South Australia Police seeks next-generation biometric capture system

South Australia Police (SAPOL) has opened a tender for a full replacement of its fingerprint biometric capture system.

It’s seeking a commercial off‑the‑shelf biometric solution to modernize custody processing, criminal identification and investigative workflows across the state.

The agency currently relies on biometric capture technology for fingerprints, palm prints and custody photographs. However, with advances in biometric standards, the arrival of NAFIS NextGen, and the need for stronger digital records management, it says it now requires a transition to an enterprise‑grade system.

The new system must support lawful, high‑quality capture. It will be capable of validation, transmission and storage of fingerprints, palm prints, upper‑hand images and custody photos. It should integrate with NAFIS NextGen and replace all fixed and mobile capture devices.

SAPOL is also seeking modern workflow tools, updated user interfaces, secure storage and retention capabilities. It should have demographic data prefilling and migration of two years of existing records into a long‑term digital repository.

Vendors will need to provide administration consoles, reporting tools, device monitoring, support, maintenance, SLAs, training and documentation. The contract is expected to run for five years, with two optional one‑year extensions. Full deployment must be completed before 1 June 2027, following an 18‑month transition period.

The tender closes at 2pm SA time on 13 July. SAPOL has previously worked with NEC Australia, which delivered a mobile fingerprint solution in 2014 and later secured a facial recognition software contract. More details on the fingerprint system replacement tender can be found here.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint recognition  |  South Australia Police  |  tender