The resolution of the Council of Ministers authorises the GNR to incur expenditure on the acquisition of maintenance services and supply of components and consumables for the Integrated Surveillance, Command and Control System of the Portuguese Coast, up to a maximum of €7,672,700 between 2021 and 2025.

The government said that the GNR Coastal Control Unit (UCC) is responsible for carrying out the GNR mission along the entire length of the coast and in the territorial sea of the mainland and the Autonomous Regions, with specific powers of surveillance, patrolling and interception. The UCC is responsible for managing and operating the SIVICC.

The Integrated System of Surveillance, Command and Control of the Portuguese Coast comprises a mechanism of detection, identification and support to the operational intervention for the surveillance of the coast, through a set of fixed and mobile observation posts (OP), within the scope of prevention, combat of illegal activities in the maritime approach to the Portuguese coast, illegal immigration and customs control.

"Taking into consideration that the SIVICC is a complex system of large dimensions, in terms of the quantity and diversity of equipment and location of its OPs, which operate uninterruptedly, it is of crucial importance to concentrate the responsibility for the maintenance of the SIVICC in a single entity in order to mitigate the risk of inoperability of the system, as its operation requires various types of certification to manufacturers," stresses the resolution of the Council of Ministers.

The Government also justifies the sum with the need to "ensure continuity of maintenance of the SIVICC in order to ensure the operability and permanent availability" of the system.