The latest formal leader’s review for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme reveals that the project’s top priorities include appointing new core suppliers and preparing the possibility of commercial flashpoints
Scrutiny documents reveal that the current top priorities for Home Office officials working on delivering the much-delayed Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme include preparing for potential legal challenges to the programme’s commercial arrangements.
Newly released details of the latest formal accounting officer assessment for ESMCP – a review that was conducted in August – reveals that the programme’s primary objective is to appoint a new supplier for the network’s “user services” contract for voice and video comms. The chosen firm will be appointed to a £1bn-plus deal and will replace Motorola Solutions, whose contract was terminated in late 2022. The firm is now also embroiled in ongoing legal challenges after regulators concluded that it is overcharging government by hundreds of millions of pounds for supporting the incumbent Airwave network for emergency service communications, which ESMCP is – eventually – intended to replace.
The now-vacated voice deal is one of two core contracts to support delivery of ESMCP, also commonly referred to as the Emergency Services Network (ESN). The other of which is worth more than £2bn, covers “mobile services” and was recently awarded directly to BT and EE, without a competitive process. The firms were appointed to an equivalent contract in 2015 – but the ESN project has been delayed and reset numerous times since then.
In light of these potential commercial flashpoints, another of the programme’s top priorities is to prepare for the possibility of legal challenges and protect the necessary funding to do so, according to the assessment – which is undersigned by ESMCP’s official accounting officer: Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft.
“In handling potential legal challenges, the ESMCP team is minded to ensure balanced decisions, taking into account both financial and wider strategic costs, benefits and risks,” the document says. “This will include the worst-case scenarios of detriment to the public that may be caused by Motorola’s actions and the wider impact on the UK supply chain… HM Treasury and Cabinet Office are consulted as necessary.”
The assessment adds: “Looking ahead, the top priorities are to conclude the ongoing tender of the User Services contract to replace Motorola and the direct award of the Mobile Services contract re-procurement… We are also considering the strategy to handle potential ongoing legal challenges, to ensure we have the appropriate financial provision and capability ready.”
Related content
- MPs blast Home Office as being ‘disconnected from reality’ on Emergency Services Network
- HMRC extends Airwave device deal for criminal investigation units until 2027 to cover ESN delays
- Emergency Services Network: Home Office claims majority of technical groundwork ‘to start mass transition’ has been done
Elsewhere, the assessment rubber stamps that “the national shut down target date for Airwave has been deferred by 36 months to December 2029”. This is now a full decade later than originally scheduled.
But, in the meantime, the review says that “the programme has made proper progress”.
This includes “regularly engaging stakeholders in an inclusive and transparent manner, [and] regularly engaging with the National Audit Office, enacting recommendations in a timely manner, and continuously improving to enhance the programme’s management information”.
“A recent project assurance review (PAR) which examined key programme artefacts and interviewed programme, supplier and senior user representatives, was undertaken in June 2024,” the assessment adds. “The PAR recommendations included an action to mitigate the risk of legal challenge against the… direct award of the mobile services contract. We have responded to the recommendation.”
Regular accounting officer assessments are a requirement for all programmes in the government major projects portfolio. The reviews cover four aspects of project delivery: regularity; propriety; value for money; and feasibility.
Following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, Motorola was ordered by authorities to apply a reduction of more than £1bn to the amount it charges for delivering Airwave. The CMA found that the company had exploited a monopoly position to charge the Home Office “considerably over the odds”.
Motorola’s attempts to get this decision overturned will appear before the UK Court of Appeal next month.
