The Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire runs regular Citizens Assemblies to seek the views of a randomly selected representative sample of the local population on the issue of policing in their area.
The Citizens Assemblies are part of the Commissioner’s plan to better understand the community’s feelings about the policing of their local area. He wants to give communities a voice in better informing how we police and believes that hosting a Citizens’ Assembly will help him do this. They have been established to understand how local people perceive policing and crime in their area and also used as a tool within the budget setting process
We are now looking for a provider to work in partnership with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner on future Citizens Assemblies – where the provider will be responsible for the recruitment of participants and facilitate the payment of vouchers to participants who attend, in recognition of their time. The provider will be required to recruit up to 35 participants for each Citizen Assembly. The provider will not need to be present at the events.
It is anticipated that the next events will be held in September 2026, February 2027, September 2027 and February 2028 although the latter three may be subject to change.
Audience specific sessions, for example, young people or people who have had experience of the criminal justice system may also be required during the initial contract period to 31st March 2028 or in the optional extension period to 31st March 2029.
The full details of the specification and requirements can be found in the ITT documents which are available once you have logged into the Bluelight e-Procurement portal .
The value shown includes an estimate for any additional Citizen Assemblies in the option to extend period in excess of the four (4) identified
Expressions of Interest (and access to the tender documents) is via the Bluelight e-Procurement Portal at https://sell2.in-tend.co.uk/blpd/publictenders Registration is FREE.
The Sell2Bluelight portal is separate to any other Sell2/In-tend systems you may already access.
Register for Free at: https://sell2.in-tend.co.uk/blpd/register.
User guide available at: https://bluelightcommercial.police.uk/media/2284/sell2bluelight-in-tend-full-supplier-guide.pdf
Police and Crime Commissioner for CheshireNorth WestWAC-594489
UK1 Pipeline Notice in respect of a Direct Award for the continuation of service for a Force Communication Solution to commence on March 8th 2028 with the incumbent provider. The intention is to replace the current contract CPA/SPU/401 which will reach the end of the term on March 7th 2028 as there are no further options to extend, and to enter into a new contract for an initial period of 5yrs with optional extensions.
Saab SAFE is the core platform used by the organisation to take emergency and non-emergency calls from members of the public. The system has integrated telephony and radio (through interfaces with Airwave), which allows a call to be managed from whatever route it enters the Force Control Room, through to dispatch of an officer, at an appropriate grading. The system is classed as one of the Force’s core platforms, required 24/7, and contains multiple layers of redundancy. The system was the first of its type in the UK, with other forces since adopting due to its flexibility and is in use in thirty-five mission critical areas worldwide.
When the system went live in 2018 it replaced seven disparate systems and integrated them into a single solution. The system also integrates into other key line of business systems used by the force, including Niche and Duty Management, to support other processes, such as crime recording and case management.
Since its introduction in 2018, it has been continually tuned to suit our needs, and indeed, the wider policing market. Migrating to a new platform would have an excessive cost of change, involving a multi-year project (minimum of 24 months), significant business change and a large number of internal resources, and would not be as operationally effective / beneficial as the product we currently use.
As well as project costs, new underlying hardware would be needed, requiring significant capital investment. The hardware currently used for the Saab platform remains fit-for-purpose and only needs replacing in-line with standard refresh cycles. It couldn’t be repurposed for a new platform as there would have to be a period of dual running if we were to move platforms.
Aside from software and hardware, the amount of knowledge built up by our support team should not be underestimated, although impossible to quantify in cashable terms. Likewise, training Force Control Centre colleagues on a new platform would take between 4-6 months.
Saab SAFE is a large multi-component system, but to support wider business processes, it has links into a number of other key platforms, many using bespoke interfaces. Many of these interfaces are bespoke and would need fully re-developing if moving to another platform. The cost and effort to do this would effectively get us to the same position we are now, it would not provide a technically superior product. Vendors would build the cost of any development into the procurement of a solution, however, there would be substantial indirect costs as internal resources, such as testing, project management, training would be required. There is no other solution that offers links into all these respective products already.
For the above reasons, the Force is direct awarding to the incumbent under the PCC's Terms and Conditions for a period of 5years with the option to extend annually for a further period of 5 years.
Police and Crime Commissioner for CheshireNorth WestWAC-577827
