Unisys [UIS] has received a potential five-year task order from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue technology integration efforts at ports of entry and exit the agency operates in the U.S.
A CBP spokesman tells Defense Daily that the potential value of the Integrated Traveler Initiatives (ITI) contract is $229.7 million if all options are exercised. The award value for the initial year is $22.7 million. The competitive ITI task order was awarded on Sept. 30 under the Department of Homeland Security’s EAGLE II contract.
The ITI award is the next iteration of CBP’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and Land Border Integration (LBI) project that Unisys won in 2010.
Under WHTI CBP has the requirement to validate, using approved documentation, the identity and citizenship of all incoming travelers. CBP awarded Unisys the LBI task order to design, deploy and maintain a number of new operational solutions that leveraged WHTI technology, processes and systems to security the nation’s ports of entry, including automated license plate reader technology to screen vehicles crossing the border, and radio frequency identification technology to confirm citizenship and identity of travelers with RFID-enabled travel documents.
With the new ITI contract, Unisys will continue work its been doing under LBI to include further deployments of automated license plate reader in traffic lanes departing the U.S. as well as related technology and systems, Amy Rall, group vice president for the Department of Homeland Security practice at Unisys Federal, tells HSR. In the out-years of the contract there will likely be refreshing of current technology and deployment and integration of new technologies, she says.
The license plate reader technology is able to rapidly capture the plate details on vehicles traveling 60 mile per hour and compare the data to watchlists and other data to quickly provide a match against a watch list or other intelligence, Rall says.
Other potential work under the ITI award could include new RFID technology for reading biographic data, continued efforts improve the efficiency of queues, maintaining existing equipment, with all of it aimed at “increasing the security posture, decreasing lines at the border, and making them overall more cost effective,” Rall says. She adds that under the LBI contract Unisys also did things like “intelligent signage,” that were inexpensive to deploy but cut wait times significantly.
“Our scope is really about operations and maintenance of the equipment,” Rall says. “There is still some emerging capability but that could come with port redesign. But technology there today does have a life so we need to be looking at new innovative technologies to everything from license plate readers to RFID.”
Rall also says that winning ITI strengthens its “qualifications” for its global border security practice both with foreign governments and domestic ally with state and local governments.
More recently Unisys has led integration efforts of biometric-enabled identity solution pilots at some air and land ports of entry and departure to better identify travelers entering and leaving the country.
The CBP spokesman says that under the ITI contract Unisys “will work with CBP to explore and implement new ways to maintain, enhance and refresh existing border security systems as well as develop and deploy new technical solutions to satisfy emerging requirements.”
Rall says that the various experiences under the WHTI and LBI efforts have only strengthened Unisys’ operational understanding of border security and traveler needs at ports of entry.
One of those emerging requirements is a biometric exit solution to verify foreign nationals have departed the U.S. by plane. Earlier this year CBP said it plans to initiate biometric exit procurement in 2017 although whether the agency can hold to that timeline is unclear.
Based in CBP’s public discussions about an acquisition for biometric air exit solutions at airports for departing foreign nationals, Rall believes that this acquisition will likely be separate from the ITI contract.
Unisys said that the LBI and ITI programs seek to reduce traveler processing and wait times when crossing the border and to give CBP agents more flexibility through the increased use of mobile devices. The agency is considering innovations such as automated measurement and reporting of commercial vehicle and traveler wait times, the company says.
“Unisys is proud to have CBP’s trust in support of this critical mission, and we are excited for the opportunity to continue providing proven border security technology to CBP and to enhance the country’s border security while increasing efficiency and reducing traveler wait times,” says Rally. “By taking advantage of advances in biometrics, cyber security and data analytics, CBP can make our borders even safer.”