UK Home Office tenders contract for biometric services development

The UK’s Home Office Biometrics (HOB) program has issued a tender for a two-year contract to develop and support applications with an agile methodology for an expected £8 million (US$10.8 million). The contract replaces and builds on existing HOB contracts that expire in 2019.

Applications covered by the tender include a DNA solution, the Biometric Services (API) Gateway, an access portal, and mobile solutions, and key technologies identified by Home Office for the contract are Java, JBoss Fuse, WebServices, Microservices and Postgres. It is expected to take a team of about 34 developers, testers, release managers and project managers, and may wind down to about 20 by the projects end, according to the tender notes on the government’s Digital Marketplace. In addition to DNA, HOB uses fingerprint and face biometrics.

The closing date for applications is May 18, and the contract is expected to start in July.

“This procurement will support the HOB Programme evolution of its systems and services, including the introduction of new services through the provision of an application development capability,” the Digital Marketplace post says. “It will provide the development capability for the programme to deliver robust and resilient solutions to meet the user requirements.”

Users of the services will include law enforcement, immigration, border force, and HMPO staff.

The Home Office recently hosted a pair of supplier events, which it says drew more than 90 organizations, to provide information on its requirements and approach.

Fujitsu reportedly won a £28 million (US$38.7 million) contract to provide the Home Office with a Biometric Matcher Services Platform (BMSP) in March.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Home Office Biometrics (HOB)  |  tender  |  UK