Trusted Borders, a consortium of companies led by Raytheon Systems Limited of the UK, has signed a contract with the Home Office to develop and implement the nation’s ‘e-Borders’ project, an advanced border control and security programme.

The e-Borders Programme is a multi-agency, technology-enabled business change programme which will create a joined-up, modernised border control and security framework for the United Kingdom. e-Borders will collect and analyse passenger and crew data, provided by carriers (air, sea and rail), in respect of all journeys to and from the UK in advance of their travel. This will support an intelligence-led approach to operating border controls, by identifying those involved in abuse of UK immigration laws, serious and organised crime and terrorism.

Border control agencies include Immigration service, Police service, Serious and Organised Crime Agency, Customs and UKvisas. The e-Borders programme will cover all carriers operating to and from the UK. It builds upon the successes of Project Semaphore, the de-risking pilot for the e-Borders programme which currently captures passenger information from a limited number of carriers on routes that have been identified as high risk.

By harnessing passenger information, performing risk assessments on passengers planning to enter or leave the UK and utilising new developments in technology which allow the swift and secure transfer of data, e-Borders will, in effect, export the border and provide more effective levels of border control and deliver faster processing and greater flexibility in control operations.

Members of the Trusted Borders consortium have already begun work on the e-Borders programme, building upon the country’s current pilot programme for border control and expanding it into a fully flexible, scalable and robust e-Borders capability within two years. Ninety-five percent of the work will be carried out in the UK.

“We are delighted to have been appointed to this prestigious contract and look forward to working closely with the Home Office to deliver an integrated, secure border for the 21st century,” said Brian McKeon, president and managing director of Raytheon Systems Limited.

As the prime contractor for the Trusted Borders consortium, Raytheon will be responsible for systems integration, travel services and overall project management, drawing upon its extensive development and production base in the UK as well as the company’s worldwide technology resources.

Supporting members of the consortium are leaders in their respective fields who bring a strong record of performance and delivery to the e-Borders programme. The members of the Trusted Borders team and their respective areas of responsibility in the programme are as follows:

Serco is responsible for infrastructure and service management.

Accenture is responsible for training end users of the system and helping to measure the overall business benefits of the e-Borders programme.

Detica is responsible for intelligence and analytics services.

QinetiQ is responsible for security accreditation and human factors.

Capgemini is responsible for the development of business architecture including the design of business processes, organisation structure and primary data flows.

Steria is responsible for the development of the Agency interfaces.