Allo, allo, allo ... Police Mobile Contract up for Grabs ...

The largest police force in the UK, the Metropolitan Police Service, is to set up a mobile phone framework deal that it says could be copied by the other 42 police services across the UK. The deal will be for the supply of mobile services over and above the Airwave secure communication system, currently in use by the police and other emergency services.

According to the London Police Authority, the deal could be worth around £16 million a year to a single supplier, if it is only used by the Met. However, according to the tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union published on Friday the 19th of February, the deal will be open to all other local police forces in the UK, as well as non-geographic forces and the National Policing Improvement Agency. Should all of these organisations pitch in, the total value of the deal could be around £64 million a year.

The notice calls for a mobile supply contract that will "satisfy the basic needs of mobile phone users" and include, as a minimum, the ability to make and receive voice calls and text messages; the provision of voicemail; and access to mobile data applications. Transmission services, the integration and support of "third-party applications", consultancy and project management will all be included.

The Met, which employs some 31,460 police officers and a further 14,085 staff, is currently signed up to Vodafone.