Provision of Workshop Supplies

The supply of the vehicle fleet plays an integral part in supporting all aspects of policing and enables the MPS to meet its strategic targets and ensures it remains a mobile organisation capable of responding reactively and proactively to crime and policing matters and protecting those living and working in London.

The replacement of vehicle parts, workshop tools and equipment is essential to deliver the required levels of vehicle availability and for continued efficient operation of the MPS fleet maintenance workshops that manage repairs to the fleet, which comprises of all covert and specialist and marine assets. The contract cost amounts to a total of £5.31 million over four years commencing 1 April 2020.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is requested to approve the Workshop Supplies contract award to Parts Alliance Ltd for the value of £5.31 million funded from existing approved revenue budgets over a 4-year term commencing from 1st April 2020.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The supply of the fleet plays an integral part in supporting all aspects of policing, enabling the MPS to meet its strategic targets and ensuring it remains a mobile organisation capable of responding reactively and proactively to crime and policing matters and protecting those living and working in London.

1.2. To support frontline policing operations, the MPS utilises fleet assets including cars, vans, motorcycles, heavy goods vehicles and marine vessels. Approximately 1,800 vehicles are maintained at MPS fleet workshops.

1.3. The replacement of vehicle parts, workshop tools and equipment is essential to deliver the required levels of vehicle availability and for continued efficient operation of the MPS fleet maintenance workshops that manage repairs to the fleet, which comprises of all covert and specialist and marine assets.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The contract for the Provision of Workshop Supplies is essential to enable the MPS to maintain its specialist fleet, ensuring the fleet remains safe and legal to operate.

2.2. The DMPC approved the initiation in October 2017 (PCD272). The existing contracts for the provision of workshop consumables are due to expire 31t January 2020. An interim solution of a 2-month extension until 31st March 2020 is in place with the current supplier to allow sufficient time to complete the procurement process.

2.3. With the recent HM Government announcement to increase officer and support staff numbers within the MPS, it is considered that the fleet will need to increase substantially over the next three years, which will impact associated goods and services required to maintain an influx in fleet. When the impact is fully established and scoped, the MPS will review the options available and seek approval for either modification of the existing contracts from MOPAC, where permissible in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations (additional volume is not more than 50% of the original contract), or alternatively seek approval to initiate a new procurement in accordance with MOPAC regulations.

2.4. Being part of the Greater London Authority (“GLA”), the MPS has a number of strategic air quality targets to meet by October 2023 and further to 2025. The timely replacement of the fleet is key in meeting these targets and other objectives in relation to;

a) Fleet safety;

b) Quality and availability of assets and equipment;

c) Value for money; and

d) Technology and innovation.

2.5. The future solution intends to improve sustainability within responsible procurement to demonstrate the circular economy through the exchange unit purchases system; this allows some vehicle parts to be considered for refurbishment for onward sale or recycling.

2.6. Alternative routes to market were explored during the initiation stage, Fleet Services led on a consultation across the Police, Fire & Rescue and Ambulance services to determine the demand for a National Framework. There was, however, very little interest, so this was not pursued. An existing Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) framework for Workshop Supplies was instead utilised as the route to market. The benefit of this option allowed access to a compliant route to market in line with EU regulations; reduced procurement timescales, access to pre-qualified suppliers and the opportunity to benefit from an aggregated volume of spend from increased advantage in the market under the framework.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The annual cost of the Provision of Workshop Supplies contract is expected to be £1.327M, valued at £5.31M over the four-year term of the contract. The expenditure will be fully funded from existing approved budgets.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor's Office or 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. This report confirms the value of the proposed contract exceeds this threshold and so the Regulations are engaged.

4.2. The Commercial Case to this report confirms the proposed award was procured compliantly through a YPO framework agreement. Paragraph 7.23 of MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Director of Commercial Services has consent to award all contracts with the exception of those called in through the agreed call off procedure. Paragraph 4.14 provides that the DMPC reserve the right to call in all contract awards of £500,000 or above.

5. GDPR and Data Privacy

5.1. 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.

5.2. 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.

5.3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements.

5.4. Personal data is not required or stored.

5.5. Procurement services do not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. This business case has undergone initial equality screening. Due regard has been taken to the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty under Sec 149 of the Equality Act 2010. All bidders were required to detail their approach to supplier diversity.

6.2. The YPO appointed suppliers are pre-qualified as to the general suitability. This provides assurance that the suppliers are suitable for working with the public sector. Real consideration has been taken to assess equality impact caused by the proposed contract award including effective engagement and analysing relevant equality information. As a result, no positive or negative impact has been identified to any individual and/or group safeguarded by a protected characteristic and to those who are not.

7. Background/supporting papers

7.1. The MPS report.