Home Office Crossing the Border Procurement 2024 - Products, services and Support (Border crossing, Helios, Border Platforms and Level 2 Support)

Tender description

Crossing the Border (CtB) is the steady state services and products which controls the flow of people and services across the borders. This is done principally via the Primary Control Points, mediated by a Border Force officer, or via an e-gate indirectly supervised by an officer. Information from ports is processed by a central collection of systems, hosted in the cloud and on premise. Home Office are seeking a system management, development and associated level 2 support partner for the listed systems - Border Crossing (BX), Helios, Border Platforms and Border Crossing (BX) is made up of several parts. At the Passenger Control Point (PCP) BX allows Border Force officers to search passenger records using biometrics and documents. In addition, checks take place on the passport chip to verify its validity. In the back-office BX Tools allows Border Force officers to investigate passengers more thoroughly, either before, during or after they have crossed the border. The BX Admin tool provides authorised users with access to BX audit and performance data. Helios is a maintenance and sharing of watchlist data. This data then supports the end-to-end passenger journey - from visa applications and pre-departure checks right through to crossing the border. Borders Platforms is responsible for building and maintaining the hybrid platform which enables tenant teams (currently CtB) to effectively develop and run current and future services that keep the UK border operational. Level 2 support is in relation the Border crossing and Helios for the duration of the contract. Lot 1: BX and Helios The Authority are seeking a system management & development partner to run, maintain and improve the Border crossing & Helios systems within an integrated product ecosystem. Border Crossing is made up of several parts. At the Passenger Control Point (PCP) Border crossing allows Border Force officers to search passenger records using biometrics and documents. In addition, checks take place on the passport chip to verify its validity. In the back-office Border crossing Tools allows Border Force officers to investigate passengers more thoroughly, either before, during or after they have crossed the border. The Border crossing Admin tool provides authorised users with access to BX audit and performance. Helios is a direct replacement of a previous system - Warning's Index (WI)/Argus, and will be used for the ingest, maintenance and sharing of watchlist data. This data then supports the end-to-end passenger journey - from visa applications and pre-departure checks right through to crossing the border. Additional information: Estimated contract value is £110 - £120 Million Lot 2: Borders Platforms The Authority are seeking a system management & development partner to run, maintain and improve the Borders Platforms which sits within the Migration and Border Technology Portfolio (MBTP). Border Platforms is responsible for building and maintaining the hybrid platform which enables tenant teams (currently CtB) to effectively develop and run current and future services that keep the UK border operational. Borders Platforms vision is to provide a stable and resilient, highly reliable, and highly available platform, with a route to production for our tenant teams. Borders Platforms works closely with internal and external, third-party infrastructure providers to ensure services are operating to the highest degree of availability and provide tenants with a resilient service. This includes building and maintaining components that enable secure data as well as building capabilities to other platforms. Additional information: Estimated Contract Value £45-50M Lot 3: Level 2 Support for Border Crossing (BX) and Helios The Authority are seeking a partner to provide level 2 support to ensure reliance and service of central systems, supporting a 24 hours a day 365 days a year operation, requiring high degrees of resilience and availability. The existing applications run on diverse technological stacks and have been delivered over a 3-year programme and are expected to evolve over the next 5 years in line with government policy and operational need. The system is critical national infrastructure, incorporating official and secret data sets and related processes. Additional information: Estimated value of contract is £20 - £25 million