SEABROOK, Md. -Experts at Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Md., recently announced that they will configure, build, and maintain a new Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) for the U.S. Department of Defense that will consolidate, store, and search fingerprint data collected worldwide by the department.
This new system will be patterned after the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which Lockheed Martin developed and now maintains for the Federal Bureau of Investigation at its Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, W.Va. Today the IAFIS biometric database is the largest of its type in the world, providing its users fingerprint and criminal-history data on more than 47 million subjects, Lockheed Martin officials say.
Funded at $5 million in its first year, the DOD ABIS contract calls for the acquisition, delivery, installation, integration, and operation and management support for the system. The contract includes information technology hardware, software, communications technology and other equipment and supplies that are required. The contract was awarded as a task order under the U.S. Army’s Information Technology Enterprise Solutions (ITES) contracting vehicle.
The DOD will initially locate its ABIS in West Virginia, where Lockheed Martin will leverage existing support and expertise, using processes and procedures from the FBI system. Fingerprint data identification is among several biometrics technologies being explored at the center, company officials say.
Like its FBI counterpart, DOD ABIS will enable military agencies to conduct automated fingerprint searches, store images electronically, and exchange fingerprints on a daily basis. The Bureau’s Integrated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System referred to as IAFIS provides law enforcement officers an electronic response to criminal ten-print fingerprint submissions within two hours. Turnaround for civil cases averages 24 hours, Lockheed Martin officials say.
For more information go online at www.lockheedmartin.com.
