The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) branch is kicking off a program aimed at developing a tablet sized biometric device that can be used by Border Patrol in the field so that agents can have greater awareness of the individuals they apprehend, including high-tier persons of interest, in near-real time.
Under the Tactical Awareness and Biometrics Build (TABB) program, S&T plans to develop and deliver prototype mobile systems based on existing technology for laboratory and field testing in an operational environment about a year from now. That testing will take about six months, Patty Wolfhope, Biometrics Program Manager with DHS S&T, told Defense Daily sister publication Homeland Security Report in a recent interview.
The device will capture fingerprints, facial images and biographic data. It will also include a card reader as part of a multi-factor authentication check for secure access to the device, Wolfhope said.
S&T shortly will issue a Statement of Work through an existing General Services Administration contract vehicle to run a competition to select a systems integrator that can combine existing tablet computer, fingerprint reader, card reader system and other related technology into a single device that the Border Patrol can work with, Wolfhope said. The program is relatively inexpensive with $2 million budgeted for the two-year effort.
The device won’t have an onboard database but will link wirelessly to existing databases, Wolfhope said. While connectivity in the field can be an issue, she said that Border Patrol agents are experienced in knowing where they have communications.
In addition to giving agents greater awareness of who they encounter in the field, use of a tactical collection device is expected to save them time.
Currently, it takes between four and seven hours from the time of an encounter until alien disposition and enforcement is completed. With a mobile biometrics device, the expectation is that this process will be reduced to between two and five hours, according to Wolfhope’s briefing slides.
In addition to creating a more mobile biometrics device, Wolfhope said that another goal of the TABB program is to bring the price point down for Border Patrol.
The Border Patrol currently uses some SEEK II multimodal biometric devices but these are expensive relative what the agency would like to deploy more widely and somewhat less mobile than a tablet-type device, Wolfhope said. The SEEK II, developed and produced by Cross Match Technologies, is widely used in rugged environments by U.S. military and Special Operations Forces. Wolfhope said that the Border Patrol doesn’t need the same level of ruggedness that the SEEK has, which drives up the costs.
The program is a low risk effort given that all of the technology already exists and just needs to be integrated, she said.
By the end of the program, Wolfhope said she will deliver to the Border Patrol a specification that it can use to take to the market for a competition for a mobile biometric device. The prototypes, training manuals and specifications that S&T generates as part of TABB will prep the Border Patrol for their acquisition effort, she said.