Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-08-25
Buyer: Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Competitive procedure with negotiation
CPV classification: 32000000 | 32412000 | 32412100 | 32500000 | 32510000
Estimated value: 2500000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-10-02
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority (‘the Authority’) wishes to invite organisations to participate in a procurement process for the provision and implementation of both a replacement ESN ready/future proofed Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD) and Integrated Communication and Control System (ICCS) for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. The Authority is seeking to appoint one provider to deliver, implement and install both CAD & ICCS systems and to maintain and provide support services for those systems over the duration of the contract; this can be as a consortium, a prime contractor with a variety of subcontractors or a single organisation offering the full service.
In addition to replacing the current core command and control software, the authority is seeking an innovative, location agnostic control room solution, that will support current and future exploitation of digital technology, integration with incident command and digital asset/evidence management systems, and the opportunity to exploit collaboration, resilience and business continuity arrangements with at least one other partner Fire and Rescue Service.
The solution will also need to support the latest Airwave and ESN technologies for critical voice and data, as and when they become available.
It must be location agnostic and where possible, based on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, in order to provide maximum flexibility and scope to exploit resilience and business continuity opportunities with other fire and rescue services, and future technological developments e.g. Next Generation 999 and digital technology.
It must support future strategic objectives with any other FRS's, including procedures to share risk data for over the border incidents, processes and procedures for the receipt of emergency calls and mobilisation of each other’s resources, procedures for the joint response to a critical or major incident that exceeds the capability of one fire control room solution, and the sharing of incident data with partner agencies using Multi-Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT). Bidders are referred to the procurement documents for the full requirements.
(ii) core command and control software; and (iii) maintenance and support services throughout the duration of the contract.
The authority is seeking solutions that are ideally location agnostic that will provide for integration and resilience arrangements.
The authority is conducting this procurement under the competitive procedure with negotiation (CPN), pursuant to Regulation 29 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015, as amended. The top five (5) scoring SQ responses will be taken through to submit an initial tender; if the authority does not award on the basis of initial tenders only the top three (3) scoring bids will be invited to the negotiation stage.
The initial contract term shall be for a period of five (5) years from the go live date. The authority will have the option to extend the contract beyond the initial five (5) year term for any period or periods of up to five (5) years in twelve (12) or twenty-four (24) month blocks for a maximum contract term of 10 years.
The authority reserve the right not to award the opportunity or to award only part (or a different arrangement) of the opportunity described in the contract notice.
The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.
Bidders should note that the procurement documents (including the invitation to submit initial tender) are draft documents at this stage, providing indicative information of the authority's intended approach in the procurement process and are for general information only. The authority reserves the right to vary, amend and update any aspects of the procurement documents and final details and versions of the procurement documents will be confirmed to applicants successful in being selected to participate in the relevant tender stages of the procurement procedure.
Requests to participate must be by way of completion and return of the standard selection questionnaire (in accordance with the requirements set out in the Standard Selection Questionnaire) by the date and time specified in Section IV.2.2). The authority reserves the right not to accept requests to participate that are received after the deadline. Bidders are encouraged to submit their submissions well in advance of the stated date and time in order to avoid issues such as technical difficulties with the electronic system that may be due to the high volumes of traffic attempting to submit applications on the same date at the same time.
In accordance with Chapter 6 Application to the Court (Regulation 88-104) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) including Regulation 91 (Enforcement of Duties through the Court); Regulation 92 (General time limits) and Regulation 93 (Special time limits).


Award value: 2500000