Schengen: migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II)

2010/0006(NLE)

The Commission presents a Staff Working Document reporting on the global schedule and budget for the entry into operation of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II). It recalls that it presented to the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council of 3-4 June 2010 a revised project schedule whereby SIS II could be expected to become operational by the first quarter of 2013. No information on the budgetary estimate was given at that time, as costs for the completion of the project were mainly dependent on contractual negotiations still to be launched during the summer. Both the global schedule and the budgetary estimate are to be confirmed at the forthcoming JHA Council of 7-8 October 2010. This report is also intended to provide information to the European Parliament, in its capacity of budgetary authority, a transparent and timely manner. It provides supporting information on the detailed global schedule and budgetary estimate, in particular the main assumptions and technical elements on which they were developed. It builds upon the intensive preparatory work carried out with Member States' experts and the subsequent negotiations with the main development contractor.

The SIS II project has had a difficult evolution. The challenge for all stakeholders has been to adapt and respond to the significant increase in the number of users (following EU enlargement), the intensity of use of the existing SIS by Member States authorities, as well as the need to reach a common understanding on the definitive operational requirements of the system. The original specifications anticipated the management of 15 million records, increasing over time to 22 million. However, due to the expansion in the number of Member States using the SIS and the intensive use of the system by the competent authorities, by January 2010 the existing system had arrived at over 31 million alerts. On this basis, experts agreed that the estimated size of SIS II at go-live was likely to be 52 million alerts.

Accordingly, it was agreed that the system capacity at entry-into-operation should be increased to 70 million alerts and that SIS II should be tested with a view to ensuring a scalability up to 100 million alerts without the need for technical change. The scale of the system's volumetric growth would thus exceed the capacity and the scalability obligations as laid down in the initial contract. This deviation from the original specifications has a significant impact on the hardware, requiring its adaptation and installation on several additional technical environments (dedicated hardware configurations for different development and testing needs).

Thanks to a collaborative approach with Member States and transparent information exchange with the European Parliament, and on the basis of commonly agreed definitive requirements, the Commission is now in a position to confirm the global schedule and present the budgetary plan for the entire project. Accordingly, SIS II will enter into operation in early 2013. The further development of the system and the increase of its capacity require an additional allocation of EUR 12.98 million, compared to the estimate presented to the Council and Parliament in June 2009 and April 2010. This amount is within the overall budgetary envelope for SIS II agreed by Council and the European Parliament for the period 2007-2013.