PCD 1337 Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) Ballistic Body Armour Upgrade

PCD 1337    Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) Ballistic Body Armour Upgrade

This decision requests approval for the purchase of 1893 units of Crye Precision Ballistic Body Armour to replace all current AFOs body armour (excluding CTSFOs).   

The current ballistic body armour is based on historic technology and certified to the Home Office 2007 standard which will be withdrawn in May 2022, impacting our ability to purchase protection. A commercial process to identify a replacement has been completed with Crye Precision being the recommendation.  

The Crye Precision Ballistic Body Armour presents a number of improvements including meeting the 2017 Home Office standard, as a replacement to the current standard, which will soon be discontinued and improved comfort thereby reducing muscular-skeletal injures.  

The Crye Precision was the only armour tested that fully complied with the user and operational requirements as well as Human Factors testing. 

The new user requirements support improvements recommended by the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) Op Leven review. Lighter-weight Ballistic Body Armour (BBA) is seen as a key enabler to increase female AFO representation across the armed commands. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the bulk replacement of all AFO Ballistic Body Armour with the Crye Precision System at a total cost of £6,100,000 (funded partly through use of £1,700,000 MPS reserves with the remainder to be funded through the relevant funding bodies detailed below). 

2. Approve procurement of the new AFO Ballistic Body Armour via the NUMs contract with DHL, requiring approval of an £8,800,000 uplift to the NUMs contract for the remainder of the contract. 

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. The current ballistic body armour is based on historic technology and certified to the Home Office 2007 standards which will be withdrawn in April 2023, impacting the Met’s ability to purchase protection. A commercial process to identify a replacement is complete with Crye Precision being the recommendation.  

2. The Crye Precision Ballistic Body Armour presents a number of improvements including meeting the 2017 Home Office Standard as a replacement to the current standard, which will soon be discontinued, and improved comfort thereby reducing muscular-skeletal injures.  

3. The Crye Precision was the only armour tested that fully complied with the user and operational requirements as well as Human Factors testing. 

4. The new user requirements support improvements recommended by the PaDP Op Leven review. Lighter-weight Ballistic Body Armour (BBA) is seen as a key enabler to increase female AFO representation across the armed commands. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. The total cost is £8.8m across four years, with a two year replacement program followed by adoption into BAU.  

2. The unit cost for the product is ~ £2.8k, depending on variant, an increase of 136% per unit from the current product. 

3. The current issued armour does not incorporate the increased user requirement set out for this project and is built to the 2007 Home Office Standard. 

4. An alternative supply of body armour made to the old standard is available as a contingency. The contingency supply is vulnerable to supply chain issues and would require underwriting by MPS. If the purchase of 1893 units is not considered an approval to move forward for BAU requirements would need to be considered. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. The total cost is £8.8m across four years, with an initial two year replacement program, followed by adoption into BAU. This is calculated for the first two years to include the roll-out for existing officers (£6.1m) plus £1.4m for new recruits to AFO roles. This will be followed by a further £1.4m for years 3 and 4 for new recruits. This takes into account the officers joining armed commands from April 2023 who will require the new body armour and this is projected to cost £0.7m per annum. 

2. If approved, for Met Operations (MO) commands, the purchase and roll-out over two years will cost circa. £1.7m which will be funded from MPS reserves. 

3. For Specialist Operations (SO) armed commands, budget will be sought from the relevant funder.  

4. Protective Security (PSG) and Counter Terrorism (CT) funding will require approval through CTPHQ Investment Committee in September.  

5. Funding for PaDP and Aviation must be agreed as part of the annual contract budget negotiations with relevant stakeholders. Should this funding not materialise, given the significant benefits then reserves could be used to support a full roll out.   

6. Ongoing costs will be funded from existing devolved budgets for MO and from the various funders for the SO armed commands. 

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 (incl. VAT) or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms the value of the proposed contract exceeds this threshold.   

2. The Business Justification Papaer confirms the MOPAC’s route to market is through its existing NUMS contract with DHL.  The report also confirms the sourcing exercise carried out by DHL is compliant with both the NUMS contract and the Regulations. 

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 7.23 of the Scheme provides that the Director of Commercial Services has consent for the approval of the award of all contracts, with the exception of those called in through the agreed call in procedure.  Paragraph 4.14 of the Scheme provides the DMPC reserves the right to call in any MPS proposal to award a contract for £500,000 or above. The request is for approval to amend the existing NUMs contact by 8.62%. 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. The tender for ballistic body armour has been run by DHL in accordance with the contract terms and conditions. This tender was carried out in an open and transparent manner but not under the PCR 2015. The original tender was run with the express purpose of award to a single provider.  

2. The Crye Precision was the only armour tested that fully complied with the user and operational requirements as well as Human Factors testing. 

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 programme / project meets its compliance requirements. 

4. The project does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered. 

7. Equality Comments  

1. This proposal supports recent learning identified via the Op Leven review into PaDP culture and standards; the implementation of a lighter body armour solution is an accepted early recommendation from this work by Management Board and is seen as a key enabler to increase female AFO representation across the armed commands.  

2. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) has been completed as part of this project by the Strategy Diversity & Inclusion Team. 

8. Background/supporting papers 

9. Report