Extension & Uplift of the New Signature (Cognizant) Azure Contract

This decision requests an uplift the value of the Azure Managed Services Contract (provided by New Signature) by 40% (£700k) of its original £1.75m value, in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015, in order to maintain continuity of core Azure services throughout Pegasus transition, and to ensure on-going support for in-flight and planned Azure projects. This is not a request for additional funding or budget growth - this decision is required to ensure legal compliance of the contract.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve an uplift of the value of the Azure Managed Service contract with New Signature (Cognizant) by £700,000 (40% of the original contract value of £1,750,000).

1. Introduction and background

1.1. This decision requests an uplift to the value of the Azure Managed Services Contract (provided by New Signature) by 40% (£700k) of its original £1.75m value, in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015, in order to maintain continuity of core Azure services throughout Pegasus transition, and to ensure on-going support for in-flight and planned Azure projects.

1.2. An optional extension to February 2022 and a 10% uplift in contract value have already been enacted under MPS delegated authority. The 40% uplift requested by this paper therefore increases the total contract uplift to 50%. This is not a request for additional funding or budget growth - this decision is required to ensure legal compliance of the contract.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The requested uplift corresponds to an extension of the contract through to February 2022. During this period, key services planned for deployment in Azure are dependent on New Signature’s involvement.

2.2. The contract covers both Service Management and identified inflight/projected project activities for its duration. Whilst there are no funding implications for the service management aspect or inflight projects, future projected projects may require additional funding, which will need to be secured with separate approved business cases.

2.3. Pegasus Hosting transition, which will see CapGemini take ownership of the three IT Towers (Infrastructure, Networks and Service Management) from the incumbent suppliers, will not start until October 2021 therefore Service Management for live services must remain in place until Service transition is complete.

2.4. CapGemini are not currently able to provide support for in-flight or planned project activities.

2.5. As soon as Service Transition to CapGemini is completed, the New Signature (Cognizant) contract will be ceased.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This is not a request for additional funding or budget growth - this decision is required to ensure legal compliance of the contract.

3.2. This uplift in the value of the contract will accommodate ongoing Azure service management costs that are fully funded within the approved Digital Policing budget.

3.3. The uplift also accommodates current one-off project costs that have been approved via specific business cases.

3.4. The uplift will also be used to support future one-off project costs. Where these require additional funding they will need their own separately approved business cases.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) 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 shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms the value of the proposed contract exceeds this threshold.

4.2. Regulation 72 permits MOPAC to modify a contract in limited circumstances. Specifically, regulation 72(1)(a) provides MOPAC may modify a contract

(a) where the modifications, irrespective of their monetary value, have been provided for in the initial procurement documents in clear, precise and unequivocal review clauses,which may include price revision clauses or options, provided that such clauses—

(i) state the scope and nature of possible modifications or options as well as the conditions under which they may be used, and

(ii) do not provide for modifications or options that would alter the overall nature of the contract or the framework agreement;

4.3. The contract clearly has provision allowing for the modification of the term by way of extension which states:

“This Call-Off Contract can be extended by the Buyer for [Two] period(s) of [Twelve] months each, by giving the Supplier [One] month] written notice before its expiry. Extensions which extend the Term beyond 24 months are only permitted if the Supplier complies with the additional exit plan requirements at clauses 21.3 to 21.8.”

4.4. The contract can therefore be extended for a further two periods of 12 months each following the May 2021 expiry of the original term under regulation 72(1)(a).

4.5. Under Regulation 72(1)(a) where the modification has been provided for under the contract, such modification is permitted irrespective of value.

4.6. In addition the total value of this extension is 50% of the original contract and therefore the extension of value is also compliant with Regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Regulation 72(1)(b) permits modification of a contract where additional services which have become necessary and were not included in the initial procurement, where a change of contractor-

• cannot be made for economic or technical reasons (such as requirements of interchangeability or interoperability with existing services or installations), and

• would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority provided the modification does not increase the price of the contract by more than 50% of the original contract.

4.7. Therefore this extension in value is compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

4.8. Paragraph 7.24 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent for the approval all variations and extensions for contracts, not elsewhere approved, with the exception of those called in through the agreed call in procedure. Paragraph 4.14 of the Scheme provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime reserves the right to call all variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. Commercial Services are happy that the proposed uplift meets the criteria of Regulation 72(1)(a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, which states that modification of a contract are permitted:

- Where the modifications, irrespective of their monetary value, have been provided for in the initial procurement documents in clear, precise and unequivocal review clauses.

5.2. The Call-Of Contract Order Form confirms (within the contract) that the Contract may be extended by up to 2 years. Therefore a contract extension (provided it is less than 2 years) is compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

5.3. The current service is provided by New Signature under a G Cloud 11 Contract, which expires in May 2021.

5.4. There has been a 10% increase already approved under Commercial Services Scheme of Delegation. This 40% increase therefore increases the contract value by the maximum amount permitted under regulation 72(1)(b).

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 programme meets its compliance requirements.

6.4. The programme 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. 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.

7.2. As the intention of this document is to seek additional funding for an existing function, there is no real organisational change. Further reviews will be conducted and if as a result any new Equality Impact is identified, a full Equality Impact Assessment will be initiated.

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. MPS report.