PCD 1735 Resale of Surplus Devices

This paper seeks approval to proceed, pursuant to Section 15 of the Police Reform and  Social Responsibility Act 2011 Provision of Goods, with a contract to resell 3,125 Panasonic FZG2 tablets and 500 Panasonic keyboards to achieve approximately £1m in income.   

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, via the Investment Advisory and Monitoring meeting (IAM), is asked to: 

1. Approve the initiation of procurement action, pursuant to Section 15 of the Police Reform and  Social Responsibility Act 2011 Provision of Goods, for a contract to resell 3125 FZG2 tablets  and 500 Panasonic keyboards, and delegate approval to award to the Director of Commercial  Services.   

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

1. Introduction and background 

1. The Panasonic Tablet estate was implemented in 2019 as a refresh of the previous Dell Tablet devices and  provided a much needed improvement in useability, utility and resilience to the ruggedness of frontline policing roles.  Feedback from a pilot in summer 2023 with 2 BCU’s demonstrated that Frontline Officers overwhelmingly preferred laptops to tablets and in November 2023 the  decision to replace the ageing Tablet estate with 12,000 Laptops was agreed.  

2. Whilst end-of-life devices are typically digitally sanitised and passed on to partners such as The Good  Things Foundation to aid in Digital Inclusion, the need to keep stock in hand for replacements, refresh  and damages meant some Panasonic tablets retained potential for re-use.   

3. With the current financial  situation, resale of these devices has been investigated and found to offer potential to recover the  residual value within the assets.  It has been confirmed that there are no other deployment options within the organisation for these devices.  

4. This proposal contributes to MPS target to achieve cost savings in this financial year by delivering  a one-off cashable benefit of approximately £1m. 

2. Issues for consideration 

1. There are no significant issues for consideration. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. In order to assure that the MPS is receiving the highest value return on these surplus units, MPS Commercial Services approached 3 separate vendors for a response. KOcycle provided the highest value return and a guaranteed minimum unit price of £400 per brand new item. In the event that KOcycle secure a higher sale cost for the MPS, then the additional benefit above the minimum cost will be split 80/20 in favour of the MPS. 

2. The resale is projected to bring in approximately £1m in rebate to the MPS. 

4. Legal Comments 

1. MOPAC is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the Regulations). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £214,904 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms the value of the proposed contract exceeds this threshold. This report confirms that MOPAC’s route to market is compliant with the Regulations. 

2. 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 (paragraph 4.8); and 

• All requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above, or where there is a particular public interest (paragraph 4.13). 

3. Paragraph 7.23 of the Scheme 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. 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. 

4. Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 are not applicable for this procurement.  

5. Commercial Issues  

1. The contract will involve the supplier collecting the tablets & keyboards from storage and optimising when reselling, to ensure maximum rebate for both parties. 

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 contract change meets its compliance requirements. 

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

7. Equality Comments   

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

8. Background/supporting papers 

None. 

Part 2 - This section refers to the details of the Part 2 business case which is NOT SUITABLE for MOPAC Publication.   

The Government Security Classification marking for Part 2 is: 

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE [COMMERCIAL]  

Part 2 of  Resale of Surplus Devices 

 BJP is exempt from publication for the following reasons:  

Exempt under Article 2(2)(a) of the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information)  

• Order 2011 (Data Protection Section 43 - Trade Secrets and Prejudice to Commercial Interests).  

The paper will cease to be exempt upon completion of the contract. This is because the information is commercially sensitive and could compromise future procurement activity.