The Department of Homeland Security has begun to solicit industry information on biometric systems designed to screen foreign visitors exiting the U.S. under a potential $7.2 billion program, Nextgov reported Wednesday.
Aliya Sternstein writes DHS said in a notice that it plans to field biometric exit systems at airports in 2018 and expand the deployment of such tools to seaports, land borders and other exit areas.
The department expects potential vendors to provide biometric platforms that work to collect foreign visitors’ fingerprints and photographs as well as determine matches between an individual’s arrival and departure records, Sternstein reports.
DHS would also implement performance metrics to quantify the threats identified by exit checkpoints as well as require potential contractors to communicate updates to travel authorities and passengers as part of the biometric exit program, the report said.
DHS has begun to conduct tests at airports that use mobile fingerprint scanners and systems that work to capture an individual’s iris and photos and plans to share the experiment results with vendors once the agency’s Customs and Border Protection releases a request for proposals, according to Nextgov.
Responses to the request for information are due July 1, according to the report.
