Belgium Abandons €299 Million i-Police Digitization Project, Sues Sopra Steria

Belgium has terminated its contract with French IT consultancy Sopra Steria for the i-Police project, a large-scale effort to digitize the country’s police services. The project, initially valued at €299 million, ultimately yielded “no tangible results” according to Interior Minister Bernard Quintin [1]. Sopra Steria has been declared in default, despite already receiving over €75 million for the work [1].

Project Failure and Criticism

Launched in 2021 under the then-Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, i-Police aimed to consolidate data from approximately 80 different sources and applications into a unified platform [1]. However, the project was plagued by issues from the outset.

A 2023 audit by Deloitte identified the project as overly fragmented and lacking centralized management [1]. In response, police leadership attempted to address the problems by sidelining the federal police department responsible for information and ICT resources (DRI) and appointing an external program manager. This intervention ultimately failed to salvage the project [1].

Legal Disputes

The termination of the contract has led to legal action, with both the Belgian federal police and Sopra Steria filing lawsuits against each other [4]. The nature of the claims in these lawsuits has not been publicly disclosed.

Sopra Steria’s Continued Presence in Belgium

Despite the failure of i-Police, Sopra Steria remains involved in at least six other contracts with the Belgian government [2]. The company also has policing expertise within its UK branch, with Justin Whiteoak having joined from Police Scotland with over 30 years of experience [3].

Shift to Smaller-Scale Projects

Following the cancellation of i-Police, Belgian police will now focus on smaller, more manageable digitization projects [1]. One example of a successful smaller project is “Focus,” which allows access to various databases via smartphone [1].