The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) carries out its business in a fair, open and transparent manner. It deals with a multitude of local, national and global organisations, from those with a few employees to those with many thousands. Our suppliers are appointed in line with EU regulations relating to public sector procurement, following fair and open competition.

On 26 July 2010 the Government published the consultation document Policing in the 21st Century: Re-connecting the police and the people. It sets out the government's vision for the most radical change to policing in 50 years.

Chapter 4 of Policing in the 21st Century explains that the Government will legislate at an early opportunity to ensure a coherent basis for the Home Secretary to specify procurement arrangements to be used by the police service, and to drive the convergence of IT systems. It adds that, in the meantime, to ensure savings are made as soon as possible, the Government will take forward proposals for regulations under existing legislation to specify certain contractual arrangements to be used by the Police Service.

Achieving greater transparency of public sector procurement and contracting

The Government has set out the need for greater transparency across its operations to enable the public to hold public bodies and politicians to account. This includes commitments relating to public expenditure, intended to help achieve better value for money.   As part of the transparency agenda, Government has made the following commitments with regard to procurement and contracting:

• All new central government and Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) ICT contracts over the value of £10,000 to be published in full online from July 2010.
• All new central government and NDPB tender documents for contracts over £10,000 to be published on a single website from September 2010, with this information to be made available to the public free of charge.
• New items of central government and NDPB spending over £25,000 to published online from November 2010. NPIA spend data can be accessed here.
• All new central government contracts to be published in full from January 2011.

Suppliers and those organisations looking to bid for public sector contracts should be aware that if they are awarded a new government or NDPB contract, the resulting contract between the supplier and government or NDPB will be published.  In some circumstances, limited redactions will be made to some contracts before they are published in order to comply with existing law and for the protection of national security.

Information Assurance in Procurement

Information is a key asset for intelligence led Policing. Its proper use is fundamental to the delivery of Policing within the UK.

Through the support of a diverse range of suppliers the NPIA and Police hold a substantial amount of personal information. Protecting that data has been a key legal requirement under the Data Protection Act 1998. It is therefore important that suppliers have measures in place to meet this requirement throughout the life of a contract.

The NPIA, and the Police, take data security very seriously and is required to give assurance that both personal information and sensitive data is being appropriately protected throughout its supply chain. Suppliers may therefore need to understand and comply with the supplier aspects of the Security Policy Framework as well as other HMG security standards.

NPIA Terms and Conditions

Unless otherwise stated by the NPIA, the standard terms and conditions that apply to the Agency's Purchase Orders are as shown.

These are the terms and conditions that shall apply to all Associate related procurements.

NPIA Contract Opportunities

To access current tendering opportunities please click on our eSourcing link.

eSourcing enables the NPIA and suppliers to use secure web-based tools to conduct strategic activities covering tendering, evaluation and contract management. Potential suppliers are encouraged to register on our eSourcing system and complete the vendor management profile, in order to be able to view current NPIA procurement activities.

Other tendering opportunities are also advertised on the Official Journal for the European Union (OJEU) or Bluelight website.

To see what contracts are currently in place, read our contracts page.

Approved suppliers lists

It is not our policy to maintain lists with approved suppliers. If your business is accepted on a list maintained by other government departments it does not therefore mean that you will be invited to bid for tenders that we advertise. We encourage all interested parties to check the Bravo and OJEU websites on a regular basis to obtain information about future and current tenders. We recognise the important contribution that small and medium enterprises make to the economy.

We treat all companies fairly whilst being consistent with achieving best value for money for all contracts that are advertised.

Submit an Innovative Idea

The NPIA aims to promote the use and development of scientific and technical innovations that target specific policing needs and meet strategic objectives. We want to enable excellent, modern policing through the deployment of future-focussed technology.

We encourage suppliers and researchers to approach us with innovative technologies that have the potential to improve policing. See our innovation page for more information.