Originally published by The Register
Home Office probes supplier interest as core police and immigration system heads for support shake-up
The UK Home Office wants to talk to suppliers about its plans for two potential procurements for the Strategic Central and Bureau Platform (SCBP), its core biometrics system, worth up to £300 million.
The department said the procurements could cover support, development, and ongoing modernization of SCBP after it shifted much of the platform to “more modern and widely adopted technology stacks.”
It said this could allow a broader range of suppliers to undertake support and development work, and split up the work (“potential disaggregation”), according to apreliminary market engagement notice.
The notice quotes a total estimated value for the contracts of £296 million including VAT over up to 11 years from October 2027, although it adds that this is based on current annual charges – suggesting these are around £27 million – and should be seen as indicative. The Home Office isholding an event with TechUKon May 15 to start the discussion, with participants required to sign a non-disclosure agreement first.
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SCBP is part of the long-running Home Office Biometrics (HOB) program to bring together the government’s collections of fingerprints, DNA profiles, and facial images. SCBP provides the core components of the Immigration and Asylum Biometrics System (IABS) used for passports, immigration and borders, and the corresponding Ident1 service used by law enforcement.
The department’smost recent assessmentof the HOB program in December 2024 referred to a cost increase of £47.8 million, including £34 million of this covering Ident1 modernization “to deal with urgent obsolescence issues and security vulnerabilities” and £4.4 million for an upgrade to support Livescan, through which police officers collect fingerprints and facial images following arrests.
The assessment said the overall cost of the HOB program from 2014-15 to 2034-35 then stood at £1.55 billion. According to Home Office permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft, benefits include searching crime marks (such as fingerprints left at crime scenes) against immigration databases, the police’s mobile fingerprint identification service, and the ability to collaborate with other countries. ®
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