Task orders under a new contract vehicle meant to help provide better oversight and effectiveness of the Defense Department’s growing array of biometrics projects will appear in the “coming months,” says the agency responsible for the Biometrics Operations and Support Services Unrestricted (BOSS-U) contract.
The Army’s Biometrics Task Force (BTF) last month selected 12 firms to compete for task orders under the potential five-year, $497 million BOSS-U contract (TR2, Jan. 7).
Forthcoming orders “include procurement of the supplies and services needed to support” its operations, says the BTF in response to queries by TR2. Other task orders envisioned include support of associated biometrics programs and projects, it adds.
BOSS-U is “primarily a services contract with the capacity to procure hardware in support of mission needs as required,” the BTF says.
No task orders have been issued yet but industry officials expect orders to begin flowing shortly. None of these officials has an idea as to the potential value of any immediate orders and some say to expect a lot of small awards for subject matter experts for relatively short-term contracts.
“Warfighters want [biometrics technology] in their hands” so “we expect a lot of customers” will be using BOSS-U, says Jerry Jackson, senior program manager for Defense Biometrics at Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Information Systems & Global Services segment. Eventually the hope is for everyone in the Defense Department to come under BOSS-U, he says.
Various DoD military organizations such as the Combatant Commands will be looking to the BTF for their biometrics experience and there will likely be competition between the BOSS-U contractors to provide these services, Powell Benedict, vice president and general manager for Programs and Operations at Ideal Innovations, Inc. (I3), tells TR2. There will likely be demand to continue to improve interoperability between existing biometrics system and between tactical collection devices, he says.
I3, which already provides support services to the BTF, Army Program Manager DoD Biometrics, the Biometrics Fusion Center, next-generation ABIS, and more, is also on the BOSS-U vehicle. That support work “gives us visibility and understanding” as to what to expect and what will be needed, Benedict says. However, he believes that much of the company’s ongoing support work will be recompeted under BOSS-U as existing contracts expire beginning later this year.
L-1 Identity Solutions [ID], which did not bid as a prime contractor for BOSS-U, is a teammate to I3.
Benedict expects most of the work to be competed under BOSS-U will be for services with any hardware purchases likely to be small although this has yet to be determined. For example, he sees the Biometrics Fusion Center acquiring limited amounts of tactical collection devices for evaluation purposes.
CACI International [CAI], another winner under BOSS-U who also has a presence with the BTF, BFC and PM DoD Biometrics, also believes ongoing work will eventually be recompeted. The near-term opportunities under BOSS-U are likely to be for support work, similar to current contracts, as well as work supporting the warfighter and the DoD Biometrics community of users, Mike Stango, a senior program manager with CACI involved with defense biometrics, tells TR2. Longer term he sees more use by DoD of biometrics within the Continental U.S. that will come under BOSS-U.
“Literally, biometrics is going to be pervasive,” Stango says.
Some of CACI’s teammates on BOSS-U are Cross Match Technologies, Daon and Harding Security Associates.
Lockheed Martin, which is also one of the companies on the BOSS-U contract, hopes to win its way back into the defense biometrics space. The company has supported DoD efforts here in the past, notably on the original development of the fingerprint matching database called Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). Northrop Grumman [NOC], another awardee under BOSS-U, two years ago won the contract to develop the next-generation ABIS.
Lockheed Martin is involved in a number of biometrics related programs in the federal market, including the FBI’s Next Generation Identification System and the Transportation Security Administration’s Transportation Worker Identification Credential. The company’s BOSS-U team includes BAE Systems, CWI, Edge Consulting, Global Science & Technology, Inc., ID Technology Partners, Information Manufacturing Co., LLC, List Innovative Solutions, Inc., and PMG.
The BOSS-U vehicle “centralizes overarching organization responsibility for managing program requirements, budgeting and funding, and execution of contractual actions,” the BTF says in a response to queries. The contract also “standardizes policies and procedures for management of acquisition activities, streamlines the contract and task order acquisition cycle, provides a broad based contract vehicle that encompasses all projected requirements, and eliminates external coordination and fees associated with the use of other indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity or Government-wide Acquisition Contracts vehicles.”
Work under the new contract is divided into six functional service categories: Management Support Services; Infrastructure Procurement Design, Development & Integration; Operations and Maintenance; Advanced Technology Demonstration; Studies and Analysis; and Test and Evaluation. Under those six categories are a combined 72 sub-categories.
The BTF has already won praise from industry and military officials for gaining better oversight of the various defense biometrics programs ongoing within the Defense Department. The use of biometrics within DoD received a tremendous boost with the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a way to begin denying anonymity to terrorists and insurgents.