Brijot Imaging Systems has received a contract from a British government agency for the supply, installation and maintenance of the company’s passive millimeter wave imaging technology for use at seaports and airports, marking the first significant international government win for Brijot.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Brijot will provide more than two of its BIS-WDS GEN 2 imaging systems to each of six sites, Mitchel Laskey, the company’s president and CEO, tells TR2. The systems will be used to screen for currency and drugs for inbound and outbound passengers. Brijot says that the BIS-WDS will be deployed both overtly and covertly. The contract includes training and five years of maintenance and support.
Laskey says there are opportunities for additional systems to be acquired at the six sites.
The BID-WDS GEN2 system, which can detect objects such as contraband, explosives and liquids, hidden beneath a person’s clothing, was selected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), after participating in extensive trials early last year.
Last fall the United Kingdom government decided to make the HMRC responsible for passport control and customs and in charge of conducting screening measures at points of entry and exit on people and commodities. That merger of responsibilities gives Brijot confidence that based on its recent contract win, it has expanded opportunities with HMRC, Laskey says. The original purpose of the trials and subsequent bids was to detect currency and drugs coming inbound at points of immigration, he says. Now there are opportunities to go to all U.K. ports of embarkation and disembarkation, he adds.
The U.K. government seems to agree.
“Whilst this equipment will detect items of traditional interest to HMRC such as drugs or cash concealed on the body, with the expanded remit of the new agency I see its use being extended into many other areas such as the detection of hidden documents,” says John Whyte, deputy director of HMRC and the chair of the Detection Technology Board. “The testing program for this equipment was rigorous and it was clear that Brijot listened and responded to our needs. This approach was most welcome and an integral part of our decision to purchase Brijot’s equipment.”
Laskey says that during the U.K. trials representatives from at least 10 other countries took the opportunity to check out the various technologies that were being demonstrated. This, combined with the HMRC win, should open more doors for Brijot, he says.
For Brijot, 2008 will be a “year of execution,” Laskey says. The company has been refining its technology while generating sales and building demand. Now it’s time for the company to “fill the demand and put processes in place to service, support and meet demand,” he says.