Sixteen of Australia's Defence bases will soon be monitored by new security systems as part of the department's long-delayed base security improvements program (BISP).
Defence has awarded a $146 million contract to Watpac Construction to upgrade the physical security and systems at 16 high priority Defence bases.
Watpac in turn signed a contract with Saab Security for the installation and commissioning of the electronic security systems.
These include “state of the art” electronic access control systems to manage vehicle and pedestrian access, additional close circuit television, base-wide alert systems, physical access systems, command and monitoring facilities and detection systems.
Installation kicks off in August 2013 and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2015. It will cover eight sites in NSW including the Holsworthy Barracks, three sites in the ACT, four sites in Victoria, and one in Queensland.
The BISP was established in 2009 following an attempted terrorist attack on the army’s Holsworthy barracks.
Defence had originally allocated around $329 million to the BSIP in its 2010-11 Budget over the following four years.
The legislative underpinnings of the program were introduced to Parliament in September 2010, authorising optical surveillance of the facilities and the transfer of images and data from this system to intelligence authorities.
But the centrepiece of the BSIP, the Base Infrastructure Works (BIW) project, was delayed for 12 months due to government budget cuts.
In last year’s Budget the Government stripped $5.5 billion from Defence for four years in a cost-cutting endeavour, which also saw 2000 civilian jobs over two years and the postponement of several pricey projects such as the BSIP.
Defence revised the total cost of the project to $203 million last year.
