Market-engagement notice flags potential £15m opportunity to assist chiefs with the creation of Police.AI, which will be tasked with translating promising technologies into ‘deployable, scalable and properly evaluated operational capability’
Police forces and the Home Office are looking to appoint a “lead delivery partner” for the creation of a new national unit dedicated to accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence across law enforcement in England and Wales.
Setting up Police.AI was one of the measures outlined in the white paper From Local to National: A New Model for Policing earlier this year. At the time, PublicTechnology reported that the move is designed to create a platform for identifying, testing and scaling artificial intelligence for policing, backed with £115m of funding over the next three years.
A recently published market-engagement notice from BlueLight Commercial – which is a joint Home Office and policing procurement body – states that a “lead delivery partner” for the creation of Police.AI will soon be sought. It suggests the role is likely to be worth £15m to the successful appointee over the course of a two-year contract.
The notice also sets out current thinking on the main roles of Police.AI, which will work on behalf of the 43 forces in England and Wales.
It says Police.AI is expected to deliver across three broad functional areas: an AI lab providing technical and delivery capability to help policing assess, test, adapt and evaluate AI-enabled tools and services; AI enablement to help forces move from interest to implementation; and a “strategy, oversight and coordination” function to provide “national coherence” for responsible AI adoption.
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According to the market-engagement notice, work of the AI lab could include pre-deployment testing and assurance of models and tools; development and operation of safe testing environments; rapid prototyping; targeted capability development to address priority policing needs; and horizon scanning.
The AI enablement function is described as potentially including practical support for forces adopting AI; development of “reusable guidance, tooling and delivery assets to support scaling”; and support for proof-of-concept activities for priority use cases.
The market-engagement notice says the strategy, oversight and coordination function could include publication and maintenance of a national AI registry for policing; public-facing communications support; support for the development of national policy; and acting as a “signal receiver” on the criminal misuse of AI and associated emerging risks.
January’s white paper stated that, in its first year, Police.AI would focus on some of the most significant administrative burdens facing policing, including analysis of CCTV footage; production of case files; crime recording and classification; and translation and transcription of documents.
According to the market-engagement notice, the role of the lead delivery partner will be to support the stand-up, mobilisation and delivery of Police.AI.
It says that while the final scope and commercial structure for the contract “remain subject to further development”, providing multidisciplinary delivery resource across programme delivery, product, technical, data, architecture, assurance and implementation functions will likely be part of the role of the chosen provider.
Other expected areas of work are supporting the operation of the AI lab and assisting with the “transfer of knowledge and capability into the enduring policing-led operating model”.
The market-engagement notice states: “The expectation will be that any delivery partner will demonstrate their ability to operate in a consortium with a diverse range of UK based SMEs, micros and start-ups.”
It adds that BlueLight Commercial is “particularly interested in understanding how suppliers may combine delivery, technical, assurance and implementation capabilities in a way that supports pace, public-sector accountability, and long-term capability building within policing”.
An online engagement session for interested organisations is set to run on 7 May. BlueLight Commercial suggested that a formal tender notice for the delivery partner could be published in early June.
The two-year delivery partner contract is currently expected to commence in September this year.
