Home Office selects Thales for biometric identity project

Two-year £3.8m deal will see Thales deliver Biometric Residency Permits for non-EU nationals

The Home Office has selected Thales to provide a fully managed Public Key Infrastructure Shared Service (PKISS) to enable the production of Biometric Residency Permits (BRPs).

BRP cards are required for non-EU foreign nationals to stay in the UK, forming the basis for the person's identification, immigration status and entitlements during their residence.

PKISS is used to encrypt the biometric and biographic data used by the Home Office to create BRP cards.

Awarded through the PSN Services Framework, and worth £3.8m over two years, the contract will see Thales deliver software application development and full services support to the Home Office.

This support will include service desk, event and incident management, change and release management and what's being called a "continual service improvement programme".

Phil Naybour, vice president of secure communications and information systems at Thales UK, welcomed the deal with the Home Office.

"Winning this contract is a great result for Thales. We have been delivering the PKISS service to the Home Office since 2008 and this contract award clearly demonstrates confidence in our solution and service support packages," he said.

"This contract also shows Thales as a leading provider of PSN services where security is a critical element."

The Home Office has recently been criticised by the National Audit Office for its "poor IT" after writing off a previous £347m IT project.