Metropolitan Police Authority announces new facilities management procurement

77/04
2 November 2004

• OJEU notice placed for Facilities Management services across £1.7b estate
• 2 Total Facilities Management Contracts – North & South of River Thames
• New Facilities Management Information Centre to be established
• Significant changes in FM services planned to support the modernisation agenda

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) has today commenced the procurement of its future Facilities Management (FM) services, with the imminent release of formal OJEU notices informing the market of Its FM strategy.

The new contracts mark a significant step change in the way the Authority approaches the delivery of FM services across its £1.7b estate – which encompasses a huge range of properties including police stations, training establishments, HQ offices, residential, workshops and specialist properties across London.

The contracts mark a further step towards the realisation of the MPA’s innovative portfolio strategy “Building Towards the Safest City”. This seeks to achieve much greater alignment between property assets and the needs of front line policing. Over 60% of the total estate is being refreshed over the next 10 years and the successful and modern implementation of FM is crucial to this success.

The tender notices issued to the FM market therefore represent a significant change. At the heart of the future FM service, the MPA is seeking a Facilities Management Information Centre to act as a catalyst for change through the provision of timely asset and service performance, audit & certification of FM services and coordination and monitoring of FM works and services. The FM information centre is intended to be operational by January 2006.

The MPA has also announced that it is procuring two Total Facilities Management Contracts to provide services across the estate – one based North of the Thames and the other to cover South of the river. These are expected to be effective from January 2007.

Alan Croney, Director of Property Services for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), said:

“The Strategy we are proposing for our facilities will place the MPS at the forefront of leading edge practices in Facilities Management – we are investing the time to get it right and are looking forward to bringing the best from the market to our operations.

“Splitting the contract into two regions, supported by a separate Facilities Management Information Centre to provide robust and timely performance and management information will allow Property Services to provide a proactive customer focused FM service to the MPS. It also allows the selected contractors to have far greater responsibility and autonomy to deliver against strict performance standards.

“We know where we want to get to and we’re looking for partners that can work alongside us and our systems providers to develop our FM information capabilities to the highest possible standard.”

David Hill, Director for Resilience, Compliance & Operational Support (RCOS), with lead responsibility for delivery of the new outsource programme, MPS Property Services, said:

“This is an enormously exciting time for the Police Property Services team. Not only do we have one of the most complex and interesting estates in Europe, we are also significantly modernising our working practices and the estate itself.

“We want to transform the FM service from being management intensive to performance information led. The procurement of a Facilities Management Information Centre is a completely new role and will allow the chosen Total Facilities Management contractor autonomy and responsibility in managing the FM supply chain.

“It is a fantastic time to be working in facilities management. We look forward to receiving a strong response from the sector to this opportunity and working with industry leaders to make real improvements which will benefit front line policing in the drive to make London the safest major city in the World.”

Murad Qureshi, member of the MPA and lead for estate issues, said:

“The changed nature of facilities management services is an important part of the modernisation of the Metropolitan Police so that working practises and working conditions are improved and there is a greater focus on the needs of front-line policing.”

Notes to editors

1. Overall responsibility for the Metropolitan Police estate is vested in the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), the statutory organisation responsible for ensuring an efficient and effective police service for London.

2. Day-to-day management of the police estate is delegated by the MPA to the Metropolitan Police Service’s Property Services Department. The estate comprises over 600 operational buildings and 1116 residential properties, used by 42,000 police officers and staff, and is valued at circa £1.7 billion.

3. An OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) notice has been placed, with interested companies asked to respond by 17th December 2004 . This is the standard procurement process for large public sector tenders.

4. Currently, a single contractor – Interserve – provides Facilities Management (FM) services across the MPA estate.

5. The new Facilities Management Information Centre (FMIC) will provide robust, transparent and timely performance and management information reporting to Property Services, utilising data fed from the FM supply chain. The service will also incorporate a new audit and certification function and will enable Property Services to provide a proactive customer focused FM service to the Metropolitan Police Service. It will also enable the MPA to have a far greater understanding of the estate and current and future estate requirements.

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