Brussels, June, 2018 - Sopra Steria Benelux was awarded by eu-LISA the 4-year and 80M EUR contract for the maintenance and evolutions of SIS II, the Schengen Information System.
SIS II is the largest information system for public security and law enforcement cooperation in Europe. It supports public security, border control and law enforcement cooperation in Europe. It makes it possible to live in the Schengen area with no internal border controls, making free movement at the heart of Europe a reality. SIS II helps national authorities to share information and cooperate with their EU counterparts on cross-border crime in order to preserve internal security and keep citizens safe. The first Schengen Information System (SIS) was first rolled out in the 1990s. It was replaced by SIS II, developed by Sopra Steria, which went live in 2013.
The renewed service offer of Sopra Steria covers enterprise architecture and consulting, system integration and development, quality assurance and testing, security and cybersecurity, infrastructure management and cloud services. The setup for delivery sees the Group geographies of Benelux, Germany, France and Poland joining forces for this endeavour. The take-over is expected to start in spring/summer 2018.
The Sopra Steria offer strikes the right balance between continuity and innovation, stability and novelty. Sopra Steria has the commitment of the suppliers required to ensure the maintenance of the AFIS system and of the hardware and network infrastructure, and has deep knowledge of the SIS II software architecture and code. At the same time, the business and technological acumen of a “Big Four” and of a vendor-agnostic infrastructure service provider allows thinking laterally, outside-of-the-box for the best implementation of the SIS II evolutions.
Benelux Deputy CEO Michel Lorgeré says: “We take pride in that the system we initially developed has been operating flawlessly since its go-live and we are excited to be those entrusted of taking SIS II forward in its mission and evolution. We bring the corroborated commitment we have been showing to eu-LISA since its foundation and the assurance of a knowledgeable partner, ready for this challenge”.
Through the award of SIS II Sopra Steria Benelux has strengthened its position of delivering services on behalf of the EU.