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| PITO AWARDS POLICE NATIONAL NETWORK 3 (PNN3) FRAMEWORK ARRANGEMENT TO CABLE & WIRELESS |
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07 November 2006
The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has awarded the Framework Arrangement for the new Police National Network (PNN3) to Cable & Wireless following a competitive tender process. Cable & Wireless was the supplier for the previous PNN2 Framework Arrangement. The estimated value of the Framework Arrangement is £75 million over five years.
The PNN3 Framework Arrangement means that Cable & Wireless is the provider of managed voice, data, video, internet and hosting services to all police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as more than 100 organisations in the wider criminal justice community. These services enable the secure transmission of data between police forces, criminal justice and police-related agencies.
PNN3 offers greater functionality than PNN2 whilst maintaining the same look and feel for its users. New services offered include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video conferencing for internal and force-to-force or force-to-agency communications. PNN3 still offers standard internal/external telephony with built-in security and Criminal Justice Extranet (CJX) connectivity - which provides forces with secure access to national police systems - as well as robust encryption, firewall, internet access, web hosting and security services.
PNN3 also offers enhanced managed bandwidth services so that forces can scale their network capability, depending on operational requirements. This means that, even in the event of a major incident, forces can rely on an always-on, flexible national network. Under PNN3, forces will be able to exceed their standard bandwidth requirement without having to notify Cable & Wireless in advance, enabling faster responses to unplanned events.
The principal benefit of PNN3 is that it ensures a common communications platform capable of meeting the information exchange requirements of the Police Service for the next five years - with the option to extend for a further two years. In addition, it ensures that all forces and agencies are working to the same robust levels of security so that police data is not compromised. PNN3 also provides significant cost savings through economies of scale.
Ian Readhead, Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary and ACPO lead for the PNN project, said: "PNN3 plays a pivotal role in the drive toward a more modern Police Service. It facilitates greater communication between forces and secure access to centralised data; making interoperability easier. This is a key recommendation of the Bichard Inquiry and allows us to deliver an effective, collaborative and integrated national, regional and local information-sharing and intelligence capability. PITO have done a brilliant job in scoping the project and ensuring that the needs of the police community have been met."
Alan Stanmore, Commercial Director at PITO, said: "The PNN3 Framework Arrangement has been pre-negotiated by PITO and is subject to regular reviews and benchmarking to ensure competitive prices and a full range of services will be maintained. Key issues - including service levels, pricing, terms and conditions and security accreditation - have already been resolved by PITO, so the Framework Arrangement delivers value for money and quality without the delay and expense of another localised procurement exercise. It is responsive to the growing communication requirement of the Police Service and allows for advance budgeting and costing to support force development effectively."
Martin Goodman, Director of Systems Integrators and Government at Cable & Wireless, said: "The Framework Arrangement recognises that the organisations we will be supplying have different service requirements, consequently it enables them to select their services from a menu of options. We will be working closely with our customers to fulfil regional and local requirements and simultaneously facilitating national cohesion. The Framework Arrangement is future-proof in that it accounts for technological refreshes and enhancements required for innovations so we can ensure smooth transmissions over the Framework Arrangement lifespan."
Migration from PNN2 to PNN3 is scheduled for completion by October 2007.
Cable & Wireless is an expert in managing secure, joined up services for a range of public sector organisations. It runs the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) and Government Connect, which allow central and local authorities respectively to share information securely. It also provides the Criminal Justice Extranet, giving secure access to applications across multiple agencies and NHSmail, enabling 1.2 million NHS staff to share information securely. This collaborative infrastructure expertise is key to the provision of shared services and in particular enabling government to virtualise its front office channel as if it were a single entity. This wide experience means that Cable & Wireless is a key partner for public sector organisations aiming to transform the service they provide to citizens.
- Ends -
Notes to editors:
About PITO
The Police Information Technology Organisation provides information technology and communications systems and services to the police and other criminal justice organisations in the UK. PITO is a non-departmental body overseen by a board that draws its members from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the police authorities, the Home Office and the Scottish Executive. The board also has independent members.
April 2007 sees the creation of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), to support the forces to improve the way they work across many areas of policing. The NPIA will replace PITO and will take on significant areas of its operations, including the responsibility for the PNN3. All PITO contracts including the PNN3 will be novated (legally transferred) from PITO to the NPIA as of the 1st April 2007.
www.pito.org.uk
About PNN3
More information about PNN3 is available from the regularly updated Information Brief on our website:http://www.pito.org.uk/products/pnn.php
About Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless is one of the world's leading international communications companies. It operates through two standalone business units - International and UK.
The International business unit operates integrated telecommunications companies in 34 countries offering mobile, broadband, domestic and international fixed line services to residential and business customers, with principal operations in the Caribbean, Panama, Macau, Monaco and the Channel Islands.
The UK business unit provides enterprise and carrier solutions to the largest users of telecoms services across the UK, US, continental Europe and Asia, and wholesale broadband services in the UK.
For more information about Cable & Wireless, go to http://www.cw.com.
For more information, please contact:
PITO
Alison Hicks
Press Office
020 8358 5759
alison.hicks@pito.pnn.police.uk
Kay Odysseos
Project Communications Coordinator
020 8358 5554
kay.odysseos@pito.pnn.police.uk
Cable & Wireless
Katie Dove
PR Manager
07733 392514
katie.dove@cw.com
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