Crimint Plus Project – contract award approval

Report: 14
Date: 23 June 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines the financial requirements for the provision of the software licenses and services required to implement the proposed Crimint Plus system.

The current Crimint application is the MPS corporate criminal intelligence system, which has been in use since 1994. It supports the recording, supervision and searching of items of intelligence and is used daily by all operational officers and staff.

The disparate implementation of the Crimint databases together with the age and lack of functionality of the application hinders the ability of the MPS to:

• Minimise health and safety risks by consistently providing timely and reliable intelligence to support risk assessments.
• Meet the recommendations put forward in the Bichard report.
• Fully implement the National Intelligence Model (NIM).
• Management of applications made under the Regulation of the Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) as mandated by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC).

The Crimint Plus Project aims to implement a centralised environment with improved functionality and security that would contribute to the requirements listed above and better able the MPS to work with its partners in making London a safer city.

A. Recommendation

That

1. Members note the contents of this report
2. That the Committee consider the recommendation for the award of contract as outlined in the exempt Appendix 1

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The Crimint application, supplied by Memex Technologies Ltd, has been used by the MPS as the core intelligence management product since 1994. Each borough and many other operational units have a local networked Crimint system. In total, some 30,000 MPS personnel make use of these systems. Since 1994 some 7 million Information Reports and 250,000 Intelligence Records have been created.

2. The Crimint system current product has, however, a number of limitations in meeting users’ current and emerging demands. A study identified the Intelligence Manager application, also supplied by Memex as the most suitable replacement. The study took into account the ability of the application to meet functional requirements as well as the need to minimise the impact of change on the daily activities of operational users.

Progress

3. Initial discussions with the supplier surfaced concerns about the product’s ability to support more than 30,000 users. With assistance from Atos Origin and Memex, Intelligence Manager was piloted in Enfield Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU). The aim of the pilot was to ensure the functional capability of the product across the MPS infrastructure. No MPS-specific changes to the product were required to implement the pilot.

4. Due to the need to ensure adherence to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), and because the pilot was delivering positive results, the decision was taken to enhance the pilot to provide a MPS-wide RIPA management facility.

5. The pilot validated the appropriateness of the product to meet the MPS requirement. In addition, the ability of the product to provide a Crimint-like interface meant that the impact of change on the end user would be minimised. Therefore, procurement action was initiated and the decision to allow single tender action was taken in accordance with paragraph 7 “Exceptions from Tender or Quotation” of the revised Contract Regulations.

6. Representatives from the Deputy Commissioner’s Command and the Directorate of Information evaluated the response from Memex. Functional and technical issues raised were discussed and clarified with Memex through formal correspondence culminating in a clarification meeting. The resulting evaluation report produced by the Project Manager recommended acceptance of the response and the initiation of contractual discussions. Procurement Services carried out the commercial evaluation of the response and managed the contractual negotiations with Memex.

7. The proposed Crimint Plus environment draws together the vast majority of intelligence information into a single resilient environment and improves MPS-wide access to the information, removing the need to duplicate reports. The proposed system also removes the need to hold duplicate intelligence records in different Operational Command Units (OCUs) through the implementation of a single nominal database. Overall a centralised environment reduces the need for re-keying intelligence information. This is a critical objective set by the new Commissioner for MPS Information Systems.

8. The current outsource partners, Atos Origin have played a major part in the testing, implementation and support of the Enfield system. Atos Origin will also play a major part in the testing and implementation of the proposed MPS wide system. It is envisaged that that the new outsource partner would become a key player in this work as part of the transition arrangements. Relevant information has been fed into discussions on the Statement of Service Requirement.

9. The functionality being provided by the Intelligence Manager application meets the majority of the MPS requirements. Prior to implementation the version of the product being procured will go through a series of acceptance tests to ensure functional and performance requirements are met. To further safeguard the MPS the contract payment profile is aligned with the roll out across the MPS.

10. The strategy for how the MPS will manage the migration of data and retention of the existing Crimint databases will be brought into line with the emerging Information Management Codes and will comply with the underlying Standard Operating Procedures once they have been developed and published. To prevent any loss of capability, the Crimint application will be kept available throughout the implementation and for a minimum of 60 days after the last Crimint database has been migrated. If for any reason the implementation has to be paused or halted the service will be reverted to the old system.

Benefits and the need to proceed

11. The inability of the current Crimint application to meet the current and emerging demands of the MPS has already been stated. A centralised Crimint Plus environment based on Memex’s Intelligence Manager application would provide:

• A single corporate nominal database better enabling the sharing of data with national facilities such as I-PLX and NNI.
• Compliance with the emerging Information Codes of Practice required to meet the recommendations of Sir Michael Bichard’s enquiry.
• Improved access to MPS intelligence by enabling those authorised to use it controlled wider access to the full data set.
• Management of proactive operations within the National Intelligence Model (NIM) Tasking and Co-ordinating Groups.
• Compliance with minimum and emerging NIM standards, specifically the 5X5X5 data evaluation.
• Maintenance of the integrity of the MPS intelligence through the implementation of a robust auditing facility thus preventing and detecting corrupt usage.
• A better way of meeting the Office of Surveillance Commissioner (OSC’s) standards for the management of RIPA applications.

12. This will contribute to developing safer communities and helping to secure the capital against terrorism.

13. The key milestones for the implementation are:

• Contract Signature End June 2005
• Deployment of centrally configured product and live use Enfield October 2005
• Roll out across MPS February 06–November 06

Note: This schedule avoids Christmas and allows four weeks contingency (January 2006)

C. Race and equality impact

1. All Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) solutions provided through the MPS information strategy pay attention to the needs and potential impact on race, diversity, minority and under-represented groups. The suppliers have been assessed prior to being included on the framework agreement and they all comply with relevant EU legislation. It will be the responsibility of user departments to ensure that the MPS equality and diversity policies are adhered to whenever engaging staff from any of the providers.

2. The Crimint Plus implementation will include a revision of the user interface providing the opportunity to ensure adherence to the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) recommended race and diversity codes as presented in the Corporate Data Model. The revision of the user interface will also provide the opportunity to ensure adherence to best practices relating to presentation of screen layout, form and foreground colours and typefaces.

D. Financial implications

1. The financial implications of the award appear in the Exempt Appendix to this report.

E. Background papers

• Crimint Plus Project Business Case - 960311-BUS-0002, Issue 1
• Crimint Plus Project Commercial Evaluation Report - SS3/03/167(1)], Issue 1

F. Contact details

Report author: John McGillivary, Crimint Plus Project Manager

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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