Digitisation project
The new project covers the digitisation of the records themselves together with indexing and upgrading the online certificate ordering process.
Until such time as it is able to provide an online index, GRO will continue to make a full set of the GRO indexes freely available in microfiche format at several libraries and record offices across England and Wales. Further information on the current location of the microfiche indexes can be found on the Directgov website.
Questions & Answers
Q. What is the digitisation project?
This is the project to scan and digitise birth, marriage and death registration records for England and Wales from 1837 to present day.
In 2005, Siemens IT Solutions was awarded a three-year contract to undertake this work. The Siemens contract expired in 2008, by which time approximately half of the records had been digitised. A joint decision was taken by IPS and Siemens to not renew the contract. At that point the Digitisation of Vital Events (DoVE) project was closed. As a result of this closure, the project, which was intended to provide online access to the digitised indexes (MAGPIE), was unable to proceed.
Q. What happened next?
The IPS Management Board requested a review of the options available to complete the digitisation work and, after considering the results of that review, directed the development of a business case to provide further detail.
Q. Why did this take so long?
IPS has needed to ensure that the project remains viable and will deliver both service improvements to our customers and value for money savings for the taxpayer. Work to prepare a business case that fully reflected the benefits of the digitisation programme took longer than expected.
Q. What is the outcome of the review?
The IPS Management Board has approved an outline business case for the digitisation work to move forward, and the new project D&I (Digitisation and Indexing) has been initiated to achieve this.
Q. What is the scope of the D&I project?
It is the intention that the D&I project will include the following:
- Completion of the digitisation of the outstanding registration records, namely births, marriages and deaths from 1837 to current date.
- Creation of online indexes to these events.
- Enhancements to the existing certificate ordering and production systems to enhance the overall customer experience.
It, therefore, includes the completion of the previous DoVE and Magpie projects plus additional pieces of work to enhance the customer experience.
Q. Does this mean that GRO will make certificate information available to view online?
Current legislation in England and Wales does not permit the register entries (certificate information) to be made available online. However, the provision of online access to the indexes will provide greater accessibility and improved ease of use for those people undertaking family history research.
Q. What information will be available in the new index?
It is too early in the project to confirm what information will be available in the new index.
Q. Will there be a charge for accessing the new index?
No. The Registrar General has a statutory duty to make the index available to the public free of charge.
Q. How many records have been digitised so far?
Over 130 million records have been digitised, namely the birth records from 1837 to 1934 and the death records from 1837 to 1957; this is approximately half of the total number of GRO records of birth, marriage and death. These are the record types most requested by members of the public applying to GRO for copies of certificates, often for the purposes of family history research.
Q. Why can't GRO provide indexes to the records that have already been digitised?
GRO does not have the necessary technical architecture to provide online access to the records that have already been digitised. Online access will be addressed as part of the D&I project.
Q. What has happened to the records which have already been digitised?
The digitised records are now being used by GRO within its certificate production system, known as EAGLE. As well as a database and image store, the EAGLE system also allows for the recording and tracking of all customer orders.
Q. How much is the project going to cost?
Until we have awarded a contract for this work we are not in a position to give information on project cost.
Q. When will the new online index be available?
Overall delivery timescales are not yet available and we will only be able to commit to such dates once they have been agreed with a supplier.
Q. What is happening at the moment?
The D&I project is now embarking on its preparation activities to enable a procurement exercise to take place. These preparations will draw upon key lessons learned from the DoVE project.
Q. How will you choose a supplier?
During the review period, a number of options were considered to ensure that all procurement objectives could be achieved. As a result, we intend to use the IPS Strategic Supplier Framework as this would appear to be the most efficient option and aim to be in a position to award contracts in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Q. What is the Strategic Supplier Framework?
The Strategic Supplier Framework is a contractual arrangement with one or more suppliers for a specified period of time. The Identity and Passport Service awarded the "Strategic Supplier Group" framework in June 2008 to five suppliers. This allows IPS to procure large IT related programmes of work in an efficient manner against a set of standard terms and conditions.
Q. Why are you using this framework?
- The framework has already demonstrated value for money during the framework procurement process, which was undertaken under full Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) competition.
- The framework provides a ready-made shortlist of five suppliers with the experience, capabilities and financial strength to deliver GRO needs.
- This option provides access to existing comprehensive commercial arrangements and will, therefore, speed up the procurement and contracting process.
- The Framework was developed to target the needs of IPS of which GRO is now part.
- The D&I Project will be able to draw upon the generic experience of IPS in its commercial negotiations for the IPS NIS Framework, including overall terms and conditions, partnering agreements, dispute resolution etc.
Q. Who are the five suppliers on the Framework?
Our 5 prime contractors are IBM, CSC, Thales UK, EDS and Fujitsu.
Q. How can I get involved as a supplier who is not on the Framework?
Suppliers who are not part of the framework should contact the prime contractors.
Q. When will the commercial competition be launched?
The project will be subject to the standard governance and approvals applied to all government projects including an Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Gateway Review. Once procurement preparations are complete, the project will seek the relevant approvals to launch the commercial competition.
Q. Where can I get further information?
Updates will appear on the IPS corporate website as information becomes available.
If you have any comments on this page please contact: Digitisation@ips.gsi.gov.uk
Last updated November 2009
