Eagle Data Centre Decommissioning

This decision relates to completion of the MPS Data Centre strategy, approved in 2019, to modernise and consolidate the hosting platforms for MPS across two data centres, codenamed Condor and Hawk, whilst exiting the Eagle data centre.

To achieve this, Digital Policing is seeking approval of £29m (£22.8m Capital and £6.2m Revenue), fully funded from the 2022/23 & 2023/24 Digital Policing Capital Plan and Project Revenue Budgets, to move all of the services currently in its Eagle data centre to Condor, whilst at the same time taking the opportunity to upgrade (in Condor and Hawk) to the latest generation hosting platform capabilities. This will be delivered through the award of a service works order, via permitted contract variations, which are within scope of the Capgemini Contract.

This is the most efficient approach, technically and financially. These next generation hosting capabilities provide greater flexibility, improved IT services availability, faster deployments and a reduced Carbon footprint. They are necessary to enable the Met’s digital & data journey.

Completing this programme will deliver the already committed savings of circa £2.4m per annum.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the delivery of next generation strategic communications (network) and hosting (compute) infrastructure capable of accommodating all current and planned data centre demand, and supporting the Met digital strategies.

2. Approve total programme expenditure of £29.0m fully funded from the approved Digital Policing Capital Plan (£18.7m 2022/23, £4.1m 2023/24) and Digital Policing Project Revenue budget (£5.4m 2022/23, £0.8m 2023/24) bringing forward £7.0m from 2023/24 to 2022/23 in the DP capital plan.

3. Note that this will be delivered through the award of a service works order, via permitted contract variations, which are within scope of the Capgemini Contract.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. This paper completes the MPS Data Centre strategy, approved in 2019, to modernise and consolidate the hosting platforms for MPS across two data centres, codenamed Condor and Hawk.

1.2. Since the 2020 MOPAC paper, New Strategic Digital Policing Data Centre (PCD 818) approving building Condor, it has been fully facilitised and is now ready for IT applications and infrastructure to be moved from the Eagle data centre.

1.3. The next generation hosting capability in Condor and Hawk, complemented by ‘Cloud’ technology solutions, is necessary to enable the Met’s digital & data journey.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. There is an opportunity to achieve an exit from the Eagle data centre by July 2023, which is the primary aim of this programme; otherwise, exit will take place by July 2025.

2.2. The progress of major programmes including CONNECT, Leidos Command & Control and National ANPR Service will have a bearing on timings.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. Total programme spend assuming a July 2025 exit is £29.0m fully funded from the approved Digital Policing Capital Plan (£18.7m 2022/23, £4.1m 2023/24) and Digital Policing Project Revenue budget (£5.4m 2022/23, £0.8m 2023/24) bringing forward £4.2m from 2023/24 20 20022/23 in the DP capital plan.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Officer for Policing Crime 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 will be procured in accordance with the Regulations.

4.2. The Services required in regard to the modernisation and consolidation of the datacentres shall be carried out under existing MOPAC contracts. Principally the existing contracts for the provision of Eagle (which may be terminated in 2023 subject to a break clause), and the contracts for Hawk and Condor (due to terminate in 2025) as well as the Pegasus Infrastructure agreement which was entered into in February 2021 and has an initial term until 2026.

4.3. The anticipated services are included within the scope of the existing contracts and specifically the advertised value of the Pegasus Infrastructure Agreement was £600 million, therefore no contract extension and no additional procurement is required.

4.4. 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).

• 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.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. Activities undertaken in delivering this programme will be via the award of a service works order, via permitted contract variations, to the Contract for Infrastructure Services and the Applications Tower Contract; up to a value of £22.8m of project Capital, £6.2m of project Revenue and £8.9m of BAU revenue (contingency), for the migration and implementation activities aligned to exiting the Eagle datacentre and building the Next Generation Hosting platforms in Condor and Hawk datacentres. This is a permitted variation within scope of these Contracts. The MOPAC scheme of Delegation provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above.

5.2. The Value for Money approach follows National Audit Office (NAO) guidance:

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

7. Equality Comments

7.1. As this paper relates to ensuring the continuity of an existing service, this recommendation does not change any aspects relating to our equality obligations under the Equality Act therefore an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required at this time.

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. Decision PCD 818 in September 2020 approved the new Strategic Digital Policing Data Centre.

8.2. Decision PCD 923 in February 2021 approved implementation of the Pegasus Infrastructure Tower Agreement.