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The Government's e-Borders project took another step forward today as the shortlist for delivering the programme was announced.

'BT Emblem' and 'Trusted Borders' have been invited to proceed to the final stage of the procurement process. The contract will be awarded to one of these teams in summer 2007.

By the end of 2010 e-Borders plans to roll out core services to all major ports in the UK so we can strengthen the UK's border controls by tracking who comes in and out of the country. Border control agencies will be able to access information in advance of travel about the movements of passengers so resources can be targeted towards those who present a threat, while speeding up travel for those who do not.

It is anticipated that full coverage will be achieved by the end of 2014.

Home Office Minister Joan Ryan said:

"I am pleased that with today's confirmation of the short-listed teams we are a step closer to the roll out of the e-Borders programme."

"This technology will help transform our immigration controls. E-Borders will play a vital part in safeguarding our borders - enabling us to track all those who enter and leave the UK while facilitating efficient and secure passage for legitimate travellers."

Today's announcement takes forward the work outlined by the Home Secretary in the IND Review published this summer. As part of this review, the Home Office reinforced its commitment to meeting the global challenges of the 21st Century by significantly strengthening our borders through increased use of biometrics.

Notes for Editors:
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.

The essence of e-Borders is to 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 our immigration laws, serious and organised crime.

Border control agencies include Immigration service, Police service, Serious and Organised Crime Agency, Customs and UKvisas,

The full 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 provide more effective levels of border control and deliver faster processing and greater flexibility in control operations.

The two short-listed Bidder teams, with team members, are as follows:

• BT Emblem - BT (Prime), Lockheed Martin, LogicaCMG, Hewlett Packard, ARINC, Anite
• Trusted Borders - Raytheon (Prime), Accenture, Detica, Serco, QinetiQ, Steria, Cap Gemini