The Home Office has handed over the IT infrastucture of
the immigration service to Atos Origin in a six-year £200m
outsourcing deal.
Atos Origin will take over the design, build and operation of
the IT infrastructure of the Immigration and Nationality
Directorate (IND), including helpdesks, networks and IT
applications. It will work with the IND and its other IT suppliers
to expand collaborative working and improve IT performance.
"Atos Origin demonstrated to us that it has the expertise and
understanding to successfully deliver the IND's IT," said Home
Office minister Des Browne. "Investing in its infrastructure is
part of the directorate's drive to continually improve the working
environment for its staff as well as ensuring value for money."
In February 2001 the government cancelled an IT system intended
to help the immigration system clear a backlog of 66,000 asylum
seekers.
The IND's Casework Application programme was at the heart of a
complex IT and business process re-engineering deal with Siemens
Business Services. Siemens took on the public finance
initiative contract in April 1996 for implementation by October
1998.
The system was intended to speed up refugee and asylum
applications and save the taxpayer at least £110m. The IND finally
pulled the plug after a disastrous project, which in 1999 David
Omand, then permanent secretary at the Home Office, described as
"in effect, a doomsday machine".
Lindsay Clark writes for Computer Weekly