Home Office awards ESN smartphone contract to Samsung Electronics

The Home Office said that: “The contract is for three years with the option of a further extension by one year. The procurement advertised a potential spend of £210m over the term of the contract, and up to 250,000 devices.”

The key words here are "up to". The contact award is for the supply of devices and accessories under a framework agreement (see the original contract notice here) and Land Mobile understands that the terms of the agreement mean that there is no commitment on the volume of devices that are to be purchased under the framework agreement by individual police forces and it is not mandatory for the forces to procure using the framework. The only devices that will be centrally procured by the Home Office under the framework are 1,500 – to be used during major operational trials – and as Samsung is the only supplier on this framework, it will supply all 1,500 of these devices to the Home Office.