Recommendation 22

The Department stated that, if the programme is not delivered on time, its contingency is to extend existing contracts with Warnings Index and Semaphore, including using extension clauses in the existing contracts. The Department is seeking to avoid this for two reasons. Firstly, running those existing systems instead of delivering the programme would cost £130 million over 10 years and necessitate reliance on systems that would be very difficult to sustain during that period as the Warnings Index would be over 35 years old by the end of it.44 Secondly, continuing to use the existing systems delays the benefits of the newer systems, which are more user-friendly for staff operating at the border. For example, Border Crossing shows the age of passengers passing through rather than just their date of birth, removing the need for border staff to calculate the age themselves.45 41 Q 111 42 Qq 103, 105, 106 43 Q 92; C&AG’s Report, Digital Services at the Border Para 3.11 44 Qq 100–102 45 Q 31 Digital Services at the Border 15