AFP revives investigation system replacement

The Australian Federal Police has revived its long-suffering investigation systems replacement project after cancelling the multi-million dollar overhaul almost three years ago.

The agency has been trying to replace its PROMIS case management system – used by officers to document investigations and store the force’s operational information and intelligence since 1997 –  on and off since 2007.

The most recent attempt to move off the system was back in 2013, when the AFP looked to the market for an out-of-the-box solution that could also serve as its evidence management system and compliant recording and management system.

It settled on an Elbit Systems product for the new system, which was expected to be delivered by March 2017.

But two years later the agency cancelled the $145 million project and booted Elbit Systems after deciding the project had become irretrievable due to time, cost and functionality shortcomings.

In the process it was forced to return $35.8 million in unspent sustainment funding earmarked for the project.

At the time it still maintained the new system would be operational by the 2018-19 financial year, but the agency has since conceded that it intends to maintain PROMIS until 2021.

Now the agency has approached the market to find “a scalable and robust IMS that has the potential to underpin the AFP’s investigation activities for the next 10-15 years”, tender documents state.

The agency expects the new system will ensure investigative processes are “standardised and repeatable across the AFP” by allowing management of “investigations from receipt of a referral through to brief generation and finalisation”.

This will “deliver efficiencies both in terms of the resources expenditure and time taken from referral through to finalisation,” it said.

While the new IMS will “supersede ... the existing system as well as a number of standalone applications” – which have been introduced since PROMIS was delivered in 1997 – it will need to “utilise existing enterprise capabilities” to reduce duplication of capability.

This includes integrating with applications for record management, forensics management and rostering.

The agency is specifically looking for a solution that needs only “minimal development and is easily configurable”.