Police Digital Service welcomes new MOU with Microsoft
The Police Digital Service (PDS) has welcomed the new three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Microsoft and Crown Commercial Service (CCS), which will enable all UK law enforcement organisations and other public sector customers to benefit from the same levels of Microsoft service, pricing and discounts.
The new Digital Transformation Arrangement 2021 (DTA21), replaces the National Enabling Programmes’ Microsoft MOU which has been in place for the past three years. It has been collectively negotiated on behalf of policing with significant involvement from the National Police Technology Council.
In recent years UK Policing has undergone significant transformation through the adoption of modern workplace tools including Microsoft 365, which has been delivered across forces by the work of the NEP. The MOU means that policing will be able to access the discounts and beneficial terms for Microsoft 365, Azure and associated support, and security services.
Ian Bell, CEO of the Police Digital Service (PDS), said: “We are delighted to have worked via the National Enabling Programmes and the National Police Technology Council, alongside the Crown Commercial Service, to bring this new MOU to fruition. Our officers on the front-line and their colleagues rely on access to accurate and up to date information and modern tools to connect with one another, and with other agencies to ultimately keep people safe. The adoption of modern tools, including the Microsoft product suite, is critical to the everyday work of policing.
“This MOU reflects the ambitions of the National Policing Digital Strategy by enabling officers and staff through digital, embedding a whole public sector approach and empowering the private sector. Its realisation is a tangible example of how policing is being enabled to deliver against these ambitions.”
All UK forces now have direct access to all the information they need to benefit from the discounts offered by this MOU via a dedicated group on the PDS Knowledge Hub.
Last month around 137,000 police officers and staff used cloud-based collaboration tools which have been enabled in each local force via the National Enabling Programmes.
Wayne Parkes, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer for PDS and Director of the National Enabling Programmes, said: “Over the past year we have seen a step change transformation of the technology used by the police service and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Being part of the new government-wide MOU means policing can focus on exploiting the opportunities provided with the assurance that we are working on a common set of tools, procured with best possible terms for the public sector. Importantly, as other government agencies and partners are also using the same agreement, we have an opportunity to focus on how we can deliver the other ambitions set out in the strategy.”
The NEP, as part of the PDS, will continue to support the roll out of the Microsoft 365 tools to remaining forces during 2021.
