Provision of temporary alarms for vulnerable people / witnesses

The current contract for the supply and monitoring of temporary alarms for vulnerable people and witnesses is due to expire on 30 September 2021. This paper seeks approval for the award of a call-off contract from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) framework for the continued provision of this service for a six month period at a cost of up to £600,000.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve the award of a six-month call-off contract (from the existing GMP Framework Agreement, expiring 31 December 2021) commencing from 01 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, for a total blanket value of £600,000 (based on historical and estimated projected spend information) for the installation of temporary alarm systems at vulnerable people’s / witnesses home address locations.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The existing contract for the supply of the provision and monitoring of temporary alarms expires on 30 September 2021. There is an on-going need for this service to protect vulnerable people and witnesses.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The temporary alarm system is a national police approved bespoke specification purchased by all UK police forces.

2.2. The provision of this service contributes to the MOPAC Police and Crime Plan by delivering a safer London, improving the fight against crime and and protecting vulnerable members of the public.

2.3. The temporary alarms are provided to protect those assessed at a higher risk as it provides panic alarm facility and provides protection against intrusion and arson and has been developed to provide a further audio recording facility. For those assessed at a lower risk the MPS provide a TecSOS application loaded onto the victims mobile phone.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The estimated cost of the call off contract over the six month period is £600,000. This cost will be met from within the existing resources of the Metropolitan Police Service.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. 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.

4.2. The MPS has assured that the proposed route to market is compliant with Public Contracts Regulations.

4.3. Paragraph 4.14 of the Scheme provides the DMPC reserves the right to call in any MPS proposal to award a contract for £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. This paper proposes the continued provision of the supply and monitoring of temporary alarms for vulnerable people and witnesses. The temporary alarm system is a national police approved bespoke specification purchased by all UK police forces.

5.2. The proposed route to market is to award a call off contract for a six-month period from the existing Greater Manchester Police (GMP) framework for this service for the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. The estimated value of this call off contract is £600,000. The existing GMP framework has recently been extended from 1 June 2021 to 31 December 2021 in order to provide time for GMP to tender a new framework.

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 assure 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 assure that there are considered to be no negative equality or diversity implications arising from this proposal

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. Appendix 1 MPS Report - Award of a call-off contract from Greater Manchester Police Frameworks to install temporary alarms at vulnerable people’s / witnesses home address locations.