Leidos wins $130M FBI contract to support CJIS biometric services program

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has awarded Leidos a five-and-a-half year $129.7 million contract to support its Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division’s Fingerprint Analysis Support Team (FAST) Biometric Services program.

The contract marks a significant development in the FBI’s efforts to modernize and enhance its biometric identification capabilities and further solidifies Leidos’ position as a critical partner in advancing federal law enforcement technology infrastructure. In April, Fusion Technology won a CJIS $159.8 million five-year Agility with SAFe Teams Law Enforcement Support Services contract.

“In early 2016, Leidos presented CJIS with a solution to build more collaboration between the Leidos development team and the CJIS test, verification, and validation (TVV) teams by incorporating agile methodology and development operations concepts into the software build rhythm,” Leidos has said. “After operating as a single sprint team for nearly two years, the Leidos development and maintenance team and CJIS TVV team built a strong working relationship.”

Since 2018, CJIS has worked with Leidos to develop and incrementally integrate the Next Generation Identification (NGI), a state-of-the-art biometric identification system that the FBI uses in concert with state, local, federal, and tribal authorities. NGI provides the criminal justice community with the world’s largest and most efficient electronic repository of biometric and criminal history information. NGI introduced multiple features including the Repository for Individuals of Special Concerns and Rap Back, which allows authorized users access to notifications of any criminal activity reported on individuals holding positions of public trust.

Leidos also designed, developed, and deployed the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the fingerprint matching component of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).

The CJIS Division, based in Clarksburg, West Virginia, operates the FBI’s primary biometric databases which form the backbone of U.S. criminal identification processes, supporting not only the FBI but also state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation.

As threats become more complex and the volume of biometric data expands, the FBI has prioritized modernization of its systems to ensure accurate, rapid, and reliable identification. The Leidos FAST Biometric Services contract is central to that goal.

Administered through the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedule and awarded under NAICS code 541519 (Other Computer Related Services), the contract obligates an initial $21.3 million. It follows a competitive procurement in which Leidos emerged as the winning bidder among two competitors. The unique award ID and associated entity identifier indicate the project’s formal administrative tracking, but the operational and strategic dimensions reveal a much broader transformation underway within CJIS.

The FAST program represents an evolution in how the FBI handles biometric services. Under this initiative, Leidos is tasked with enhancing the processing and analysis of fingerprint data and integrating more sophisticated biometric workflows. This includes ensuring 24/7 operational continuity, providing real-time system support, and contributing to the next-generation automation and accuracy of biometric identification.

FAST Biometric Services plays a vital role in supporting the FBI’s mission beyond domestic criminal justice. CJIS data is used in terrorism investigations, national security vetting, and international criminal justice cooperation. The systems Leidos will help maintain and improve is also plugged into Interpol databases, border security systems, and critical infrastructure protection frameworks.

The contract tends to reflect Leidos’ strategic emphasis on aligning its technological capabilities with national security imperatives. With a longstanding history in supporting intelligence and defense agencies, Leidos has been at the forefront of delivering biometric services to agencies such as the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Its work under the FAST program will extend those capabilities further into the justice and law enforcement domain, helping the FBI stay ahead of both traditional and emerging threats.

More broadly, the Leidos-CJIS partnership through FAST reveals the increasing dependence of U.S. law enforcement agencies on private-sector integrators to manage mission-critical identification systems. This outsourcing trend is particularly notable in biometrics, where the rapid evolution of technology often outpaces the government’s internal capacity to keep up.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  FBI  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  law enforcement  |  Leidos  |  tender  |  U.S. Government