The Police ICT Company (PICTCO) is planning to engage a private sector partner to act as a go-between for business between forces and vendors of IT equipment and software.
It has published a contract notice for an official Police ICT Partner to manage a network of original equipment manufacturers, resellers and independent software vendors, and to act as the point for transactions between them and police forces.
This should involve a full contract management service, details of which will be worked out during discussions between the parties and made available to police and fire service users.
In the case of software providers, it wants to enable the call off business from standard deals for commodity systems, infrastructure and associated services and hardware.
The notice says the deal is to run over 10 years and could be worth up to £500 million.
Continued strategy
It marks a continuation of PICTCO’s procurement strategy, which is aimed at providing simpler procurement and cost savings for police forces. Earlier this month it announced an agreement with Motorola Solutions and Sepura on a procurement framework for TETRA communications devices.
PICTCO was set up by police and crime commissioners to develop a more standardised and supportive approach to the use of ICT in policing.
Image: iStock by Bridget-McGill
