Tech and services titan beats trio of rivals to swipe major deal
Credit: SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI/AP/Press Association Images
Fujitsu has won a £28m deal with the Home Office to build and run a biometrics-matching platform.
The deal, which represents one lot of a three-lot contract, covers the software and hardware infrastructure of the platform, as well as its interface. It also includes integration work, as well as ongoing management of the platform and the provision of related services over the course of an initial five-year contract. The Home Office also has the option to exercise two extensions of, first, two years, followed by one year.
The deal will be worth an estimated £28m to the Japanese technology giant, although the software portion – worth about £6m – is likely to be subcontracted to a third party.
Lots two and three of the deal cover the provision of the core software algorithms for matching finger and palmprints. The total value of the contract has been estimated at £55m, which would equate to lots two and three being worth a cumulative total of £27m.
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Fujitsu beat off three other bidders to win the deal for lot one – none of which were SMEs.
Its contract with the Home Office took effect on 22 February, and runs until 21 February 2023.
The creation of the matching platform is not the only major biometrics project the Home Office will be engaged in over the coming years. In January the department issued a prior information notice alerting the market to its plans to unite its two biometrics programmes – the IDENT 1 law-enforcement database, and the IABS system for immigration data – under a single service-management structure.
The project, which might also, in the longer term, involve migrating data from both programmes into a public-cloud environment, could be worth in excess of £300m to the chosen supplier over the course of a potential 10-year deal. A contract notice inviting bids is due to go out imminently.
Fujitsu has been a long-term technology partner of the Home Office. The two parties’ Sirius contract for IT hardware and support finally comes to an end next month after a total lifespan of 18 years, and a cumulative worth of hundreds of millions of pounds.
