Original Tender Description
Further to the UK1 Pipeline Notice published on 17th April 2026 by BlueLight Commercial Limited (ref: 2026/S 000-035176) in relation to a Police Ai Lead Delivery Partner, this UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is issued to inform the market of a potential business opportunity. Important Information Please note the procurement route, anticipated publication date, and contract term for this opportunity are yet to be determined. These elements will be confirmed following completion of the market engagement process and development of the Authority’s commercial strategy. This Pre-Market Engagement Notice is issued solely for the purposes of information gathering and engagement with the market. It does not constitute a call for competition and create any obligation on the Authority to proceed with a procurement exercise, award a contract, or enter into any commercial arrangement. Any future procurement will be subject to separate formal notice and the publication of full procurement documentation via the Find a Tender Service (FTS). This notice does not form part of any pre qualification, selection, or tender process. Suppliers are advised that, should a procurement proceed, participation will only be possible once a contract notice has been formally published on FTS, at which point interested parties must express their interest in accordance with the published instructions. This engagement activity is intended solely to raise market awareness, facilitate communication, and inform the Authority’s approach to a potential future procurement. Whilst BlueLight Commercial Ltd will be conducting any future potential procurement activities, the Contracting Authority is not yet defined. Background The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), working in partnership with the Home Office, has announced the establishment of a new national centre to accelerate the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence across policing in England and Wales. This was announced as part of the Government’s White Paper, From local to national: a new model for policing, which sets out a programme of reform to modernise policing, improve productivity and public service, and ensure forces are better equipped to respond to changing crime demands. Within that wider reform programme the Policing AI facility is intended to provide policing with national capability to identify, test, assure and help scale AI tools and services in a way that is effective, lawful, ethical and capable of maintaining public consent. The Policing AI facility is being incubated within the College of Policing and Thames Valley Police ahead of its longer-term transition into the future National Police Service. Subject to final approvals, governance and commercial decisions, the AI facility is expected to support all 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, alongside Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), by reducing duplication, creating reusable national capability, and providing practical support, technical assurance and delivery capacity to accelerate responsible AI adoption across policing. As part of this, the Authority expects to undertake market engagement in advance of a potential future procurement for a lead delivery partner to support the mobilisation and early delivery. Strategic Context Police.AI sits within the Government’s wider programme of police reform and is intended to help policing make more consistent, safe and productive use of data and AI-enabled technologies. The White Paper makes clear that Police.AI is intended to provide forces with the resources and expertise needed to deploy AI in an ethical, robust and responsible way, supported by strong oversight and accountability. It also establishes the expectation that Police.AI will help create a public-facing registry of AI being used across policing and the steps forces have taken to test and evaluate those tools before operational use. The ambition is not simply to identify promising technologies, but to help policing translate them into deployable, scalable and properly evaluated operational capability. This includes building the conditions for responsible adoption across governance, data, commerciality, workforce readiness, testing, implementation and continuous improvement. Indicative Scope of Police.AI Consistent with the White Paper, Police.AI is anticipated to deliver across three broad functional areas. 1. AI Lab This function is expected to provide technical and delivery capability to help policing assess, test, adapt and evaluate AI-enabled tools and services. Indicative activities may include: • pre-deployment testing and assurance of AI models and tools, including consideration of accuracy, robustness, explainability, bias and operational suitability; • development and operation of safe testing environments, including sandbox capabilities using synthetic and, where appropriate and lawful, real data; • rapid prototyping and, by exception, targeted capability development to address priority policing needs; • model adjustment, configuration or tuning to better meet policing requirements; • post-deployment evaluation, including process, performance and impact assessment; and • horizon scanning and evidence development to support future capability choices. 2. AI Enablement This function is expected to help forces and wider policing bodies move from interest to implementation. Indicative activities may include: • practical support for forces adopting AI, including implementation planning, business change, user adoption and operational embedding; • development of reusable guidance, tooling and delivery assets to support scaling across policing; • support to national commercial approaches, including alignment with relevant procurement and framework activity; • support to seed-funded or proof-of-concept activity for priority policing use cases; and • engagement with industry, academia and other partners to stimulate innovation, encourage competition and strengthen the supply ecosystem. 3. Strategy, Oversight and Coordination This function is expected to provide the national coherence, transparency and cross-system coordination required for responsible AI adoption. Indicative activities may include: • publication and maintenance of a national AI registry for policing; • public-facing communications and transparency activity to support legitimacy and trust; • coordination with public sector partners, regulators, assurance bodies and international counterparts; • support to the development of national policy, standards, governance and assurance approaches; and • acting as a signal receiver for policing in relation to the criminal misuse of AI and associated emerging risks. Early Delivery Priorities The White Paper states that, in its first year, Police.AI is expected to focus on some of the most significant administrative burdens facing policing, including: • disclosure; • analysis of CCTV footage; • production of case files; • crime recording and classification; and • translation and transcription of documents. Objectives The overarching objectives of Police.AI are expected to include: • maximising the potential of AI to improve public safety, operational effectiveness and public service outcomes; • embedding responsible adoption principles across policing; • reducing duplication and delivering better value for money through national coordination and reuse; • improving the ability of forces to adopt and scale AI tools safely and effectively; and • preparing the policing workforce to operate confidently in an increasingly AI-enabled environment. Potential Role of a Lead Delivery Partner The lead delivery partner will be capable of supporting the stand-up, mobilisation and delivery of Police.AI. While the final scope and commercial structure remain subject to further development, the lead delivery partner role may include a combination of the following: • provision of multidisciplinary delivery resource across programme delivery, product, technical, data, architecture, assurance and implementation functions; • support to the operation of the AI Lab and associated delivery processes; • support to the development of reusable delivery methods, operating models and governance arrangements; • support to the delivery of priority policing AI use cases and early implementation activity; • integration of delivery across technical assurance, business change and operational adoption; • support to supplier and ecosystem engagement, including management of specialist partners where required; and • transfer of knowledge and capability into the enduring policing-led operating model. The expectation will be that any delivery partner will demonstrate their ability to operate in a consortium with a diverse range of UK based SMEs, micros and startups. The Authority is particularly interested in understanding how suppliers may combine delivery, technical, assurance and implementation capabilities in a way that supports pace, public-sector accountability, and long-term capability building within policing.