12 December 2008
By Tash Shifrin
The Serious Organised Crime Agency is set to spend up to £500m on a new computer system to replace those inherited from its predecessor bodies.
Soca was formed in April 2006 from the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, and parts of Revenue and Customs and the Immigration Service. It has been using what a spokeswoman described as 'an amalgam' of their IT systems since then.
The new system will be bought as part of Soca's 2010 programme. A notice published in the Official journal of the European Union said this aimed to 'transform service provision, supporting information management processes with technology and supplementing Soca's people and skills'.
The contract is expected to be worth between £300m and £500m over a period of seven to ten years.
The spokeswoman said Soca was 'an entirely different organisation' to its predecessors, with more staff, different powers, and different operational procedures.
'The process will consolidate the legacy infrastructure and contractual environment, be more efficient, and provide better value,' she said.
PFdec2008
