Support and Maintenance of CRIMINT Plus (contract renewal)

This paper seeks approval for a Single Tender Action contract to continue the 3rd Line support Contract, with SAS/Memex, for the business-critical application CRIMINT. The contract would be for 3 years with a break point at 2 years, to cover the period until the new MiPS system is due to replace some of CRIMINT’s functionality.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve:

• The renewal of the SAS Contract for third line support for three years at a total cost of £3,185k at £1,062k per year starting from 1st April 2018

• Procurement is progressed via a single tender action to contract the Supplier SAS\Memex

And to note:

• The costs are fully funded in the approved budget.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. CRIMINT is one of the Metropolitan Police Service’s largest and most critical systems that underpins policing in London. The system has evolved and grown over a number of years and requires a significant level of support at first and second line from existing outsourced support contracts and at a deeper third line from the original software supplier SAS. SAS own the Intellectual Property Rights to the solution/application and therefore no other provider is able to offer support and/or licensing.

1.2. The longer term aspiration is for the new MIPS system to provide some or all of the functionality currently within CRIMINT.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. A term of 36 months is recommended for approval and comes with the ability to terminate giving a six month notice period. The execution of this clause would mean an applicable penalty of the discounted amount being repaid.

2.2. Further extensions may be required depending on the speed of development of the MiPS system; however the three year term will have the following benefits.

• The 3 year contract contains no uplift for RPI

• It will allow the Metropolitan Police Service to maintain a more stable relationship with the supplier having appointed for the longer term

• Continuity of the service and existing support levels will be maintained.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The renewal cost of £3,185k over three years is fully funded from existing approved budgets.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. This is a renewal for a business as usual, long established contract and ongoing operational requirement. The procurement strategy is to award a support contract via a Single Tender Action. It is legally compliant to do so as Article 32 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR) allows purchasing Authorities to forego tendering and select a supplier via a “negotiated procedure without prior publication” in a “specific cases and circumstances”.

4.2. Two of the specified circumstances are applicable in this instance:

1. Only one supplier is capable of delivering the service; “competition is absent for technical reasons” [Article 32(2)(b)(ii)]. CRIMINT was developed by Memex (who were acquired by SAS). There are no alternative suppliers with the technical knowledge to support the system.

2. No other supplier can offer the service without the infringement of intellectual property rights “ensure the protection of exclusive rights including intellectual property rights” [Article 32(2)(b)(iii)]. Some of the regular support activities would infringe SAS’s Intellectual Property Rights if conducted by another party.

4. Equality Comments

4.3. This paper seeks approval to renew an existing technology support contract. There are considered to be no negative equality or diversity implications arising from this Contract renewal.

5. Background/supporting papers

5.1. Report