MoJ to roll out next generation tagging

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has named Capita as a preferred bidder for its electronic monitoring and field support services contract that is expected to be the most advanced ‘tagging’ system in the world.

Capita will also have the role of overall services and systems integrator in a contract is expected to generate it revenues of some £400 million over the initial six-year contract term, based on the anticipated increase in the use of tags beyond the current numbers of monitored individuals.

New satellite technology will be used to help track the movement of offenders in the community, which means suspects can easily be identified as having been at the scene of a crime or quickly eliminated from inquiries, delivering swifter justice and saving valuable police time and money. Existing technology only allows monitoring officers to see if a subject is within a short range of a base station installed in their home.

The Aylesbury-based company Buddi will provide the software and the tags that go around the offender’s ankle.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said it was the start of a revolution in how offenders are supervised.

“We are now going to be able to track offenders wherever they go, 24 hours a day. And we will be able to stop them going to places we don’t want them going to go – like paedophiles hanging around outside schools. All of this is going to be done with world-class British technology designed and built by the kind of business we want government to work with more.”

International companies Astrium and Telefónica were announced as the other two preferred bidders with delivery split across the four contracts.

While the new contractors are rolling out their monitoring scheme, the current suppliers, G4S and Serco, will continue with their existing contracts for a transitional period to ensure operational continuity.

Mr Grayling said satellite tags will help cut crime, create safer communities with fewer victims and ultimately offer greater protection and reassurance to the public.

Under the contract, Capita is to provide two monitoring centres, the field force and, as overall services and systems integrator, ensure that the software, hardware and mobile network, procured separately by the MoJ, work seamlessly together.

Capita will also work with the MoJ to promote the intellectual property which underpins the service internationally, generating further growth and value for the public purse and Capita.

Let nationally for the first time, the service is expected to generate significant efficiency savings for the MoJ and will exploit new, more sophisticated, GPS (global positioning system)-based technology which will allow for curfew, location and proximity monitoring.

Capita plc chief executive, Paul Pindar, said: “When fully live, this is expected to be the largest, single and most advanced ‘tagging’ system in the world. This integrated service will play a key role in providing better alternatives to short prison sentences, allowing more tailored curfew and location monitoring and better management of subjects under electronic monitoring orders. It will offer a balance of monitoring and mentoring and help to achieve the Government’s broader objective of reducing re-offending while being run to the highest possible standards of governance and transparency.”

The flexible, scalable service has been designed to enable other government bodies, for example, the probation services, the NHS and social care agencies, to procure related services.

As part of the service, Capita has embedded a team from the National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NACRO) into the control centre to proactively engage with people on single requirement community orders and provide access to additional support including local mentors.