Fingerprint Applicant Services of Texas

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is soliciting proposals through Request for Proposal (RFP) 405-25R0017163 for a comprehensive fingerprint collection and applicant services solution known as the Fingerprint Applicant Services of Texas (FAST) program. The contractor must deliver a cloud-hosted platform processing approximately one million applicant submissions annually, with services including appointment scheduling, fee collection, fingerprint and biometric data acquisition, secure data submission to DPS, establishment and operation of 140 public and 94 private fingerprinting locations meeting coverage requirements (90% of Texans within 25 miles, all Texans within 50 miles), a customer service call center, a secure applicant registration website, and a management application for DPS staff. The solution must be Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)-compliant and deployed in a government-authorized cloud environment meeting FedRAMP High or TX-RAMP Level II standards with all data residing within the TX-RAMP Level II environment. Key deliverables include onsite staff at DPS headquarters in Austin for customer escalation and operational support, comprehensive training programs for DPS personnel, daily data backups with disaster recovery capabilities, 99 percent system uptime on a 24/7/365 basis with response times between 0.3 and 8 seconds, and support for multiple biometric attributes including fingerprints, palms, and iris captures. The original proposal deadline of March 11, 2026, was extended through Addendum 2 to March 20, 2026, at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time, then further extended through Addendum 3 to March 27, 2026, at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time, with vendor questions and answers addressed during an extended Q&A period ending February 24, 2026. Contractors must demonstrate financial stability through audited financial statements and provide three references from public sector entities with similar projects, and all work must be performed in the United States.

The contract implements a VetHUB Subcontracting Plan replacing the previous HUB program under Texas Government Code emergency rules, requiring contractors to demonstrate good faith efforts in utilizing Texas certified Service-Disabled Veteran-owned businesses for subcontracting opportunities within the Fingerprinting Services, Application Software for Microcomputers, and Software Updating and Upgrading Services classifications. The contractor may utilize third-party or subcontractor networks for fingerprinting locations (currently 102 subcontractors are in use) subject to DPS approval and contractor oversight, with DPS performing background clearances and security protocols post-award. The contract structure comprises milestone-based payments during the implementation phase (Planning and Discovery 25%, Execution 35%, Final Acceptance 40%) plus separate annual support service pricing for Years 2 through 5, with compensation strictly based on completion of milestone goals and annual processing task payments outlined in the Mandatory Pricing Schedule covering all costs including training, cloud hosting, support, and maintenance. Liquidated damages are assessed at $10,000 per day for performance failures including implementation delays, location coverage deficiencies, CJIS Security Policy non-compliance, and service level agreement violations, with no minimum compensation guaranteed and no payments made until services are formally accepted by the designated Contract Monitor. The anticipated contract award date is July 28, 2026, with an initial term of five years and DPS retention of the right to extend for no more than six additional months. All contractors must comply with comprehensive data management requirements, AI governance standards, IT infrastructure standards, cybersecurity certifications, and CJIS security protocols as specified in the contract exhibits, and the DPS Online Bid Room accepts electronic submissions with technical difficulties providing no grounds for protest of contract awards.