NNIT behind new border control system

Posted: June 10, 2010 by Daniel Vámosi Martinussen

The IT supplier NNIT has won an offering round at the Danish police to deliver a new IT system for border control.

The goal is to achieve a tighter and more efficient control with people passing through the Danish border control when NNIT is to implement the new system for the Danish Police.

The system called POLKON is to expand the current application for border control developed by CSC. The authorities sent out the application for offerings with a wish to develop added ability to compare with the Interpol's international database of lost passports outside of the EU.

"This means that the Police in Denmark will be able to check up on travelers passports with Interpol's database in Lyon (France) and uncover if a passport i.e. is reported missing in Pakistan or any other country", says project director at the Danish police Torben Bruhn to Version2.

This differs from the current procedure where a person from a country outside of the Schengen-collaboration is lead into the arrival area and border control for citizens within the Schengen-collaboration in Copenhagen Airport amongst other places.

Here all passports are scanned and controlled with reference to the Danish passport and criminal register as well as the common European database for missing passports. But not Interpol's database.

From December POLKON will also include visa control through a digital scan of the passports' barcodes. Furthermore, visas will also be fitted with fingerprints. This means that travelers' fingerprints will be recorded at the Danish embassy in the home-country before traveling.

Director of Sales at NNIT, Michael Bjerregaard, informs Version2 that POLKON is being developed by the Microsoft Solution department. Previously this department has delivered several IT solutions for the Danish state such as borger.dk and sundhed.dk.

Torben Bruhn from the Danish police does not wish to reveal the precise amount of the deal but informs that it is a one-digit DKK million figure. In total 5 different undisclosed companies placed bids in the offering.

Source: Version2