Evidential Data Archive

The objective of the Evidential Data Archive (EDA) solution is to address the issues with the advanced age and reliability of some of the MPS’s applications along with regulatory developments such as Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and Management of Police Information (MoPI). Major steps have been initiated to transform the MPS’s IT and data infrastructure and in support, the EDA will become the recipient of historic data from a set of legacy applications allowing them to be decommissioned leading to significant cost reductions.

To aid the MPS achieve its objective of compliance with existing regulations, the EDA will improve the RRD (Review, Retention, Deletion) capability and help target records that are held beyond their specified retention period that no longer serve a policing purpose. Further, the EDA will also provide a scalable platform, enabling the transfer of data from other MPS sources and applications as and when appropriate.

The EDA solution is a COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) product to be supplied by a Systems Integrator who will implement and manage the service.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the contract award to SCISYS UK (CGI) for 2 years at £3.3m with two optional 1 year extensions.

2. Approve the project cost to implement the Evidential Data Archive, noting capital expenditure of £4.7m fully funded from the MOPAC approved capital plan and revenue expenditure £5.3m over a 4 year period. The cost of £1.9m for the period 2020/21 to 2021/22 is funded from the MPS central budget for pressures provided to deliver savings in the future. After the first two years the cost will be funded from the savings delivered.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The MPS, with over 43,000 personnel, is building on the corporate strategy to be at the forefront of 21st century policing in the way it prevents, solves crime and engages with the people of London.

1.2. The MPS Direction Strategy references the exponential growth of data and the need to harness that data, with the aid of technology, to stay ahead of criminals in this “fast-moving data-driven digital age”.

1.3. The MPS currently utilises a high number of applications, each forming an independent data source. Many of these legacy applications are outdated and reside on archaic infrastructure that is unreliable and no longer cost-effective to run. It is against this challenging backdrop that the organisation is trying to achieve compliance with existing regulations, such as MoPI and DPA 2018.

1.4. The Evidential Data Archive solution is in support of the operational priorities of the MPS Direction strategy by providing a single scalable repository through which accurate information can be retrieved quickly to improve data-driven decision-making.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The key consideration that may influence this decision is the dependency of the EDA on the MPS’s CONNECT delivery, in that migration from each of the legacy applications can only be completed once the data within stops changing, which will be at the point when CONNECT goes live. So any delays to the CONNECT timeline will have a direct impact on the EDA delivery and the subsequent decommissioning of legacy applications.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The costs and benefits associated with the EDA project are summarised as follows:

• Capital costs: £4.7m over the first 3 years of the 4 year period;

• Revenue costs: total £5.3m over 4 year period (inc. £1.9m over first 2 years) which is offset by savings from year 3;

• Cashable savings: £6.6m pa (from year 4). Savings become positive in year 3 through the decommissioning of legacy applications.

3.2. The capital spend will be fully funded from the MOPAC approved capital plan. The revenue spend is to be funded from the MPS central budget for pressures provided to deliver savings in the future.

3.3. The full economic and financial information is included with the restricted section of the report.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above.

4.2. The Mayor's Office 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 £181,302 or above will be procured in accordance with the Regulations. The EDA solution is being procured in accordance with the Regulations through a Metropolitan Police Service competed framework established in March 2017 via a restricted OJEU procedure.

4.3. Paragraph 4.15 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to award MOPAC contracts with a total value of £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The EDA solution has been procured through the Solution Provider Framework (SPF) to deliver a ‘Commercial off the Shelf’ (COTS) product. SCISYS UK have been selected as the preferred bidder and will be responsible for the core archive solution, data migration and the management of the service. They will be supported and monitored by the Met who will also provide the hosting capability as part of the end-to-end service.

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 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.

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.

6.4. A DPIA has been completed for this project and will remain a live document until the completion of implementation. The project will ensure a privacy by design approach, which will allow the MPS to find and fix problems at the early stages of any project, ensuring compliance with DPA 2018. DPIAs support the accountability principle, as they will ensure the MPS complies with the requirements of DPA 2018 and they demonstrate that appropriate measures have been taken to ensure compliance.

7. Equality Comments

7.1. No equality and diversity issues have been identified. This is a new technology solution to replace legacy applications and so the main impact will be on system knowledge which will be addressed through delivery of appropriate training. As part of project delivery, a training needs analysis will be conducted to ensure relevant and appropriate training is made available for all affected individuals present and future.