-Lease of 700 body worn cameras - Associated data and back-office support (including data, hosting, servicing, security and asset replacement) for 700 x leased and 500 x WM Trains-owned cameras.

Procurement Act 2023

Direct award WM Trains currently owns 500 body-worn cameras that have an estimated remaining operational life of approximately two years and continue to meet business requirements. The existing estate is supported through Halo's software platform and associated security infrastructure. Halo has confirmed that the owned devices are not technically compatible with alternative suppliers' software solutions. As a result, replacing the incumbent supplier at this stage would require the premature decommissioning of 500 functional assets that retain significant residual value. The loss of that residual value would represent an inefficient use of public resources and would materially reduce the benefits that could otherwise be achieved through a change in supplier. Maintaining the existing Halo platform while procuring an alternative solution for the wider estate would also necessitate the operation of parallel systems, creating additional technical, operational and contract-management burdens, including increased training requirements, duplicated support arrangements and potential impacts on user competence and service consistency. In recognition of the remaining operational life of the existing owned assets, all additional body-worn cameras supplied under the proposed agreement will be provided on a lease basis rather than through outright purchase. This approach avoids further investment in owned hardware, provides greater flexibility during the transition period, and supports the development of a future competitive procurement strategy. By aligning new assets to a leasing model, WM Trains will be better positioned to undertake a single competitive procurement exercise for the entire estate once the currently owned assets reach end of life, enabling a controlled transition to a replacement solution and avoiding the need for further interim arrangements. WM Trains therefore considers that changing supplier during the remaining lifecycle of the current assets would give rise to disproportionate technical difficulties and unnecessary cost. A two-year direct award will enable the authority to extract full value from its existing investment, avoid the premature obsolescence of operational equipment, and create a clear pathway to a future competitive procurement of the entire body-worn camera estate at an appropriate point in the asset lifecycle.

Utilities