Cops go with Digicore

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 28 Mar 2007

Digicore, the JSE-listed fleet management technology firm, has won a three-year contract to tell police management where their vehicles are.

The company last week announced it had won four tenders, worth R300 million, over the next three years. Digicore said this included the contract to provide electronic vehicle monitoring to the police, for better command and control of assets. This was confirmed in the Government Tender Bulletin of 23 March.

Neither the company nor the State IT Agency, which awarded the tender, disclosed the deal's value, although Digicore said it was "substantial".

Tender documents say the "project remains a high-priority project of the SAPS national commissioner".

It adds the deployment period depends on the "exigencies and priorities of the SAPS and available financing". Roll-out will be done on an 'as and when required' basis for three years, with an option to renew.

The document indicates up to 20 000 vehicles could be involved and the system may later be employed to track the police's pack of dogs.

Finance minister Trevor Manuel this year budgeted an additional R2.4 billion to the police to further expand police numbers and invest in technology and forensic equipment.

Digicore's tracking systems are GPS/GPRS-based and have been fitted to 170 000 vehicles in 26 countries, on five continents, in the last 15 years.