The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has taken a significant step in its programme to replace the legacy digital estate in the Prison Service, signing Farsight Consulting to develop new bespoke software.
They have agreed on a three-year contract valued at £6 million for prison legacy replacement digital services.
The company has also won a three-year, £3 million contract for the development of software to improve the video links service for prisons.
The digital estate of the Prison Service in England and Wales has evolved gradually to become very complex, making it more difficult to develop services relying on data – such as a tool to calculate release dates.
Single source of truth
An effort has been underway to deal with issues involved in using the legacy National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS), aimed at providing single source of truth on types of offence, sentences and other core data. This is intended to remove the need for users to make choices on the right data to use.
It is also expected to enable the automation of a range of manual processes.
The contract for software to support the use of video calls reflects what is seen as an increasingly important function in the Prison Service, with the MoJ seeing it as a way for inmates to keep in touch with their families.
