Northgate Information Solutions is celebrating having won the ‘Project Athena’ police IT contract, for which it was shortlisted against HCL. The framework looks set to be used by seven or more police forces for the collaborative procurement of ‘best of breed’ software for the ‘business areas of crime management, intelligence and defendant management’ (i.e. custody and case preparation). The published value of the Athena deal - £32m - is based on uptake by seven police forces, but the framework could be worth up to £400m if all UK police forces took advantage of it.
Essex was the first police force to sign contracts and publish its OJEU contract award notice but others are due to follow suit over the next few days. The other ‘early adopters’ are expected to be the other five Eastern Region police authorities (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) along with the City of London Police and Kent Police.
This is a significant win for Northgate, which should have a positive impact on its police business in the short and long term. The Athena Project is intended to set the scene for the police forces’ IT strategy in the years ahead and will involve the forces concerned working closely with the National Policing Improvement Agency – Information Systems Improvement Strategy (NPIA – ISIS) Programme. It’s hoped that the project will become an NPIA-ISIS ‘champion system’ and be taken by the wider police service. Authorities procuring under the framework are expected to take up maintenance agreements of up to 10 years, or more. NPIA is due to be disbanded in mid-2012 but ISIS and Project Athena are considered to be elements of the existing landscape that are taking police ICT in the right direction. We fully expect the Home Office to ensure they continue to be supported by transferring them to one of NPIA's successor agencies later this year (i.e. either the National Crime Agency or the new Police IT organisation).
All in all, Athena is a welcome win for Northgate in the police sector and a deal upon which it will be hoping to build in the coming years. Indeed, Northgate’s strong position in the sector – it already supplies all 43 UK police forces – is one it should look to capitalise on more broadly given that we forecast that the ‘police’ sector will be one of the strongest growing areas of the UK public sector SITS market over the next few years thanks to the anticipated move from internal IT spending to spending with external suppliers (see our UK Public Sector SITS Market Trends & Forecasts report for more).