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£650 million e-borders contract to Raytheon group

Government announces that half of £1.2 billion in funding for technology to boost border security will go to Raytheon-led Trusted Borders consortia for a screening system.

By Nicole Kobie, 14 Nov 2007 at 17:33

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The government has announced that half of £1.2 billion in funding to boost border security will go to a Raytheon-led group to provide new technology for passenger screening - a key aspect of the e-borders programme.

The £1.2 billion in funding, announced earlier this year, will include a massive £650 million contract with Trusted Borders - a consortia made up of Raytheon, Accenture, Detica and Serco, among others - to create a passenger screening system to rollout alongside the visa fingerprinting scheme.

The screening system will compare visitors' names against watchlists before they arrive in the UK. All high-risk routes - by air, sea or rail - will be covered by mid-2009, as will all journeys into the UK by foreign nationals.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the changes will create some of the most advanced security in the world: "All travellers to Britain will be screened against no fly lists and intercept target lists and, together with biometric visas, this will help keep trouble away from our shores... As well as the tougher double check at the border, ID cards for foreign nationals will soon give us a triple check in country."

Of the Trusted Borders deal, she said: "Today's contract is an essential step in enabling all passengers coming to the UK to be screened against watch lists before they arrive, stopping those with no right to be here from entering the UK."

But the scheme isn't just about illegal immigration or anti-terrorism, said Martin Peach, Director of Detection at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs: "The awarding of this contract will provide a further boost to the integrity of the UK's borders. It will also make an important contribution to protecting the country's borders from those seeking to smuggle Class A drugs, illicit and counterfeit cigarettes and other items that could otherwise cause untold harm to the UK."

Alongside the contract announcement, the government said that checks for immigration, customs and visas are set to be brought together under a new UK Border Agency, created as part of the Home Office, in order to battle crime and terror threats.