Security management Toolkit

Thales wins contract for interim ID card scheme

Kable

Published: 04 Aug 2008 10:39 BST

The Identity and Passport Service has awarded Thales an £18m, four-year contract to deliver an interim version of the National Identity Scheme.

Thales has won the first, and probably the smallest, of the five deals to be awarded under the 'framework contract', and will create an early version of the National Identity Scheme, covering groups including airport staff and students from the second half of 2009.

In May, Identity and Passport Service (IPS) executive director Bill Crothers said the contract to establish the interim scheme would be worth "in the order of £10m". A deal with the UK Border Agency for a case-management system will follow by the end of 2008, but the major contracts — creating the main scheme and worth around £500m each — are not scheduled to be awarded until next year, with ID-card production coming last.

The five vendors within the scheme's framework — Thales, CSC, EDS, Fujitsu and IBM — are obliged to bid for each of the contracts.

Thales will work with IPS to "design, build, test and operate the technology" for the scheme. However, 3M SPSL, which currently produces UK passports, will manufacture the early ID cards.