Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2020-02-24
Buyer: BCH Procurement (Representing The Police and Crime Commissioners for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire)
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 32330000 | 32333000 | 32353000 | 33120000: Physiological monitoring systems | 48517000
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: The authority is seeking to establish a framework for the provision of a digital interview recording solution for police stations and other locations. The solution includes the software, associated equipment including cameras, microphones and recording devices and storage facilities for recordings undertaken. The solution should not be bespoke and should be capable of supplementing with easily available hardware and devices.
The procurement is for a framework the services may be provided in any of the above areas depending on any call-offs under the framework.
The procurement is seeking to appoint a single provider to a framework. The framework is for the provision of a Digital Interview Recording (DIR) Solution. The solution shall include both the hardware and the software elements of the solution and storage facilities. The framework shall be available to the participating authorities as listed below:
The participating authorities may purchase a DIR Solution through the framework however there is no guarantee or warranty that any orders will be placed through the framework.
The total value of the solution for the maximum 5 period of the call-off contracts across all 7 forces is approximately 3 500 000 GBP to 9 000 000 GBP.
The purpose of the DIR Solution is to deliver an interview and storage solution that allows for future expansion and makes use of interoperability with current systems where processes benefit. The DIR Solution will provide a model that reduces the cost of the interview function and creates lean processes in respect of initial interview, user access, media sharing, media storage and appropriate deletion.
The specific scope of this project is to provide fixed and mobile interviewing to achieve the following aims:
1) To optimise the systems, structure and delivery of the interview and storage function across the policing arena which includes suspect interviews, in and out of custody, witness and victim interview (ABE) and mobile interviewing;
2) To create and maintain streamlined and secure processes in all areas of the workstream and to introduce automation where possible. This will include:
The framework agreement shall be for 4 years. Any call-off contract shall be for a maximum duration of 3 years with a potential for up to 2 x 12 month extensions.
Following an internal review of the requirements set by the Forces in the procurement documentation, the Forces have identified a number of structural flaws that have not been addressed in the current specification and evaluation criteria and in consequence means the most economically advantageous tenderer (MEAT) cannot be identified. These are set out below:
(a) it has become apparent that the specification is inadequate in that it fails to sufficiently identify and inform economic operators as to the solution sought by the individual Forces. In consequence there was a lack of clarity and description. Those flaws have prevented economic operators from formulating and submitting tenders which were capable of corresponding to the solution sought by each of the Forces; and
(b) during the course of evaluation clear differences emerged in the needs of the 2 Forces which cannot be sufficiently satisfied by reason of (a) above; and
(c) if an award under the current procurement was made then such an award would prove not to be economically viable for 1 Force and that outcome is that Force’s ground for abandonment/not further participating in the procurement.
As a result of the above and pursuant to paragraph 15.1 of the instructions to tenderers (Volume 1), the Forces have made a decision to exercise their discretion to not award the framework agreement and to abandon the tender process.