Canada planning immigration biometrics contract worth up to $72M

Canada is preparing to hold an open bidding process to procure biometric identification equipment to support its immigration system.

The value of the contract or contracts available from the Department of Public Works and Government Services (PSPC) could be anywhere from $25 million Canadian (US$18.1 million) to CA$100 million ($72.2 million).

“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is engaging industry to better understand how to refresh its biometric collection capabilities and to potentially allow for future expanded service offerings of the Canadian Immigration Biometric Identification System (CIBIDS),” the notice says.

The request for information has been issued to gather input from the biometrics community on “the latest innovations and emerging trends” in live face and fingerprint biometrics collection, both mobile and fixed. Information is sought on both hardware and software.

IRCC wants to determine best practices for safeguarding the integrity of the biometric enrollments and managing a global network of biometric devices. It also wants to know about indigenous participation, environmental impacts and gender inclusivity.

Responses are sought from suppliers with core competencies in manufacturing or reselling mobile or stationary biometric devices, IT fleet management or anti-fraud solutions.

The description is strikingly similar to a tender process run by Canada’s government in 2021, when IRCC posted a letter of interest for “live facial capture and fingerprint collection” devices to be deployed to 850 endpoints in 270 global locations. The country also ran a procurement process to upgrade the face biometrics technology used in its passport program in the same year.

Responses to the latest RFI are due by December 3, 2024.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  border security  |  Canada  |  government purchasing  |  immigration  |  RFI  |  tender