Daon to provide TWIC software

BearingPoint officials will use Daon products for some of the core software for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program.

Officials at Daon, a provider of biometric identity management software, will supply biographic and biometric software to BearingPoint for TWIC, the Transportation Security Administration's program to provide cards with biometric identifiers to airport workers.

BearingPoint won a $12 million contract from TSA in August to develop and evaluate a prototype of the TWIC system. TWIC prototype operations will be conducted in the greater Philadelphia area, Los Angeles metropolitan region and 14 ports in Florida.

Conor White, Daon's chief technology officer, said his company is responsible for TWIC's identity management system, enrollment software and authentication. "It's a very secure, end-to-end scheme up until the card issuance," White said. "It's a contact and contactless interface card for ease of use reasons."

Each TWIC card contains a 64K contact integrated circuit chip, a magnetic strip, a bar code and a unique serial number. Its security features include Guilloche patterns used to prevent counterfeiting, microtext, ultraviolet printing techniques and holographic overlays.

Officials believe TWIC can eliminate the need for a worker to have multiple credentials. The TWIC cards