Print Management, Distribution and Storage

The MPS has an ongoing requirement for printed material, e.g. forms used by Police Officers and Police Staff to allow them to carry out their work. The usage of these forms in paper format is declining as more forms are transferred to a digital alternative. The MPS has been collaborating with TfL Commercial and the GLA Group Functional Bodies (FB) stakeholders to investigate the category options available to procure Print Management, Distribution and Storage services. Aside from the GLA and TfL each FB procures their own print. Combining the requirements and using the collective leverage of the FBs will secure preferential pricing and achieve economies of scale for all FBs. The Directorate of Media and Communications (DMC) needs to produce a wide range of material to support staff and officers in their work – from leaflets, posters, pull up stands to conference brochures. Each day there is material in production, whether in print or design stages. Due to the volume of work produced and the fast-paced nature of the its work, the MPS needs to be able to print material quickly and cheaply, sometimes in large quantities. A managed service provider for print is essential for the MPS to meet these requirements. The key drivers of this Contract are to secure an efficient and cost-effective service that will allow the MPS to make savings through innovation and alternative ways of working, as well as continually providing access to the best prices in the market.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve the award of a contract to Corporate Document Services for Print Management, Distribution and Storage. The contract will be awarded on the basis of an initial two-year period with the option for two further 12 month periods. The maximum duration of the contract will be 48 months with a value of £1m per year and a total value of £4m.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The contract will include print, copywriting, e-solutions, corporate and strategic level design work, development of the MPS brand and publicity material, design of publications and other publicity material for the MPS, web-based job ordering, web to print facilities, online proofing system, and the digital asset based management (DAM) system.

1.2. The Contract is a call-off from the Crown Commercial Services Framework RM3785 and was run by the GLA Collaborative Procurement team on behalf of the GLA collaborative family.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The MPS has an ongoing requirement for printed material, e.g. forms used by Police Officers and Police Staff to allow them to carry out their work. The usage of these forms in paper format is declining as more forms are transferred to a digital alternative however there are certain forms, such as Fixed Penalty Notices, which will have an ongoing requirement to be produced on paper.

2.2. The MPS has been collaborating with TfL Commercial and the GLA Group Functional Bodies (FB) stakeholders to investigate the category options available to procure Print Management, Distribution and Storage services. Aside from the GLA and TfL each FB procures their own print. Through combining the requirements and using the collective leverage of the FBs will secure preferential pricing and achieve economies of scale for all FBs.

2.3. The Directorate of Media and Communications (DMC) needs to produce a wide range of material to support staff and officers in their work – from leaflets, posters, pull up stands to conference brochures. Each day there is material in production, whether in print or design stages. Due to the volume of work produced and the fast-paced nature of the work, the MPS needs to be able to print material quickly and cheaply, sometimes in large quantities. A managed service provider for print is essential for the MPS to meet these requirements.

2.4. The MPS will continually review the need for the products and services to ensure that they are relevant and in line with organisational needs.

2.5. The key drivers of this Contract are to secure an efficient and cost-effective service that will allow the MPS to make savings through innovation and alternative ways of working, as well as continually providing access to the best prices in the market.

2.6. Over the life of the contract it is the intention to make greater use of technology through the supplier’s e-communications solutions. This will help save time and money as process improvements are made e.g. driving down demand for externally produced print by providing access to digital versions for internal printing.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. Expenditure incurred will be met from the devolved revenue budget of the requesting Business Groups.

3.2. The contract value is for up to £1m per year, a total of £4m over the four years of the Contract. This is a call-off contract which does not commit the MPS to any expenditure with the supplier in any particular year.

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). When awarding public contracts for goods and services valued at £181,302 or above, all contracting authorities must do so in accordance with the Regulations. The full procurement process has been undertaken by Commercial Services in accordance with the Regulations.

4.2. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent requires that approval is obtained by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) for all requests to award contracts of £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The Contract has two main areas - (i) Books and Forms which are printed, stored and distributed by CDS for use across the MPS and (ii) Ad-hoc print requirements which are printed as required by CDS. The Department of Media and Communications (DMC) is the main user of this part of the Contract.

5.2. The Books and Forms catalogue contain 150 items, which are used across the MPS. For the tender exercise a cross section of 15 percent of the catalogue was chosen to be priced by bidders to enable an evaluation of costs to be undertaken. The 15 percent was a cross section of products giving a range of types of products ordered, from case bound books through to simple high usage A4 one colour one sided forms.

5.3. A 10.50 per cent saving was obtained on the books and forms section of the Contract. On a cross section of ad hoc requirements, a saving of 34.68 per cent was obtained.

5.4. The details of these savings are contained in the restricted section of the report.

5.5. The MPS will continually review the need for the products and services to ensure that they are relevant and in line with organisational needs.

5.6. The key drivers of this Contract are to secure an efficient and cost-effective service that will allow the MPS to make savings through innovation and alternative ways of working, as well as continually providing access to the best prices in the market.

5.7. Over the life of the contract it is the intention to make greater use of technology through the supplier’s e-communications solutions. This will help save time and money as process improvements are made e.g. driving down demand for externally produced print by providing access to digital versions for internal printing.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. The Contract 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. As this is a replacement of an existing service this work does not change any aspects relating to equality or diversity

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. Report