UNDP requests proposals for open source mobile digital ID pilot in Mauritania

A request for proposals has been issued by the United Nations Development Programme for an open source mobile digital identity pilot in Mauritania that adheres to privacy by design principles and follows industry standards.

In the RFP, UNDP specifies that the pilot is intended to accelerate the improvement of public service accessibility, in line with Mauritania’s ‘Digital Agenda 2022 – 2025.’

That means identity verification based on an automated process based on NIST standards, face biometrics with a liveness check against an ID document, and authentication through a planned future services portal with OpenID Connect flows and incorporating QR code scanning. The double blindness principle must also be preserved by separating the identity proofing and authentication server from the agency managing the civil registry.

As explained in a LinkedIn post by UNDP Senior Advisor for National Digital Transformation Jonas Loetscher, standards to be followed also include the W3C’s Verifiable Credentials.

The work is expected to take two months, with a target start date in July and completion date in August of this year. The deliverables are a detailed implementation concept, a test version of the app and backend, and deployment on client infrastructure with app availability on Google Play Beta and iOS Testflight. Each of those deliverables can be completed remotely.

A final deliverable of the fully functional pilot and passed acceptance test must be completed in Nouakchott.

Details such as the assessment criteria are available in the RFP document.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  civil registration  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  identity verification  |  Mauritania  |  open source  |  pilot project  |  UNDP