PCD 1289 Evidential Breathalyser Machines support and servicing

PCD 1289 Evidential Breathalyser Machines support and servicing 

This decision concerns a Single Tender Action for the maintenance and servicing of the 40 Evidential Breath Machines (EBMs) that are currently situated across the MPS estate. The Business Justification requests continuing these arrangements through a new contract for a 2 year agreement with the opportunity to extend for a further year (a maximum of 3 years) at a contract value of £340k (£113k pa) with Intoximeters UK Ltd. 

The MPS has a statutory requirement to enforce drink drive legislation and the EBM process provides the evidential information required to make a charging decision.  

This contract is critical for ensuring that the breathalyser machines produce sufficient evidence for front line policing decisions, charging those suspected of being involved in a collision, those suspected of committing a moving traffic offence and those drivers suspected of having consumed alcohol or being under the influence of alcohol. 

The existing maintenance contracts held by Intoximeter UK will expire in September 2022. This proposed contract will provide continuity for those services. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the award of a contract via Single Tender Action for the support and maintenance of Evidential Breath Machines (EBM) to ‘Intoximeters UK Ltd’ for total estimated value of £340,000 for 3 years (£113,000 pa) which will be funded from Met Detention supplies and services revenue budget. The proposed contract term is a two year term with a one year extension option. 

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. The MPS standardised on an EBM instrument manufactured by ‘Intoximeters UK Ltd’ in 1999 and purchased a large stock to be sited in most custody suites across the MPS estate and some training sites. As custody suites have closed over time, EBM’s have been decommissioned, meaning the MPS now has 40 operational instruments.  

2. Continued service and support is required to keep all this breathalyser equipment in working order and to ensure suitable evidence and audit details can be obtained. Thus, the need to provide a service contract to maintain and repair Intoximeter’s EBMs, provide gas cylinders across the MPS estate to enable local calibration, and to provide training provision on a continuous basis to the MPS is essential. 

3. The MPS has a statutory requirement to enforce drink drive legislation. After arrest for a drink driving related offence the motorist must be taken to a police station where an evidential breath test can be performed, using an Evidential Breath Machine (EBM). It is the result of the EBM test that determines whether or not the motorist has exceeded the specified alcohol limit in breath. This determines if the motorist is charged or not.  

4. Any instrument used by policing for breathalysing, has to be Home Office Type approved and there is only one approved supplier for an evidential level machine at custody. Evidential and non-evidential breath testing is managed by Defence Science Technology Lab (DSTL) to an accredited level. This creates a high quality evidential standard but is also a barrier to entry into this marketplace and therefore no new entrants have been seen for many years. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. The  Home  Office  originally assessed  the  instrumentation  used  by  policing in England  and Wales 10-20  years ago. The suitability  for  use  with  the general public  would  have  been  part  of  the  assessment  criteria  used  to  provide the necessary  approval. Without Home Office approval, no  instrumentation  to support road traffic alcohol legislation can be used by policing in England and Wales. There has been no change to  the way  in  which  this  instrumentation is used  to  breathalyse  members  of  the  public  since  the  original  Home  Office assessment, nor since the last service contract was procured in 2013.  

2. Met Detention has consulted with its Health and Safety lead and there are no concerns. The manufacturing guidelines are followed and there is a copy with every machine. There is a cleaning requirement for infection prevention and an inbuilt cleaning ‘purge’ process protecting each user. 

3. Given the age of the historic EBM technology, it is accepted that alternative provision will need to be purchased within the next few years to provide modern breathalyser equipment for front line policing. It is anticipated that once budget is identified and the market sufficiently develops new (Home Office approved) devices there will be scope to upgrade via a competitive tender process. 

4. At this time there are no viable alternatives that meet the current requirement for DSTL accreditation. It is the MPS’ intention to monitor the marketplace for any development of new accredited evidential breath test machines during the life of this new contract. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. Met Detention will fund Intoximeter’s maintenance cost of £113k pa from their existing supplies and services budgets. 

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 £213,477 or above must be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms the value of the two proposed contracts each exceed this threshold.  Accordingly, the Regulations are engaged.  

2. Regulation 32 provides for limited grounds where MOPAC may negotiate a contract with a sole supplier without advertising the opportunity in the Official Journal of the European Union. Specifically, 32(2)(b) provides it is permitted where the goods and/or services can only be provided by that supplier due to competition being absent for technical reasons, where no reasonable alternative exists and the absence of such competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the competition by the MOPAC. 

3. This report confirms that the support and maintenance of the devices can only be provided by the specific economic operators referred to and that no reasonable alternative products exist. On the basis that this is correct, the proposed awards will be compliant within Regulation 32. 

4. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has delegated authority to approve all contract exemptions valued at £100,000 or above.  

5. Commercial Issues  

1. The current three year maintenance contract will expire in September 2022. There are no further foreseen extensions permitted within this agreement.  

2. The negotiated procedure without advertising (single tender action) will be used for this procurement in accordance with public contract regulation 32 2b (ii) as the support and maintenance of the devices can only be provided by a specific economic operator and therefore competition is absent due to technical reasons. 

3. This is the only commercial viable option given the incumbents are the only providers that have the necessary scope of accreditation by DSTL to service repair & calibrate evidential breath testing instruments.  

4. This commercial strategy allows continued use of existing devices. Furthermore this strategy allows sufficient time for the market to evolve to a competitive level while the MPS identify adequate budget for an upgrade of its equipment. 

5. The table below summarises the costs of the Intoximeter contract: 

6. The new contract contributes to delivering the London Anchor Institutions’ Charter  by; 

1. Accelerating delivery of a cleaner, greener London through the environmental initiatives mentioned at the ‘Environment Implications’ section of this report.  

6. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. The contract does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered. The screening questions have been completed and a DPIA is not required because there will not be any processing under the contract. 

7. Equality Comments  

1. As this document is seeking funding for an existing function, there are considered to be no negative equality or diversity implications arising from this process negating the requirement to present any mitigation. Any approved suppliers will be evaluated for acceptable equality and diversity statements, as well as their ability to meet the MPS requirements under the Equality Act 2010 as suppliers to MOPAC. Any evaluation exercise will consider their ability to act as a responsible employer and meet employment obligations deemed commensurate with wider GLA objectives. 

2. In addition, it should be noted that the MPS supports the Mayor’s Responsible Procurement Policy including: Enhancing Social Value, Encouraging Inclusion, Diversity and Equality, Embedding fair employment practices, Enabling skills, training and employment opportunities, promoting ethical sourcing practices and improving environmental sustainability. 

8. Background/supporting papers