Fujitsu Services has won an 80pc to 90pc share of the £35m sterling Causeway Programme that will revolutionise interaction and administration between the various criminal justice organisations across Northern Ireland (NI).
The contract will include the design, implementation and operation of the IT services needed to support the Causeway Programme. The project is understood to be based on Microsoft technology. Microsoft’s SQL Server will be used to enable unstructured data such as photos and witness statements to be share amongst the various agencies.
Fujitsu Services, which employs 400 people in Belfast, will co-ordinate specialist expertise from Hewlett-Packard (HP), Microsoft and Meridio to deliver the solution.
It has built up significant experience of the criminal justice sector, having worked with the NI Courts Service for the last four years and supplied the technology for groundbreaking projects such as the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Shipman Inquiries in the UK.
It is understood that Fujitsu Services, HP, Microsoft and Meridio won the contract from an initial 27 bids and then a shortlist of three.
Describing the project as a landmark in NI’s journey towards e-government efficiency, Fujitsu Services’ regional managing director, Maurice Wright, said: “Our organisation has been a trusted service provider to government for over 50 years and is committed to creating technological solutions to the challenges faced by the public sector.”
The CEO of Fujitsu Services, Richard Christou, said: “Information is the lifeblood of any organisation and we believe that the information-sharing technology we will be implementing through the Causeway programme will bring major process efficiencies to the criminal justice system by ‘joining-up’ its various agencies.”
By John Kennedy
