IT hiccups hamper passport issuing at embassies

Embassies and consulates are struggling to issue passports because of weaknesses in their IT systems.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report into the consular services used by British nationals has found that Foreign Office posts around the world are being hampered by unreliable technology.

The report said: "Posts are struggling with existing systems because of a combination of problems with supporting information technology infrastructure, software, hardware and training."

Issuing passports at embassies depends on two main systems. The Generic Issuance Environment (GenIE), which was introduced from 2000 mainly to produce more fraud-resistant, machine-readable passports, while the Omnibase database allows posts to carry out online security checks and includes a database of lost, stolen and recovered passports.

The NAO said these systems had improved control over passport processing and security checking.

But the 10 posts visited reported that "sustained and repeated problems" with GenIE, Omnibase or the underlying infrastructure had resulted in delays in issuing passports and wasted staff time.

The report added: "This ranged from a complete loss of service for several days, through to shorter spells of unavailability, to system slowness."

And 25 per cent of posts which responded to an NAO questionnaire said the IT underpinning GenIE is not sufficient.

It said: "The problems arose from a combination of deficiencies in the main consular software systems, the underlying Foreign Office infrastructure (problems at the server computers), or from interfaces between the two."

The NAO said the Foreign Office has signed a £230m deal to improve its IT infrastructure, in a project called 'Future Firecrest'.

The Foreign Office has also been implementing a new casework management system since 2001 "but the project has so far had a mixed response".

The rollout of the Compass system began in 2001 but the NAO said "progress has been slow, mainly due to a lack of resources for training and installation".