Scottish police on the hunt for new ICT solution

The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) has put out a tender for a national ICT solution on the Official Journal of the European Union.

The contract will be worth between £40m and £80m and will create a "modern, scalable, national ICT solution for the Scottish Police Service allowing for the recording, management and analysis of information", according to the tender.

The solution will serve the SPSA's 25,000 users.

The authority will be looking to procure software components and licences, specialist hardware, integration tools and services, business change activities, implementation services, reporting capabilities, data management activities, support, optional managed service arrangements, additional integration services and any other relevant services necessary for the implementation of the solution.

It must also be able to integrate with existing police ICT systems to minimise data inefficiencies.

The tender states that additional services will be required from the supplier to assist with delivery, integration, ongoing support and possible future upgrades to the solution.

The SPSA has been criticised in the past for failing to meet the ICT needs of its users.

A report from the Auditor General for Scotland released last October stated that the SPSA had experienced difficulties when prioritising its projects.

The official auditor in the report said: "A number of important ICT projects, both at the national level and for individual forces, requires SPSA's input but it has had problems prioritising these."

The tender lists the contract duration as 12 years.

The SPSA was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.