Army scouting for biometrics

NSTISSC acquisition policy

The Army announced this week that it is seeking commercial sources for security

products and services to support all of the Defense Department's biometrics

needs.

In an inquiry to industry, the Army's Communications and Electronic

Command Acquisition Center in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., detailed the department's

needs for biometrics hardware, software and services to provide security

for information activities within the United States and overseas in operational

zones such as Bosnia and South Korea.

Biometrics are authentication technologies that rely on measurable physical

characteristics, such as fingerprint verification, iris scanning and voice

authentication. The Army is looking for these and many other biometric technologies,

as well as training and support for the services provided.

All products must comply with the Biometrics Application Programming

Interface standard overseen by the BioAPI Consortium. The products must

also comply with the National Security Telecommunications and Information

Systems Security Committee's acquisition policy that calls for DOD to give

preference to products evaluated under the international Common Criteria

Certification and Evaluation Scheme.

Products are now being evaluated by commercial laboratories under the

accreditation of the National Information Assurance Partnership of the National

Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Responses are due back to the Army Cecom Acquisition Center's Southwest

Operations Office by Nov. 21.