Anchor Institution Charter to provide opportunities for London’s communities as part of the Covid Recovery Plan. 

6. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a 'State' body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals. 

2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects. 

3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements. 

4. A DPIA has been completed for this project. The programme/project will ensure a privacy by design approach, which will allow the MPS to find and fix problems at the early stages of any project, ensuring compliance with GDPR. DPIAs support the accountability principle, as they will ensure the MPS complies with the requirements of GDPR and they demonstrate that appropriate measures have been taken to ensure compliance. 

7. Equality Comments  

1. The new Intranet will benefit from Microsoft’s support for W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Conformance Statement for all of their products. In summary, the solution provides:  

• Captioning – to aid hearing-impaired users. Captioning is supported in over 60 languages. 

• Mobility – webpages adapt to mobile devices to provide optimum scale and legibility. Users will be able to easily read content on the new MPS mobile phones 

• Mental wellbeing – MS apps such as Cortana, Viva, and notification settings enable users to filter out excessive notifications that can add to stress 

8. Background/supporting papers 

1. Report