The Immigration and Nationality Directorate has signed a
six-year, £200m outsourcing contract with Atos
Origin.
Atos Origin will take over the design, building and operation of
the Home Office department's IT infrastructure, including
helpdesks, networks and applications. The supplier plans to work
with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and its other IT
suppliers to increase collaborative working and improve IT
performance.
"Atos Origin demonstrated to us that it has the expertise and
understanding to successfully deliver the Immigration and
Nationality Directorate'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 a major immigration
service IT system intended to help clear the UK's 66,000 backlog of
asylum seekers.
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate's casework application
programme was at the heart of a complex public finance initiative
IT and business process re-engineering contract signed with Siemens
Business Services in April 1996 for implementation by October 1998.
Part of an effort to introduce a paperless office, it was intended
to speed up refugee and asylum applications and save the taxpayer
at least £110m. However, the directorate pulled the plug on the
project after a series of problems with the system. An interim
system was introduced by Siemens in 2000.