Khan Accuses Met Police of Rigging Palantir Contract Award Process

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has levelled serious accusations against the Metropolitan Police, claiming that officers and officials deliberately manoeuvred procurement procedures to ensure that controversial US data analytics firm Palantir Technologies would receive a major policing contract, bypassing standard competitive tendering rules in the process.

According to legal documents filed as part of an ongoing dispute, the Metropolitan Police Service intended from the outset to award a significant technology contract to Palantir, steering each stage of the procurement process toward a predetermined outcome rather than conducting a genuinely open competition. The allegations, reported by Politico, suggest the force’s approach may have violated established public procurement regulations that govern how taxpayer-funded bodies must award large contracts.

Procurement Rules Under the Spotlight

Public procurement frameworks exist across the United Kingdom and European Union to ensure that public bodies award contracts fairly, transparently, and on the basis of merit. Authorities are generally required to invite multiple bids for significant contracts, evaluate them against consistent criteria, and demonstrate that decisions were taken in the public interest. Critics have long argued that these safeguards are vulnerable to being circumvented when institutions develop strong preferences for specific vendors ahead of formal processes.

The case against Palantir’s involvement with British policing has generated sustained controversy over recent years. The company, which was co-founded with early backing linked to US intelligence circles, has faced persistent scrutiny from civil liberties advocates and privacy campaigners concerned about the scale of data access its platforms provide to law enforcement agencies. Campaigners have argued that entrusting large volumes of sensitive personal data to a private American corporation raises significant questions about oversight, data sovereignty, and the potential for misuse.

Khan’s intervention adds a fresh political dimension to what was already a contentious technology procurement story. As Mayor of London, Khan holds a degree of oversight responsibility over the Metropolitan Police Authority, giving him a formal stake in how major contracts are handled. By filing legal claims asserting that procurement rules were bypassed, his office is effectively challenging the legitimacy of the process that led to Palantir’s position as a preferred supplier, according to reports.

The Metropolitan Police has not yet responded publicly in detail to the specific claims outlined in the legal filing. The force has previously defended its use of data analytics tools as essential to modern policing, arguing that technology partnerships help officers prevent crime more effectively and allocate limited resources more efficiently. Palantir has similarly maintained that its work with public institutions operates within legal and ethical boundaries.

The dispute arrives at a sensitive moment for public trust in both policing institutions and large-scale technology procurement across Europe and the UK. Several high-profile contract controversies during and after the Covid-19 pandemic sharpened public and parliamentary scrutiny of how governments and public bodies handle relationships with major private sector technology providers. Regulators and legislators in multiple countries have since moved to tighten oversight frameworks, though campaigners argue enforcement remains inconsistent.

The outcome of the legal challenge could carry implications beyond London, potentially setting a precedent for how procurement disputes involving major technology companies are adjudicated in the public sector context. Legal proceedings are understood to be continuing, and further details of the competing arguments are expected to emerge as the case progresses through the courts.