Request for Information-70RDA126RFI000006.pdf

Request for Information (RFI) Number 70RDA126RFI000006

BIOMETRIC EXAMINATION TOOL REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. THIS IS A REQUEST

FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.

This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses received to this RFI. The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback concerning their submission. All submissions will become the property of the Government and will not be returned. Responding to the RFI is completely voluntary and will not enhance or adversely affect responses to any resulting solicitation if such solicitation is issued at a later date. There is no competitive advantage gained by any of the respondents to this RFI.

BACKGROUND

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) supports DHS’ mission to protect our nation by providing biometric 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 operates a biometric system which supports the delivery of these biometric identity management services.

OBIM uses biometric examiners to support its 24/7, mission critical biometric services and is the largest U.S. government biometric examiner operation. Examiners are needed to supplement automated biometric matching capabilities in a streamlined, real-time manner that requires examiner tools to be integrated with OBIM’s biometrics system. In addition, the examiner tool needs to support the review and correction of biometric records (e.g., sequence errors) and adjudication of candidate lists resulting from biometric searches (e.g., latent, face) of OBIM’s biometric system.

The OBIM Biometric Support Center (BSC) currently relies on various outdated tools for its biometric examination functions. For example, one of the tools used by the BSC today, is a 20+ year old in-house developed system that support just ten print operations. In an effort to improve operational efficiencies, the BSC is in need of a tool that consolidates the various examination tools (ten print, latent print, face and iris) used by the BSC today.

The objective is to provide biometric examination software, to include multi modal biometrics examiner software including latent, fingerprint, face and iris. This suite of tools supports a wide range of biometric modalities in a single, integrated environment. This procurement is for software, annual maintenance, training and integration with OBIM’s biometric system.

PURPOSE OF RFI

The purpose of this RFI is to gather information regarding capabilities and cost from relevant industry sources, regarding high level features of biometric examination tools. The tool shall support a wide range of biometric modalities in a single, integrated environment to include multi-modal biometrics including latent, fingerprint, face and iris. The biometric examination tool solution shall address the criteria in the attachment titled BSC Examiner Tool Requirement.

At a high level, the tool should

• Support examination functions for multiple biometric modalities to include at a minimum, fingerprints, face, iris, and latent prints.

• Must be biometric matching vendor agnostic

• Support a high volume, 24/7, rapid response environment

• Support roles-based access/work assignments

• Integrate with OBIM’s biometric system

• Meet all applicable DHS Security requirements.

• Meet the specific mission needs of OBIM’s BSC as defined in attachment titled BSC

Examiner Tool Requirement.

ASSUMPTIONS

• Live biometric collection software and associated components are not part of this RFI.

• Government furnished equipment (GFE) will be used for the examiner tool.

INDUSTRY DISCUSSIONS

DHS representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RESPONSE

DHS is asking respondents to submit a Capability Statement responsive to the requirements described within this RFI and Attachment I- Draft Statement of Work, provide responses to Attachment II –BSC Examiner Tool Requirements, and submit the total costs, with breakdown of cost of the software, per license, annual maintenance, training and integration of the proposed tool.

DHS appreciates responses from all capable and qualified sources. Responders are requested to describe in clear and concise language their company's capabilities to meet the requirements of this RFI.

1. General formatting shall be done using single-spaced 12-point font on letter sized (8.5 x 11) pages and submitted as a pdf or Word document.

2. Each response shall contain a Cover Page identifying:

a) RFI Title

b) Name and Address of Company

c) Point of Contact (Name, Title, Email, and Phone)

d) Website Address

e) Vendor’s country of origin

f) Business size and Type of Ownership (i.e. 8A, Other than Small, Small, Small Disadvantaged, Woman-owned, Hub-zone, Service Disabled Veteran, etc.)

g) Contract Vehicle and Contract Number where services are available. i.e. DHS strategic sourcing vehicle(s), GSA MAS Schedule, etc.

h) Also include the applicable North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

i) Company overview

j) Commercial or non-Commercial Service

k) Name and Description of the products or services a company provides

l) Statement and assurance about what the client can expect from your company

3. Each response shall include a Capability Statement discussing the company’s capabilities should address in detail the following capabilities of the tool:

• Biometric image comparison/examination

• General description of tool’s biometric comparison/examination capabilities

• Modalities supported

• Types of examinations supported (e.g., unimodal, multi-modal)

• Available image visualization capabilities within tool

• Quality Assurance (QA)

• General description of the QA process/capabilities

• Configurability of QA process (e.g., every nth transaction, specific examiners)

• Availability of data related to examiner decisions/actions (e.g., feature mark ups, application of image visualization tools) for QA analysis

• Biometric image correction (e.g., segmentation issues, swapped irises) o General description of biometric image correction capabilities and how corrections are pushed to backend biometric system

• Query/Search Capabilities

• Reporting Capabilities

• Technical o Application specifications o High level architecture o Description of how tool interacts with backend biometric system/database

Other items to be addressed include:

• Minimum GFE requirements for tool

• Licensing approach and cost (assume no more than 100 users)

• Integration approach with agency biometric system

• Support services approach and cost (issue resolution, customer driven enhancements, training, 24/7 support)

• Annual maintenance cost

4. Other (any additional costs not addressed above)

5. Each response, including the Capability Statement, shall address the sections and questions identified Attachment II –BSC Examiner Tool Requirements. It is also requested that respondents acknowledge each section or question by marking it as follows:

• M= product currently meets Requirement

• P = product partially meets requirement

• N - Product does not meet requirement

• F = planned capability of product

The page limit for the Capability Statement is 10 pages. The response to Attachment II, Attachment II – BSC Examiner Tool Requirements, is not included in the 10 page limitation. The response shall be submitted to Contracting Officer Christopher Carroll at Christopher.Carroll@hq.dhs.gov and Contract Specialist Bridget Boyle at Bridget.Boyle@hq.dhs.gov. The subject line of the email should contain the RFI number 70RDA126RFI000006.

Response due date: no later than Monday, August 12, 2026 at 11:00AM Eastern Time.

Responses to vendor questions may or may not be provided. If the Government answers any vendor questions, all questions and answers will be published via an amendment to this RFI. Vendor names will not be identified in the amendment.

NOTE: This RFI is issued in accordance with Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) 10.001(c) for market research exchanges with industry. All interested parties, including small businesses, are encouraged to respond.

This RFI seeks information only. It is not a request for proposals, a solicitation under FAR Subpart 8.4 (Federal Supply Schedules), or an obligation to buy. No contract award will result from responses. The Government will not pay for any information or materials submitted.

Responses are not offers and cannot form a binding contract if accepted. All responses become Government property and will not be returned. Proprietary information will be handled in accordance with RFO FAR 24.202 and the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552); mark clearly to request protection.

mailto:Christopher.Carroll@hq.dhs.gov mailto:Bridget.Boyle@hq.dhs.gov