US Navy to award sole source contract to IDEMIA NSS

The United States Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific (NAVWAR-P) has announced that it intends to award a firm-fixed-price purchase order on a noncompetitive basis to Idemia National Security Solutions (NSS).

The announcement did not identify what specific product is to be purchased, the contract amount, or for what purpose, however, Idemia National Security Solutions provides biometric and identity credentialing services to the U.S. Department of Defense and for nearly a year has been working with the U.S. Navy and other Pentagon components on biometric solutions for entry points onto U.S. military bases and installations.

Formerly the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, NAVWAR focuses on providing capable and secure communications and networks across platforms and facilities.

NAVWAR Pacific conducts research, development, prototyping, engineering, test and evaluation, installation, and sustainment of integrated information warfare capabilities and services across all warfighting domains with emphasis on basic and applied research and tactical systems “afloat and Ashore to drive innovation and warfighter information advantage.”

Last month, Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) in San Diego, California, began pilot testing of what it said is “a cutting-edge solution that features biometric technology to automate access control onto the naval installation. If pilot testing is successful, this solution may lead the way in improvements to security, personnel productivity, and traffic management at military installations across the country.”

A year earlier, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Brad Rosen, Commander of Navy Region Southwest (NRSW), had raised the need to streamline access control processes for personnel and vehicles to enhance security efficiency. Brought in NavalX to meet the challenge. NavalX is the innovation arm of the Navy and Marine Corps.

According to NavalX, it carried out “extensive consultations with Navy stakeholders and industry leaders to define the problem and need, attended live demonstrations of possible solutions, and uncovered an opportunity to partner with Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific to leverage their existing contract with IDEMIA National Security Solutions,” NavalX said.

The project was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, which conducted a pilot of biometric base access using the Idemia solution that leveraged its expertise, as well as the expertise of NIWC Pacific, which led the test and evaluation of the system.

NavalX said that “after the [Idemia] system demonstrated a dramatic increase in traffic throughput facilitated by the facial recognition technology in other locations, NavalX recommended that NRSW partner with NIWC and volunteer to receive the first operational ID2Pass prototype. In April, NIWC Pacific added Naval Air Station North Island to the existing contract, enabling the ability to perform the pilot test this summer.”

Idemia’s ID2Pass is part of its ID2Access end-to-end biometrically enabled access control solution for secure installations. In the Navy’s concept demonstrations it allowed all individuals enrolled through ID2Access (CAC/PIV holders, contractors, and visitors) to be able to quickly enter a facility with minimal guard interaction.

“Without NavalX’s technology scouts, adept negotiation skills and deep understanding of contracting nuances, our progress would have been significantly slower. Their efforts have been instrumental in accelerating the project to its current speed and ensuring its success,” Rosen said, adding, “I didn’t think getting a solution under contract in under a year was possible, but NavalX made it happen for us.”

Idemia access control solutions were also tested in demonstrations in September 2023 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama where the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command is co-located.

The demonstrations were performed by Redstone, the Naval Information Warfare Center, the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency, the University of Alabama, and Idemia, which also demonstrated its remote enrollment process using a mobile phone app.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  government purchasing  |  IDEMIA  |  Idemia NSS  |  Navy  |  U.S. Government