Call Routing Agreement Two (CRA2)

The purpose of this decision is to seek approval for the procurement strategy to (a) replace the Call Routing Agreement that will end on 31 March 2022 and (b) replace selected services within the Network Tower Agreement (ends on 31 March 2022) that are not within scope of the Pegasus Infrastructure contract.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve the commencement of “negotiated procedure without prior publication” as detailed in The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 – Regulation 32, for replacement Call Routing Agreement and associated services with the current provider British Telecommunication (BT).

1. Introduction and background

1.1. MPS is a Category One responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The Act places a responsibility on all Category One Responders to ensure that in the event of an emergency, they are able to continue to deliver, so far as is reasonably practicable, their critical functions.

1.2. The MetCC Voice platform and enterprise voice service helps MPS meet its obligations under this act. It is vital that this mission critical service has appropriate 24/7 service support in place and is correctly maintained, hence the need for a replacement to the current Call Routing Agreement (CRA).

1.3. In February 2021 MPS awarded the Pegasus Infrastructure Tower contract (Pegasus) to Capgemini. The whole of the CRA, the voice elements of the Network Tower Agreement (NTA), NTA secure services (sensitive) and several other legacy services were excluded form Pegasus. Along with in-flight voice projects these services will comprise the scope of Call Routing Agreement Two (CRA2).

1.4. The services comprising CRA2 are as follows:

a. Call Routing services comprising:

i. Emergency Call Routing

ii. Call Recording

iii. Administration And Training

iv. Workforce Management

v. Telecom Call Logging Service

b. Voice Services comprising:

vi. IP Telephony Voice, Voicemail, Call Recording and Logging.

vii. Contact Centre Platform

viii. Secure IP Telephony

ix. Desktop Telephony Maintenance

x. Legacy Mitel Service

xi. BT Satellite Access Service

xii. End of life Emergency Overrun Circuits Services

xiii. BT Redcare & Phone lines

c. Secure Services. These are described in the restricted section of the report.

d. In-flight Voice Projects comprising:

xiv. MetCC Voice Platform Replacement (DMPC Decision – PCD 860).

xv. Enterprise Voice (Business case in progress)

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The contract will be for a 2 year period, with an optional 1 year extension, and will have an estimated maximum value of up to £27.6m for the full contract term based on the current service costs of £6.4m a year and contract headroom subject to appropriate corporate governance approval for future project requirements. Any future cost pressure and or funding implications will be covered in the relevant fully costed Business Justifications at the time.

2.2. Cost estimates provided in this paper will be updated with a fully costed Business Juustification (Recommendation to Award) to be submitted through the appropriate governance process in late 2021 to allow a decision to be made with regards to the purchase of a combined voice services contract (CRA2).

2.3. The investment is required to replace the end of life technology in the legacy and voice services and comply with security requirements.

2.4. The MetCC Voice platform is part of the Critical National Infrastructure.

2.5. The Command and Control (C&C) project are aware of the planned start date of the new CRA2 contract (01 April 2022). Noting that there is not yet a confirmed timeline for the project, the current understanding is that there is no impact on C&C. However, further engagement between C&C and CRA2 teams will be needed to ensure alignment and assumptions are maintained as the CRA2 project is approved and baseline dates are set.

2.6. There are no immediate additional costs involved in running the “negotiated procedure without prior publication” and the business groups, commercial and DP are funding the opportunity costs of running the exercise.

2.7. The project team are engaging with Data Office to ensure that the solution is compliant with legal and policy obligations.

2.8. There will be no adverse operational impact from making these changes.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The indicative upper limit cost for procurement and implementation of CRA2 (2 year contract plus 1 year extension), including contract headroom for flexibility to support possible future projects, that will be used in the procurement process is £27.6m.

3.2. The indicative costs will be updated with a fully costed Business Justification (Recommendation to Award) to be submitted through the appropriate governance process in late 2021.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. 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 revenue and capital contracts of a total value of £500,000 or above, such determination to include decisions on the criteria and methodology to be adopted in the tendering process, any exemptions from procurement requirements, and any necessary contract extensions (paragraph 4.13).

4.2. Further legal comments, subject to legal privilege, are provided in the restricted section of the report.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The procurement objectives are to:

a. Obtain the best value pricing for MetCC Voice Service and Enterprise Voice Service

b. Maintain existing service performance levels

c. Reduce Operational and Commercial risk to the MPS

d. Award a contract that complies with Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (or any replacement regulations)

e. Provide a contract to maintain the operational CRA2 service with greater flexibility to design an appropriate process including opportunities to negotiate and innovate.

5.2. The preferred procurement route is the Negotiated procedure without prior publication as detailed in The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) – Regulation 32.

5.3. The recommended term is 24 months, with an option to extend by a further 12 months. This is the maximum allowed under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 Regulation 32(6) sufficient to complete:

a. the complex transition of the 999 service from legacy to new platforms across three MetCCs without interruption to public service

b. the migration of legacy voice users onto the mission critical voice platform and subsequent decommissioning of all superseded legacy voice platforms.

c. the preparation of a detailed specification and invitation to tender to support a competitive procurement process.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. 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.

6.2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Sections 57 and 64of 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.

6.3. The project team are engaging with Data Office to ensure that the solution is compliant with legal and policy obligations.

7. Equality Comments

7.1. This business case has undergone an initial equality screening. Due regard has been taken to the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty. Real consideration has been taken to assess equality impact caused by the proposed business changes. As a result no positive or negative impact has been identified to any individual and/or group safeguarded by a protected characteristic and those who are not.

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. Report.