BIOMETRIC IDENTITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (BIRD)

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Contract Opportunity

BIOMETRIC IDENTITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (BIRD)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Nonetheless, submitters should properly mark their responses if the information is confidential or proprietary. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission other than acknowledgment of receipt, should the submitter request an acknowledgement. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Government and will not be returned. Responses to the RFI may be used to develop Government documentation.

Responses to this RFI may be reviewed by Government technical experts drawn from Federal employees and Contractor subject matter experts (SMEs) supporting the effort.

INTRODUCTION

As a program within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) supports DHS’s mission to protect our nation by providing biometric and biographic identification services to federal, state, and local government decision makers to help them accurately identify the people they encounter and determine whether those people pose a risk to the United States. OBIM's most visible service is the collection of biometrics—digital fingerprints, facial, and iris —from international travelers at United States visa-issuing posts and ports of entry. Collecting this information helps immigration officers determine whether a person is eligible to receive a visa or enter the United States. The biometric collection process is simple, convenient, and secure.

OBIM’s Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) manages biometric identity information for over 262 million individuals, making it one of the largest biometric repositories globally. OBIM is collaborating with OCIO to transition from IDENT to the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system. This upgrade will shift from hardware-based matching to a cloud-based microservice architecture. As OBIM expands its biometric identity management services to incorporate additional modalities and stakeholders, active involvement in standards development organizations—such as the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)—is crucial. This engagement supports OBIM’s long-term goals for a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and aligns with the IDENT Identity eXchange Messaging (IXM) application profile, which facilitates communication with the OBIM/IDENT system. IXM is an XML-based message exchange format that provides a manageable, standards-based interface for OBIM’s services.

PURPOSE OF RFI

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to collect information from Academia, Scientific, Technical, Engineering, and Industry to support current and future technical and operational biometric outcomes. OBIM is interested in experienced and capable vendors to respond to this RFI.

NEXT GENERATION IDENTITY AND DISCOVERY –RESEARCH

1. Provide your biometrics experience related to the listed items.


2. Describe your biometrics capabilities to support the listed items.


3. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • 
     
     
     
     • Biometric research and evaluation,
     
     
     • Automated latent fingerprint matching.
     
     
     • Video processing/analytics,
     
     
     • Contactless fingerprint, palmprint, and Plantar capture and comparison,
     
     
     • Hyperspectral imaging of face and body,
     
     
     • DNA—phenotyping,
     
     
     • Facial Recognition,
     
     
     • 3D biometrics,
     
     
     • Iris Recognition,
     
     
     • Fingerprint Recognition,
     
     
     • Voice and Speaker Recognition,
     
     
     • Gait,
     
     
     • Keystroke,
     
     
     • Biometric Fusion,
     
     
     • Identity Formatting and Normalization,
     
     
     • Digital Identity technologies,
     
     
     • Anomaly Detection,
     
     
     • Liveness and Spoofing,
     
     
     • Distributed identity management,
     
     
     • Photonic/optical digital storage,
     
     
     • Quantum computing,
     
     
     • Deep (convolutional) neural networks,
     
     
     • Re-quantification of data, and
     
     
     • Generation hardware and infrastructure-focused solutions to include storage, cloud optimization, network improvement, or other non-software-based technology.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   

NEXT GENERATION IDENTITY –ENGINEERING AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

1. Provide your experience related to the listed items.


2. Describe your capabilities to support the listed items.


3. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • 
     
     
     
     • Developing protype models (physical, electronic, digital, analytical, etc.),
     
     
     • Testing in developmental and non-operational environments,
     
     
     • Assisting with Project lifecycles,
     
     
     • Preparing findings and recommendations,
     
     
     • Creating detailed user and technical manuals, logistic documentation, and capabilities document, and
     
     
     • Recommending alternative solutions.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   

BIOMETRIC AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

1. Provide your experience related to the listed items.


2. Describe your capabilities to support the listed items.


3. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • 
     
     
     
     • Participating in meetings of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Technical Committee M1- Biometrics and Artificial Intelligence Standards meetings,
     
     
     • Participating in meetings with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Biometrics (SC 37) and AI (SC 42) subcommittees and its Working Groups,
     
     
     • Providing recommendations on voting positions and technical and editorial contributions for standards under development,
     
     
     • Providing technical advice for the development, update, and/or enhancement of biometric, forensic and identity management standards, and
     
     
     • Reviewing of papers, reports and drafts of standards submitted to the Biometrics and Artificial Intelligence Standards.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   

Analytical and Subject Matter Expertise Support

1. Provide your experience related to the listed items.


2. Describe your capabilities to support the listed items.


3. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • 
     
     
     
     • Assisting with biometric operational planning,
     
     
     • Assisting with biometric strategic planning,
     
     
     • Collaborating with government stakeholders on biometric matters,
     
     
     • Designing and facilitating biometric special projects, and
     
     
     • Performing a broad range of biometric analysis.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   

HART SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE SUPPORT

1. Provide your experience related to the listed items.


2. Describe your capabilities to support the listed items.


3. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • 
     
     
     
     • Providing support to the HART system,
     
     
     • Testing and Evaluating of the HART system,
     
     
     • Performing Technical Analysis of the HART system,
     
     
     • Performing System Engineering, Architecture, and Integration of the HART system, and
     
     
     • Assisting with Cybersecurity resilience of the HART system.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   

NATIONAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE MODEL (NIEM) BIOMETRICS DOMAIN SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE SUPPORT

Provide your experience related to the listed items.

1. Describe your capabilities to support the listed items.


2. Listed items:
   
   
   
   • Exchange of information between federal agencies and domains,
   
   
   • Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON),
   
   
   • IXM and IXM Schema,
   
   
   • Standards Development Plan,
   
   
   • Domain Charter,
   
   
   • Domain Management Plan and Domain Schema Baseline,
   
   
   • Operational Support for IXM and IXM Schema,
   
   
   • Domain Standards Support,
   
   
   • Members List,
   
   
   • Data Dictionary,
   
   
   • Governance Process Plan and High-Level Version Architecture (HLVA),
   
   
   • Harmonization and Reconciliation which includes the NIEM Business Architecture Committee (NBAC), NIEM Technical Architecture Committee (NTAC), and Data Stewardship Tactical Working Group at DHS,
   
   
   • Collaboration Support, and
   
   
   • External Data Standardization.
   
   
   
   

NAICS CODE RECOMMENDATIONS

1. This RFI is being identified under NAICS Code, 561411, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services.


2. Please feel free to recommend other NAICS that may be applicable to the RFI.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The information obtained may be utilized in the preparation of a Request for Quote (RFQ) provided DHS finds it in its best interest. Vendors are encouraged to review this RFI and determine if their competency meet the DHS requirements.

Finally, RFI submissions should include a cover letter no longer than two (2) pages in length with the following information:

1. Vendor official name, address and phone number.


2. Point of Contact information, including name, phone number and email address.


3. The vendor’s country of origin.


4. If applicable, one URL for the organization’s official web site.


5. The socio-economic category under which the vendor is currently certified to perform under NAICS code 541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services.


6. If applicable, your company’s GSA Schedule or Multiple Award contract number; and


7. If applicable, any relevant DHS strategic sourcing vehicle(s) your company currently holds a contract under and the associated contract number.

Responses are limited to 10 pages (including cover letter), must be in 12pt Times New Roman font with .75 inch margins and submitted via e-mail only to Contracting Officer Amy Driver at Amy.Driver@hq.dhs.gov, and Contract Specialist Sasha May at Sasha.May@hq.dhs.gov no later than October 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET. Questions will be accepted through October 4, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET. The subject line of the email should contain the RFI number 70RDA124RFI000014. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate and mark proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

(End of Request for Information)

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