DHS issues RFI for input on ongoing biometric R&D

The US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Procurement Operations issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking data from academia, scientific, technical, and engineering sources as well as industry “to support current and future technical and operational biometric outcomes.” DHS said responses to the RFI will “be reviewed by government technical experts drawn from federal employees and contractor subject matter experts (SMEs) supporting the effort.”

The collection of this data is being carried out under DHS’s Biometric Identity Research and Development (BIRD) initiative by the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), which the RFI says “is interested in experienced and capable vendors to respond to [the] RFI.”

The information obtained by respondents “may be utilized in the preparation of a Request for Quote, provided DHS finds it in its best interest,” the department said, adding that “vendors are encouraged to review this RFI and determine if their competency meet the DHS requirements.”

DHS said that OBIM is collaborating with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to transition the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) to the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system.

DHS says, “this upgrade will shift from hardware-based matching to a cloud-based microservice architecture,” and that “as OBIM expands its biometric identity management services to incorporate additional modalities and stakeholders, active involvement in standards development organizations is crucial. This engagement supports OBIM’s long-term goals for a Service-Oriented Architecture and aligns with the IDENT Identity eXchange Messaging (IXM) application profile, which facilitates communication with the OBIM/IDENT system. IXM is an XML-based message exchange format that provides a manageable, standards-based interface for OBIM’s services.”

According to the RFI, DHS wants to hear from respondents who can support the following:

• Participating in meetings of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards Technical Committee M1- Biometrics and Artificial Intelligence Standards meetings;
• Participating in meetings with the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission Biometrics and AI subcommittees and its working groups;
• Providing recommendations on voting positions and technical and editorial contributions for standards under development;
• Providing technical advice for the development, update, and/or enhancement of biometric, forensic, and identity management standards; and
• Reviewing of papers, reports, and drafts of standards submitted to the Biometrics and Artificial Intelligence Standards.

The RFI also stresses that respondents should have “biometrics experience” and “capabilities related to the following:”

• Biometric research and evaluation;
• Automated latent fingerprint matching;
• Video processing/analytics;
• Contactless fingerprint, palmprint, and Plantar capture and comparison;
• Hyperspectral imaging of face and body;
• DNA/phenotyping;
• Facial recognition;
• 3D biometrics;
• Iris recognition;
• Fingerprint recognition;
• Voice and speaker recognition;
• Gait;
• Keystroke;
• Biometric fusion;
• Identity formatting and normalization;
• Digital identity technologies;
• Anomaly detection;
• Liveness and spoofing;
• Distributed identity management;
• Photonic/optical digital storage;
• Quantum computing;
• Deep (convolutional) neural networks;
• Re-quantification of data; and
• Generation hardware and infrastructure-focused solutions to include storage, cloud optimization, network improvement, or other non-software-based technology.

The RFI says respondents should provide their experience and capabilities to support:

• Developing protype models (physical, electronic, digital, analytical, etc.);
• Testing in developmental and non-operational environments;
• Assisting with project lifecycles;
• Preparing findings and recommendations; and
• Creating detailed user and technical manuals, logistic documentation, and capabilities document; and recommending alternative solutions.

Further, DHS said, respondents with analytical and subject matter expertise should be able to support:

• Assisting with biometric operational planning;
• Assisting with biometric strategic planning;
• Collaborating with government stakeholders on biometric matters;
• Designing and facilitating biometric special projects, and
• Performing a broad range of biometric analysis.

DHS said it also is seeking HART subject matter expertise to support the HART system including:

• Testing and evaluating HART system;
• Performing technical analysis of the HART system;
• Performing system engineering, architecture, and integration of the HART system; and;
• Assisting with the cybersecurity resilience of HART system.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  DHS  |  DHS Biometric Identity Research and Development (BIRD)  |  OBIM  |  research and development  |  RFI  |  U.S. Government