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REPORT

RAPPORT


 

DATE:

 

 

28 October 2013

TO/DEST:

 

Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP:

 

Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service

SUBJECT/OBJET:

NTEROP EPARADE SYSTEM LICENSING AND SUPPORT AGREEMENTS

 

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board approve entering into Licensing and Support Agreements with NTEROP Corporation for the eParade System for a term of up to five years on the terms outlined in this report.

 

BACKGROUND

 

The purpose of this report is to seek approval from the Ottawa Police Service Board (Board) to enter into licensing and support agreements for a period of up to five years with NTEROP Corporation (NTEROP) for a computer software program.

 

Currently, District Analysis Reports (DAR) that are created by the Crime Intelligence Analysis Unit (CIAU) and parade briefings that are generated by patrol staff sergeants rely heavily on a manual paper-based and resource-intensive process, as an electronic solution was not commercially available.  

 

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated 12 November 2010 with Wesley Clover International Corporation (WCIC), an Ottawa-based corporation. The MOU provided for joint collaboration between the OPS and WCIC on the development of a technological solution to improve briefings, disseminate police operational information and improve situational awareness using mobile communications devices for OPS. The MOU stipulated that the overall objective of the working relationship was for OPS to acquire, at no financial cost, technological solutions to enhance the sharing of police operational information within the police service. The MOU stipulated that for WCIC, the overall objective of the working relation was to develop a commercially viable technological solution to be sold to other police services or other vertical markets.

 

Throughout the two year term of the MOU, Information Technology (IT) experts from WCIC and various members of OPS have worked together in gathering operational and business requirements, to develop and test pilot versions of the solution. The technological solution is now called the “eParade System” and is being developed and maintained by NTEROP, a corporation that is funded by WCIC and focuses on software solutions for law enforcement agencies. The OPS is currently piloting two modules of the eParade System, “GeoIntel” and “GeoBrief”.  

 

The nTerop GeoIntel software is engineered to capture, manage and present rich intelligence, and generate standard intelligence products on-demand to save time. It will enhance crime data information sharing across the organization while ensuring that such information is searchable, archived and geo-spatially tagged. This software will be primarily used by Crime Analysts to manage intelligence data and generate District Analysis Reports (DAR), one of OPS’s primary policing tools.

 

The nTerop GeoBrief software will drive proactive policing activities by allowing supervising officers to quickly and efficiently prepare for shift briefings based on the most relevant and actionable information available. The software allows inclusion of information from various sources (i.e. emails, general broadcasts) and formats (i.e. text, multimedia and embedded maps), the senior officer can then use a workstation connected to the projector or TV screen to display digital content of the parade briefing to present concise information briefings to officers. This would eliminate the need to seek such information individually and from several sources, improving personnel efficiency and enhancing productivity.

 

The eParade system GeoIntel module allows Crime Analysts in CIAU to:

1.    Create, manage and archive intelligence information, including geo spatial information;

2.    Search and share intelligence information in the system and with other users;

3.    Generate District Analysis Reports (DAR) through the use of templates;

The eParade system GeoBrief module allows Staff Sergeants to:

1.    Create, manage and archive parade briefings with the ability of setting priorities within a district or zone;

2.    Include OPS specific information such as General Broadcasts, Bulletins and emails as items within a parade briefing;

3.    Search and share parade briefings.

 

The eParade system hardware and software is physically located in an OPS facility and access is limited to within the OPS network. The IT infrastructure is owned and supported by OPS while the eParade application (software) is supported by NTEROP. This approach transfers application maintenance risk to the vendor and reduces the amount of specialized knowledge required of OPS staff. All aspects of this arrangement and support services will be defined in the support agreement.

 

DISCUSSION

 

OPS staff and City of Ottawa Legal Counsel have had multiple meetings and a formal correspondence exchange with NTEROP. These negotiations have resulted in the OPS agreeing to bring forward for approval a proposal to enter into Agreements for licensing and support services for the “GeoIntel” and “GeoBrief” modules of the ePararde System on the following terms:

1.    Perpetual and enterprise-wide license at no cost to OPS for the GeoIntel (CIAU) and GeoBrief (Parade Briefings) modules.

2.    Yearly support fee of $17,500 for GeoIntel and Geobrief with yearly increments of 2% for a user base of up to 120 users. Support fees to include bug fixes, available upgrades, training of pilot users, “train the trainer” sessions, installation and configuration, and ongoing project management.

3.    The OPS to pay additional third-party licenses estimated at $525 and support fees currently at $165/year.

4.    The OPS will realize royalties of 1% from total revenues of NTEROP for GeoIntel and GeoBrief modules, excluding professional services revenues.

5.    Agreements to be effective on January 1, 2013; and,

$1,500 / day for other professional services that are not within the scope of the support services, examples include: custom software development, off-hours support services, training of new staff/users.

 

The increases and total costs for the life of the contract are 2% as shown in Table 1- Annual costs.

 

Year

System Licensing Fee

3rd Party Licensing Fee*

Annual Support Fees

Annual 3rd Party Support Fees**

Other Professional Support

 Total

2013

$0

$525

$17,500

    $165.00

$4,500

$22,690.00

2014        

$0

$0

$17,850

    $168.30

$4,500

$22,518.30

2015

$0

$0

$18,207

     $171.67

$4,500

$22,878.67

2016

$0

$0

$18,571

     $175.10

$4,500

$23,246.10

2017

$0

$0

$18,943

$178.86

$4,500

$23,621.86

 

* $525 is a one-time licensing fee.  There may be increases to the $525 third Party Licensing Fees if new features requiring additional 3rd party licenses are required.

 

** The annual support fees for 3rd party software is currently at $165, however there may be annual increases to these fees and may require additional support fees, should additional third party software be required as a result of inclusion of new features it is estimated to cost 2% annually.

 

CONSULTATION

 

The operating areas of the organization have been involved in the development and testing of this application.  Their feedback has been incorporated into subsequent versions.

 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

 

Funds are available in the 2013 operating budget to cover this agreement and related services as identified in Table 1 (IT Applications – maintenance: 124241-502445).

 

CONCLUSION

 

The agreement terms reached with NTEROP will create value for the OPS. The eParade system will enhance the process in which crime intelligence, DAR and parade briefings are created, archived and disseminated among the organization through the use of technology and digitization. This outcome is also in compliance with the Information Management objectives of the OPS. The system can also constitute the basis for which information is then disseminated to patrol operations, a future objective of the OPS to enhance proactive policing efforts.

 

Upon approval of the recommendation in this report, the OPS together with City of Ottawa legal counsel will negotiate a binding legal agreement to contain the terms outlined in this report.

 

The eParade system is an example of the types of projects being sought as part of the Service Initiative that use technology to achieve efficiencies and improve operations at the OPS.

 

 

(Original signed by)

 

Charles Bordeleau

Chief of Police

 

Responsible for Report:  Director General Debra Frazer