Trusted Borders signs E-Borders contract

Trusted Borders, a consortium of companies led by Raytheon Systems Limited of the UK, has signed a contract with the Home Office to develop and implement the nation’s ‘e-Borders’ project, an advanced border control and security programme.

Members of the Trusted Borders consortium have already begun work on the e-Borders programme, building upon the country’s current pilot programme for border control and expanding it into a fully flexible, scalable and robust e-Borders capability within two years. Ninety-five percent of the work will be carried out in the UK.

Christopher Hyman, chief executive of Serco, said: “e-Borders is a vital programme for the Home Office and we are delighted that Trusted Borders has been chosen to deliver it. Serco’s role reflects the depth of our home affairs expertise and IT capabilities. We look forward to working with our partners to help the Home Office achieve its goals.”

Under the e-Borders programme, Serco is responsible for infrastructure and service management. Serco is a leading international service company which specialises in providing operational, management and consulting expertise to the UK and other governments. Serco already provides the Mycroft intelligence management system to the UK Borders and Immigration Agency.

The prime contractor for the Trusted Borders consortium is Raytheon, which will be responsible for systems integration, travel services and overall project management, drawing upon its extensive development and production base in the UK as well as the company’s worldwide technology resources. Other supporting members of the consortium are leaders in their respective fields who bring a strong record of performance and delivery to the e-Borders programme. The other members of the Trusted Borders team and their respective areas of responsibility in the programme are as follows:

Accenture is responsible for training end users of the system and helping to measure the overall business benefits of the e-Borders programme. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company with proven experience working with border and identity management agencies around the world.

Detica is responsible for intelligence and analytics services. Detica is the UK’s leading information intelligence specialist, working extensively in this area for commercial, law enforcement and national security clients. In one of its most recent assignments Detica carried out complex analysis of cross-border freight movements for HM Revenue & Customs.

QinetiQ is responsible for security accreditation and human factors. QinetiQ, the international defence and security technology company, is a specialist in designing customer-facing processes and secure systems that comply with UK Government requirements. For example, it has developed and runs Borderwatch, which detects stowaways in vehicles, for the Department for Transport.

Capgemini is responsible for the development of business architecture including the design of business processes, organisation structure and primary data flows. Capgemini is a leading global consulting firm and a specialist in UK Government Business Architecture design and implementation.

Steria is responsible for the development of the Agency interfaces. Steria is a major European IT services provider with extensive experience of European border management systems, through programmes such as the Schengen Information System (SISII) and Visa Information System (VIS).