Three channel firms have joined forces to win a tender from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) to implement a centralised address gazetteer.

The consortium is led by services giant Infotech Enterprises, which has been certified by public sector procurement body Buying Solutions as a Prime Contractor. Headquartered in India, Infotech has UK offices in London and Bristol.

It will be supported in the project's delivery by Croydon-based geographic systems specialist GGP Systems and Kingston upon Thames software and consultancy firm Infoshare.

The three firms have been tasked with creating and installing a gazetteer covering the whole of Scotland, including the provision of gazetteer management software and web services. Lothian & Borders Police will oversee the rollout and the project will be delivered over the course of a three-year contract.

Infotech will be responsible for programme management and project office support services. The contract was tendered through the Buying Solutions Geographic Information Services and Solutions framework.

Once completed, the gazetteer will contain details of all Scottish properties and the locations of all incidents reported in the country. Information will be provided by all 32 Scottish councils, as well as all eight police forces under Lothian & Borders' jurisdiction.

GGP will provide gazetteer management software and police staff will be able to access the directory from desktops or mobile devices. The police hopes to improve frontline policing and back office analysis through implementation of the gazetteer.

Tom Halpink, deputy chief constable for ACPOS National Command and Control Project Executive, said: “This contract is a key part of the wider ACPOS business change programme and represents groundbreaking improvements for the Scottish police service. The new system will help us to identify precise locations and allocate the best equipped and nearest police patrol.’’