Two-year process of picking supplier reaches fruition

Credit: PA

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has awarded Northgate Public Services a £44m contract to create and support a force-wide IT system.

The Met Integrated Policing Solution (MiPS) project has already been two years in the making, with a contract notice first published in April 2016. In that document, the Met outlined that it was looking to procure an off-the-shelf product that would deliver “a single integrated, unified, operational policing system that manages information [and] end-to-end business policing processes in relation to investigation, detention, intelligence, and case management”.

Two years on, the force has finally picked Northgate’s CONNECT policing software platform, and has awarded the company a five-year contract, plus optional extensions totalling a further five years. The deal, which covers the implementation and ongoing support of CONNECT, will be worth £44m if it lasts the full 10 years, the Met indicated.

The tender document reveals that the MPS was seeking a platform that delivered “integrated licences” to allow officers to manage investigations, detentions, prosecutions, and case management as part of one process. The chosen supplier was also expected to provide third-line support, data-migration services, development of APIs, and some form of remote training for officers.

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The Met was also hoping to find a provider that could supply two options for hosting the MiPS system, the contract notice said. The first, which was a mandatory requirement for bidders, asked providers to “to install and operate the solution from MPS-nominated datacentres”. The second option – which the contract notice indicated was “desirable” – was the “provision of secure datacentre hosting” that would allow the force to move to a cloud environment, if it so wished.

Potential suppliers were advised that they may also be required to deliver services including a system to manage homicide, kidnap, and surveillance processes, biometric and digital forensics technology, analytics, complaints management, and a public-access portal.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Duncan Ball, who is leading the MiPS project, said: “I am very pleased a contract has been signed with Northgate Public Services to deliver an integrated IT system for the Met. The technology will transform and improve the way information is shared and managed, and greatly support investigations and our work in keeping the public safe and bringing offenders to justice.”