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DHS seeks ideas on capturing biometric data from exiting foreign travelers

The Department of Homeland Security has been collecting fingerprints and facial photos of foreign travelers arriving at air, sea and land ports as they enter the U.S. for years, and has recently decided it is time to collect -- and match -- similar biometric data obtained from foreign travelers as they exit the U.S.

To that end, the DHS procurement office released on May 1 a Request For Information (RFI) from industry sources about the types of sensing, recording and input devices, and the types of operational procedures, that might be available to capture biometrics from departing travelers who leave the U.S. through the nation’s 167 land ports, as well as via ferries and railroads. Such systems would be put in place along the southern border with Mexico and the northern border with Canada.

These technology systems would be expected to capture data from approximately 10 million foreign travelers who leave the U.S. via land ports each year and would be subject to the requirements of the US-VISIT program.

"If the non-US citizen traveler is subject to US-VISIT procedures on entry to the U.S., that traveler will likely also be subject to US-VISIT procedures to be established for exit from the U.S.," explained the RFI.

The basic assumption of DHS is that the exit system would use fingerprint and facial recognition data similar to that used for the entry system already in place. Typically, such a system would capture a traveler’s biometrics and match those against data already sitting in federal government databases.

"However, if the response does not require a centralized biometric matching capability," said the RFI, "the respondent should describe how biometric verification of identity would occur in a manner that minimizes the opportunity for fraudulent use of documents, credentials, devices, or other means to establish identity and should also describe how and why the suggested approach would be an improvement over the fingerprint methods used currently."

The exit system would be applied to pedestrians as well as "in-scope" travelers departing the U.S. via personal autos, trucks, buses, motorcycles and bicycles, plus those leaving on passenger ferries and railroads.

The new exit system would closely coordinate with a variety of systems and databases that DHS already maintains. "The Government prefers but does not require a solution that is as open, compatible, and interoperable with industry standard equipment and existing DHS biometric verification capabilities, including interfaces, protocols, and practices," explained the RFI.

Program officials are shooting high in their technical expectations for the new exit system, requiring that the biometric verification of a traveler’s identity must be "at least 97 percent accurate," while neither "false positive verification" nor "false negative verification" can exceed 0.1 percent.

An industry briefing will be offered to company representatives in Arlington, VA, on June 30. Responses to the RFI, which should not exceed 20 pages, are due by July 16.

Prospective vendors can contact , a DHS contracting officer, at 202-295-5490.

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