Scotland Yard hopes to use what's called in the public sector, a Single Tender Action process to speed up the process, "in the face of heightened threat levels." This means the force won't need to wait to shop around for the best market price for the guns and equipment or seek a selection of suppliers but and purchase them straight away from one source.
Police numbers been stepped up at "key locations" around UK. Firearms officers and police dogs at St Pancras station pic.twitter.com/jCaLtSzOSS
— SallyLockwood (@sallylockwood) March 22, 2016
The request for more money to spend on firearms and equipment was included in documents handed to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime which need to be signed up if the purchase is of high monetary value.
London newspaper Evening Standard has reported seeing the documents which describe the need for authorization to spend the US$15.8 million "as soon as possible" to "increase current capability" to deal with terror threats "effectively."
"Budgets shouldn't be a barrier to ensuring we keep our capital safe," London's deputy mayor for policing said.
"I've watched the police train and these days officers have to actually move forward towards the gunfire, because you're talking about people who are willing to die for what they believe, so they need to have the right equipment."
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police force said:
"The Commissioner has previously committed to increasing the number of firearms and this provides the necessary equipment."
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, head of the Met Police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said London would train 600 more firearms officers and double the number of armed patrols around London.
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May recently announced plans in 2015 to cut 22,000 police officer roles by 2020.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the loss of 8,000 officers in London could limit the Met's ability to respond to a major terrorist attack, which can no longer described as a "Paris style attack" — but a "Brussels style" one too after Daesh extremists killed at least 30 people and wounded 230 others in Belgium.
