Item - 2025.GG26.41

The General Government Committee recommend that:

1. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Axon Enterprises Inc., for Axon Justice Premier licenses for an initial three (3) year period from the date of the award with the option to extend the Contract by an additional two (2) year period in the total amount of $511,020 net of all taxes and charges ($520,014 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) subject to terms and conditions satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

The purpose of this report is to request City Council authority to enter into a non-competitive contract with Axon Enterprise Inc., for Axon Justice Premier licenses to support the Legal Services Division’s digital evidence management needs. Axon Enterprise, Inc., a USA-based supplier, is the sole provider of the proprietary cloud-based Justice Premier platform, which is already in use by Toronto Police Services. The platform enables secure receipt, redaction, storage, and disclosure of digital evidence from enforcement agencies such as Toronto Police Services, Ontario Provincial Police, and Toronto Fire Services. The total estimated value of this procurement is $511,020, net of all applicable taxes and charges ($520,014 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries). This includes an annual licensing cost of $170,340 ($173,338 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) for 85 licenses over the initial three-year period.

This solution is essential to support the Prosecutions Unit’s work to provide defendants with disclosure of all evidence in the prosecution's possession or control that is relevant to the charge, in accordance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms if a charge is being disputed in the Provincial Offence Courts. As the Prosecutions Unit processes charges laid by Toronto Police Services, a streamlined and integrated evidence management system is critical for operation continuity.

Toronto Police Services currently utilizes Axon’s body cameras, Axon’s in car camera systems and Axon’s automatic licence plate readers, with all video evidence uploaded to their instance of Axon’s Evidence.com. This video evidence must then be provided to the Prosecutions Unit for review, redaction, and disclosure when charges are being disputed. By procuring Justice Premier it will be a streamlined process working with Toronto Police. The system has been tailored and customized to meet all City requirements, and Staff in Technology Services Division have been consulted on this procurement to ensure technical compatibility and security. This integrated approach will create significant time and cost savings by streamlining workflows for evidence review, redaction, and disclosure, while maintaining proper chain of custody and security protocols required for court proceedings.

Non-competitive procurements may be undertaken where both the proposed procurement and supplier can be justified in good faith based on an exception set out in Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 195, Procurement. This non-competitive procurement will be proceeding under the exception code Section 195-7.1(C), the City has determined in good faith that both the proposed procurement and the selected supplier, along with the terms and conditions of the contract are beneficial to the City (Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 195, Procurement, Section 7.1(C)).

City Council approval is required in accordance with Municipal Code Chapter 195- Purchasing, as the current request exceeds the Chief Procurement Officer's authority for the cumulative five-year commitment limit for each vendor under Article 7, Section 195-7.3 (D) of the Purchasing By-Law or exceeds the threshold of $500,000 net of Harmonized Sales Tax allowed under staff authority as per the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 71- Financial Control, Section 71-11A.