The Cabinet Office has agreed on a new £47.5 million contract with CGI for the management of the National Security Vetting System (NSVS).
It has published an award notice indicating that CGI, which is the incumbent provider of the system, will continue in the role for another four years beginning next March.
It also considering the development of a new system to replace the eight year-old legacy version, which is built on the company’s Cerberus application, as part of its transformation programme in response to increasing security threats.
“NSVS is faced by highly sophisticated attacks conducted by nation states with near limitless resources,” it says. “A complex set of specific requirements are needed to help keep NSVS (and more importantly the vetting data that it holds) safe and secure, which are being developed as part of the planning for a replacement system and service.”
MoD role
The current system is held in a high trust environment in the estate of the Ministry of Defence, which also manages the monitoring and access control procedures.
“The new contract is intended to provide enhanced performance management and reporting, clear exit obligations and a value for money commercial model,” the document adds. “These new provisions will mean that the UK security vetting transformation programme can open up options for a long term future solutions.”
The service identifies those people who should be granted access to sensitive information or facilities. CGI has said that annually, around 140,000 cases are currently vetted for the Ministry of Defence and 25,000 for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
