18 November 2021

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR") and the retained UK law version of MAR pursuant to the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. For the purposes of MAR, UK MAR, Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055 and the UK version of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, the person responsible for releasing this announcement is Daren Morris, Chief Financial Officer of Big Technologies plc. 

Big Technologies plc

("Big Technologies" or the "Company" and the "Group")

 

Buddi announces electronic monitoring contract award in New Zealand

Further to the earlier annoiuncement made on 13 September 2021, Big Technologies plc, the UK-based, remote people monitoring technology company, is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Buddi Limited ("Buddi"), has now been awarded the electronic monitoring contract by the New Zealand Department of Corrections ("Corrections"). The contract is expected to start to generate revenue for the Group during the first half of 2022.

The announcement made by Corrections follows:

New contract lays ground for future of electronic monitoring

The Department of Corrections has announced it has awarded an up to eight-year, NZ$180 million contract for electronic monitoring equipment to UK-based company Buddi.

"This is a significant opportunity to improve the way that electronic monitoring is used across the justice sector," says National Commissioner Rachel Leota.

"Partnering with Buddi expands coverage to more communities across New Zealand, enables us to tailor monitoring to an individual's risk and circumstances and provides us with the ability to look at new and emerging technologies as they come to market."

Sara Murray OBE, founder and CEO of Buddi says "we are delighted to be working with the New Zealand Department of Corrections to achieve their aims of keeping communities safe and changing lives.

"I am especially proud that our fully inclusive technology service will support the delivery of positive outcomes for all offenders by playing a key part in the delivery of the Hōkai Rangi strategy. Buddi's technology and service has been developed to deter offenders from committing crimes and, instead, live healthy and sustainable lives, whilst at the same time ensuring they are continually monitored to protect victims and potential victims."

Currently there are around 5,800 people serving community sentences or orders who are subject to electronic monitoring, including people on parole, home detention and extended supervision orders. People who are temporarily released from prison for employment are also electronically monitored. Of these, around 1,600 people are subject to electronically monitored bail, operated jointly under a shared service model by Corrections and Police. 

People who are subject to electronic monitoring are required to wear an electronic monitoring device. If the person tries to tamper with or remove the device or leaves their address or enters an area that they are excluded from, an alert is triggered, which will initiate an appropriate response from Corrections who may escalate the situation to Police.

"Electronic monitoring is used to support better rehabilitation by allowing someone to complete their sentence at home, while giving assurance to victims that alerts are triggered if an offender does not remain in a specific area. It can also enable someone to be at home and care for their family instead of being remanded in custody," says Ms Leota.

"Not only does the increase in coverage across New Zealand provide more equitable access for people who may have previously been living in an area unsuitable for electronic monitoring, the new contract also enables a risk-based approach to monitoring individuals.

"This means we can tailor a person's electronically monitored sentence or order based on their risk and individual circumstances, rather than their sentence or order determining how we use electronic monitoring for them."

To date, a person's sentence or order has defined the type of monitoring device they receive, being delivered through two different devices that use either radio frequency or GPS technology.

The Smart Tag from Buddi incorporates both radio frequency and GPS in one device which will result in every person subject to electronic monitoring being issued the same device, regardless of their sentence or order. This will give Corrections the ability to change the way it monitors a person after a device has been fitted as they move through the judicial process. New Zealand is one of only a handful of jurisdictions globally which uses electronic monitoring pre-, during and post-sentence.

"Electronic monitoring has proven to be an effective tool in the overall management of people subject to community sentences or bail," says Ms Leota. "However, it doesn't replace effective supervision from probation officers, participation in rehabilitation programmes, regular risk assessment and positive support from friends and family."

The new contract will also enable Corrections to consider new and emerging technology in the electronic monitoring space which could improve the way compliance with sentences and orders are managed.

The contract will be for an initial five-year operational period, plus two rights of renewal of two and one year respectively. A transition period will commence in February 2022.

For further information please contact:

About Big Technologies

Big Technologies is the parent company of Buddi, which was founded in 2005 by its current CEO, Sara Murray, following an initial idea to create a GPS device small enough for a child to carry. Today, Big Technologies is a proven supplier of innovative and high-quality products and services to the remote personal monitoring industry. Big Technologies provides products and services under a number of brand and trading names, with 'Buddi' being the most well-known and being used in respect of activities within the core criminal justice market. Big Technologies (under the buddi brand) has created a leading, integrated technology platform (including both hardware and software solutions) for remote monitoring of individuals, providing state-of-the-art Electronic Monitoring (EM) solutions on a SaaS-like, subscription basis.

Electronic Monitoring in the criminal justice sector involves utilising location technologies to remotely monitor and manage people at all stages of the criminal justice system. The Company's focus on the Criminal Justice market in the immediate term has been demand-driven, with significant opportunities created by a combination of favourable market tailwinds as electronic location devices are increasingly recognised as alternatives to imprisonment, and superior technological capability enabling the Company to meet this demand effectively.

Big Technologies' criminal justice solution has been iteratively developed over a 10-year period, utilising the knowledge of an experienced management team listening to customers.  The solution consists of a proprietary software platform with modular monitoring hardware, capable of being adapted to multiple applications. The Company's criminal justice solution is principally focussed around the "Buddi Smart Tag", an electronic monitoring hardware device, and "Buddi Eagle", the in-house developed, cloud-based monitoring software. Collectively, the hardware and the intelligent tools integrated into Big Technologies' software enable real-time tracking of monitored individuals with high levels of accuracy and reliability. Buddi evidences a substantial reduction in false alerts when compared to competitor systems, which combined with the reduction in subsequent investigations can result in substantial cost savings for customers.

In addition to the high levels of accuracy, the Buddi Smart Tag has several key advantages over its competitors' devices. The tag is lighter, smaller, has longer battery life and offers a simple, contact free and shorter installation process, providing substantial staff cost savings for customers. This superior product design, coupled with the intelligent monitoring software, typically comes at a small price premium to competitor devices. However, the overall effectiveness and reliability of the solution, combined with the substantial cost savings delivered as a result of reduced monitoring costs, have helped Big Technologies deliver strong revenue growth from both existing and new customers. The Company leases its devices and software solutions to customers typically based on daily or monthly rates.