Equine Veterinary Services

This decision seeks approvals regarding the provision of veterinary services for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Mounted Branch function. It seeks approval for an unforeseen up to 12 month extension to the existing contract and to initiate procurement for a replacement contract. The 12 month extension is valued at £225,000 and the proposed new contract over an up to 5 year period is valued at £1,125,000.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the initiation of a procurement process to award a contract for Equine Veterinary Services. The term of the contract shall be 3 years with two extension options of 1 year (to commence 1st August 2022). The anticipated value of the full term of the contract (including extensions) is £1,125,000.

2. Approve a 12-month unforeseen extension to the current Equine Veterinary Services contract with Chiltern Veterinary Services Ltd (new expiry date 31st July 2022). The anticipated cost of the 12-month extension is £225,000.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Mounted Branch (MO7) provides specialist mounted support to all London Boroughs as well as to public order policing, football, sporting events and demonstrations. The horses provide a visible presence during tasking which includes emergency response to incidents, anti-crime patrols, gang disruption, community engagement and reassurance.

1.2. The equine veterinary services contract enables the MPS to meet its legal and moral obligations to provide high standards of care for their horses at all times. The current contract for the supply of veterinary services to the MPS Mounted Branch expires on 31 July 2021.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The MPS has undertaken a review of the options for the provision of equine veterinary services which has concluded that the service should continue to be provided via an out-sourced capability.

2.2. In order to provide the time to complete a re-procurement exercise the MPS seek the approval for an unforeseen extension to the current contract for up to 12 months.

2.3. The longer term re-procurement will be by way of a compliant procurement process using the Open Procedure, advertised via the Find-A-Tender System (FTS). The contract duration will be 3+1+1 years: 1st August 2022 - 31st July 2025 with two extension options of one year, up to 31st July 2027.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The estimated cost of the unforeseen up to 12 month extension from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022 is £225,000 which the MPS will meet from within its existing resources.

3.2. The extension will benefit from a 10% reduction in prescribed drug prices. This equates to approximately £10,000 or 5% of the annual contract value.



3.3. The estimated cost of the proposed re-procurement from 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2027 is £1,125,000 which the MPS will meet from within its existing resources.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The re-procurement of the service by way of open tender is compliant with The Public Contracts Regulation 2015.

4.2. Regulation 72 of The Public Contracts Regulation 2015 provides a number of ‘safe harbours’ that permit the lawful extension of awarded contracts by contracting authorities, such as MOPAC. The Directorate of Legal Services have been consulted in relation to the proposed contract extension and their advice is set out in Part 2 restricted section of the report.

4.3. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above.

4.4. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all unforeseen variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above, when the variation or extension is greater than 10% of the original value and/or is for a period of more than 12 months.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The procurements are designed to provide a comprehensive 24/7 365 day veterinary service to the MPS Mounted Branch.

5.2. The MPS carried out a review to consider the option of in-sourcing this service. Their conclusion is that this route is not viable. As a result of the time taken to consider this option an unforeseen extension to the existing contract is proposed in order to provide the time for a full re-procurement exercise.

5.3. The unforeseen extension for a period of up to 12 months will benefit from the recently negotiated reduction in drugs prices.

5.4. The longer term re-procurement is proposed to have an initial three year term with options to extend by two 12 months periods. The process will by way of a open tender via the Find-A-Tender system.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.

6.2. The MPS report that 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

7.1. 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.

7.2. The MPS report that there are considered to be no negative equality or diversity implications arising from this process negating the requirement to present any mitigation.

8. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 EQUINE VETERINARY SERVICES