PCD 1657 Forensics Case Management System

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC

1. Introduction and background
   1. This Business Justification paper requests additional budget to increase the scope of the inflight project to address change requests regarding the exchanging of data between the MO4 Forensics Operational Support team and Eurofins. This is a change in scope and will require a drawdown of the Transformation Capital Plan of £350,000 additionally, this paper is seeking approval to drawdown on the Transformation Capital Plan of £241,000 to address increased supplier delivery costs identified as a potential issue in the original Business Case and forecasted overspend of existing project scope.
   2. In March 2022, MOPAC approved the original Business Case for a Forensics Case Management System. The original estimates identified a budget of £2,205,000 Capital expenditure and £4,470,000 Revenue expenditure, totalling £6,675,000.
   3. The objective of this project as approved in March 2022 is to procure and implement an End-to-End CoTS Case Management System which will enable the digital submission of forensic examination requests into a single system via a portal and allow forensic practitioners to effectively prioritise their workloads to meet the needs of investigations and the criminal justice system. It will provide visibility of submissions and forensic outcomes to investigating officers and enable more effective use of resources.
   4. The data captured will drive continuous improvement, providing the evidence base for future decision making, truly ‘seizing the opportunities of data and digital tech to become a world leader in policing’. CMS will provide a single scalable forensic evidence workflow repository through which accurate information can be retrieved quickly to improve data-driven decision-making by Police Investigators.
   5. This data will then be accessible within the system for Investigating Officers to use in their casework but also in the form of reports for Forensic SLT. This will ensure the digital management of forensic case work from case creation and submission of exhibits, through any required examinations and to reporting of results both internal to the MPS with investigative colleagues and also externally for the preparation of court documentation etc.
   6. CMS will replace an in-house Quality Management System (QMS), which is an amalgam of insular databases and spreadsheets. The need for a CMS has intensified with the introduction of legislative requirements on forensic science providers (within policing and the commercial sector) to have systems in place to demonstrate robust scientific and data integrity. The chosen CMS has an integrated QMS which will facilitate compliance with the legislative and regulatory requirements.

2. Issues for consideration
   1. The strategic case for the Forensics Case Management System (CMS) has not changed and remains as stated in the Original Business Case.
   2. The MPS currently utilises a high number of applications, each forming an independent data source. Many of these legacy applications are outdated and reside on archaic infrastructure that are unreliable and no longer cost-effective to run. It is against this challenging backdrop that the organisation is trying to achieve compliance with existing legislation such as MoPI and regulatory requirements set out in the Forensic Science Regulators’ Codes of Practice.
   3. The Forensic CMS will provide the right data and tools to manage and monitor and optimise operational effectiveness. This is in support of the operational priorities of New Met for London and the enabling priority of ‘seizing the opportunities of data and digital tech to become a world leader in policing’. CMS will provide a single scalable forensic evidence workflow repository through which accurate information can be retrieved quickly to improve data-driven decision-making by Police Investigators.
   4. The Forensic Case Management System supports two key priorities of the MOPAC Police & Crime Plan: reducing and preventing violence; and increasing trust and confidence.
   5. The system will support the reducing and preventing of violence as it will be the principle system for managing exhibits for investigators investigating violence against women and girls, violent crime and drugs offences. Forensic evidence will support prosecutions in these areas leading to offenders being removed from the streets and creating a safer London.
   6. Forensic Case Management will increase trust and confidence as it provides a single auditable transparent system for the management of Forensic exhibits, whilst also supporting the new Forensic Regulations. 
3. Financial Comments         
   1. This paper is requesting £350,000 in additional capital spend which is available against the project profile within the approved Capital Plan. The paper can be delivered within the existing commercial agreement with Black Rainbow.
   2. This paper is also seeking approval of Capital funding allocation to cover the forecasted project overspend of £241,000, which is available against the project profile within the approved Capital Plan in regards to the delivery of existing scope.
   3. The Forensics CMS Project is an in-flight project, with the core contract being the MPS Case Management System contract awarded to Black Rainbow Ltd via G-Cloud 12. The contract was awarded for an initial two year term until 30 September 2024 with two twelve-month extension options. £2.4m of the awarded contract value of £3.9m remains.
4. Legal Comments
   1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”). All awards of, and modifications to, public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £214,904 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations.
   2. Regulation 72 permits MOPAC to modify a contract in limited circumstances. Specifically, regulation 72(5) provides MOPAC may modify a contract where the value of the modification is below both of the following values:
      1. “214,904 (being the relevant procurement threshold), and
      2. 10% of the initial contract value for services;
   3. provided that the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract or framework agreement.
   4. This report confirms all of the above are met and so on that basis the modification shall be compliant with the Regulations.
   5. Paragraph 7.24 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the Director of Commercial Services has consent to approve all variations and extensions for contracts, not elsewhere approved.  Paragraph 4.14 provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime reserves the right to call in all variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above.
   6. Paragraph 7.4 provides the Director of Commercial Services has consent to approve business cases within the approved MPS budget for revenue or capital expenditure below £500,000, with the exception of expenditure proposals of an exceptional nature.

5. Commercial Issues
   1. Contract variations are permissible under clause 32.1 of the G-Cloud 12 contract as long as the variation does not constitute a material change. The proposed variation of £210,000 complies with that clause. A variation will be raised by the project team via Commercial Services.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy
   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.
   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.
   3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements.
   4. The DPIA for Forensic CMS has been reviewed but no changes are required because the additional work funded by this BJP does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

7. Equality Comments  
   1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
   2. This BJP for additional funds presents no implications for equality and diversity and has not impacted the Equality Impact Assessment.

8. Background/supporting papers
   1. Supporting material is contained within the restricted section of the paper, Forensics CMS Business Case 2 – Additional Funding (v1.2)

Part 2 - This section refers to the details of the Part 2 business case which is NOT SUITABLE for MOPAC Publication. 

The Government Security Classification marking for Part 2 is:

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE [COMMERCIAL]

Part 2 of  Forensics Case Management System

 BJP is exempt from publication for the following reasons:

Exempt under Article 2(2)(a) of the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information)

• Order 2011 (Data Protection Section 43 - Trade Secrets and Prejudice to Commercial Interests).

The paper will cease to be exempt and will be reviewed upon completion of the contract on 1^st of October 2026. This is because the information is commercially sensitive and could compromise future procurement activity.