Evaluation of New Initiatives to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls in Devon and Cornwall - Pre Market Engagement

Devon and Cornwall Police is seeking independent academic evaluation of 3 recently implemented (or soon to be implemented) initiatives to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

The initiatives target high harm/risk perpetrators of VAWG in order reduce their associated risk of harm and recidivism. They are;

• The pilot trial of a Multi-Agency Tasking and Coordination (MATAC) Forum in Plymouth, designed to engage and disrupt the most harmful Domestic Abuse Perpetrators.
• The development of an algorithm that uses the recency, frequency, gravity and number of victims (RFGV) as a mechanism for identifying and prioritising the highest harm Domestic Abuse (DA) perpetrators.
• The pilot trial of the Rape and Serious Sexual Offence (RaSSO) Disruption Panel, designed to identify and disrupt high-risk repeat Sexual offending Suspects.

More information can be found on MATAC on the College of Policing website: www.college.police.uk/support-forces/pract… ↗

Previous research on RFGV algorithms can be found here: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137604/7… ↗ Report Document Complete v03.pdf

The Disruption Panel is an innovative approach with regards to its core focus on identifying and disrupting un-convicted RaSSO offenders and although similar approaches for other types of offending exist (such as MATAC), there is no known existing evaluation of panels of this type at the time of writing.

The procurement is intended to ensure an evidence-based understanding of the initiatives' performance and impact and inform future strategies for addressing violence against women and girls. High level objectives are outlined below:

• To understand the effectiveness of the interventions in achieving their objectives, namely to assist in understanding whether they are effective in reducing harm and recidivism risk and increasing the safety of victims.
• To understand the demand on resources created by the new processes, scalability and return on investment.
• To identify areas for improvement.
• To understand outcomes for service users.
• To measure stakeholder engagement, collaboration and coordination.
• To understand compliance and alignment with relevant policies, guidance, legal frameworks and best practices.
• To assist in understanding how DCP can best target its limited resources to reduce the harm and risk posed by VAWG perpetrators.
• To support and develop future iterations of the RFGV algorithm.

Contractors should have knowledge of the evidence base in relation to domestic abuse dynamics, legal frameworks and victim-survivor centred approaches. Contractors should be familiar with the most up to date guidance for identifying and managing high-harm VAWG perpetrators from key sources such as the Home Office, National Police Chief's Council and the College of Policing and positive emerging practice.

Contractors will need to be able to demonstrate strong analytical capabilities, be proficient in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the ability to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders.

A significant amount of work has already taken place internally to understand how forces should be identifying and managing VAWG perpetrators. The Contractor will be expected to familiarise themselves with the findings of these projects to date.

Evidence of experience in the field of data science, algorithms and data engineering to enable thorough evaluation of the RFGV algorithm would be beneficial as would the ability to make the ability to support and make recommendations on improvements to future iterations of the system. Experience in evaluating multi-agency processes or domestic abuse interventions would also be beneficial.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to meaningful change by evaluating initiatives tackling one of society's most pressing challenges. We are seeking innovative and forward thinking evaluators who can bring their expertise, creativity and fresh perspective to this critical work. This evaluation will not only influence the future of these initiatives but also contribute to ensuring survivors, families and communities receive the most effective support possible. The successful Contractor will have the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders and leave a lasting impact through their insights and recommendations. Additional information: This PIN does not formally signify the beginning of any procurement exercise by the Commissioner, nor does it constitute a commitment by the Commissioner to undertake a procurement.

However, in the event that the Commissioner decides to formally commence a procurement pursuant to this PIN, a separate contract notice will be published.

NOTE: To register your interest in this notice please contact the Procurement Representative.