Homeland Security Group ACE Impact Lab Service - RASSO

PDS relies on the ground set out within Reg 32(2)(b)(ii) (Use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. For technical reasons, access to law enforcement personnel, technology, processes & operational information can be provided only to a particular tenderer, namely The Secretary of State for the Home Department acting through HSG. ACE is a government funded unit within HSG in the Home Office. It holds the requisite HMG authority, security clearance & engagement access to criminal justice system operational partners & industry/ academic communities to help address the policing technology gaps on highly sensitive Rape & Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) cases identified in the HMG End-to-End Rape Review Report (June 21).

Competition is absent for technical reasons because:

(a) addressing the current RASSO investigation process challenge requires a partner with end-2-end influence & capability to engage across a large, dynamic & complex public, private, not-for-profit & academic sector stakeholder landscape. As a government body, ACE is uniquely placed to collaborate with law enforcement agencies (including Police, CPS, NCA, HMCTS & the judiciary), alongside industry & academia, to identify solutions to frontline problems; and

(b) the Home Office, as the main RASSO investigation process grant provider, has determined that the proposed commissioning engagement should be delivered in-house by their own business unit i.e. ACE (and their retained supply chain partners), rather than an external service provider; and

(c) there is an urgent need for these services, and so whilst a fully compliant CPN procurement is being run by ACE (refer to FTS: 2022/S 000-005352) an interim solution for a six month period needs to be implemented by PDS as soon as possible. Because of challenges with police vetting timescales this means there are very limited options available, meaning competition is absent for technical reasons. Additional information: The absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of parameters of the procurement; no reasonable alternative exists for procuring the required service, as other options would cause significant time and/or cost overrun, thus impacting public funds negatively and slowing the deployment of crime fighting tools to law enforcement.