The Australian Federal Police’s software asset value has risen by $25 million – or 17 percent — to $166 million in the last financial year.
The increase comes over a year after the AFP implemented a new investigations management solution (IMS) in April 2023.
In a statement to iTnews, the AFP said it had increased its purchase and development of “software systems to enhance AFP’s online security and boost the AFP’s cyber, intelligence, and investigations capabilities”.
Specifically, iTnews understands that the case management platform and the AFP’s partnership with agencies such as United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service were contributors to this increase.
The asset value is exclusive of the AFP’s software licence purchases, which included $1.5 million for Red Hat software and $485,000 for Nearmap licenses, among others.
According to AFP’s annual report [pdf], the launch of the investigations management solution (IMS) also led to an increase – on paper – in the number of case numbers, something that was also attributed to the new case management platform.
A replacement for the legacy PROMIS (Police Real-time Online Management Information System), the new platform requires officers to record every referral as its own case.
Previously, smaller investigations of particular crime types were recorded as entries within a single larger case.
“Due to the phased approach to the introduction of IMS, there will be a period between exclusively data reporting and exclusively IMS reporting,” the report said. “
Therefore, further increases in investigation numbers are expected in 2024–25.”
The report also revealed that the AFP spent over $5.3 million on consultancy fees, which included $252,000 to Canberra-based CBR Cyber.