Fujitsu selected to overhaul SA's offender management system
Information technology services firm Fujitsu has landed a multiyear contract from the South Australian corrections department to revamp the state’s legacy offender management systems.
The South Australian Department for Correctional Services has selected Fujitsu for an overhaul of its offender management system, with the updated ‘iSAFE’ system expected to be fully operational in 2023. Fujitsu is already undertaking a similar project for Tasmania’s Department of Justice in delivering a major digital transformation of the state’s criminal information management systems.
“Fujitsu is pleased to be selected as a trusted digital transformation partner by the South Australian government to undertake this project,” said Dave Lennon, Fujitsu Australia’s public sector head. “We look forward to partnering with the Department to deliver transformational innovation that’s set to deliver significantly improved system functionality and efficiencies and underpin agile decision making.”
Set to replace the current Justice Information System as part of a $15 million upgrade, the iSAFE system will provide all relevant law enforcement agencies both in South Australia and across the country with real-time access to offender data during unfolding operations, helping to improve agency decision-making and public safety. The new system will also support more effective and integrated end-to-end case management.
Fujitsu have been tasked with the design, testing and implementation of the iSAFE solution, as well as to provide five years of ongoing support and maintenance with the option of an extension. The total span of the project aims to have the system fully embedded by 2030, as part of a nationwide commitment to improving interagency intelligence sharing following the deadly 2014 Lindt Café siege in Sydney, in which three people lost their lives.
“There have been a number of high-profile terrorism incidents in Australia in which the offenders were known to correctional services,” said then South Australia police minister Corey Wingard at the time of the funding announcement in late 2019, further noting the recommendations made by the Lindt Café inquest. “All Australian states and territories committed to improving information and iSAFE is a big step towards South Australia fulfilling that commitment.”
Fujitsu will work on the legacy IT overhaul in partnership with Syscon Justice Systems, a leading SaaS specialist in offender management systems in Australia and abroad, with the pair also teaming up on the Tasmanian upgrade alongside local consultancy Synateq. That project, Justice Connect, aims to connect the Tasmania courts with the public prosecutions office and correctional and victim’s services, along with the Tasmanian police.
Perhaps better known among the general Australian public for its Fujitsu general range of air-conditioners, Fujitsu is in fact one of the country’s largest ICT consultancy and services companies, employing over 5,000 people across the Australia and New Zealand region.
Last year the firm acquired Melbourne-based data and AI consultancy Versor, while consulting industry veteran Branko Panich was recently brought in as Executive General Manager of Consulting.
