DHS Awards Extension Of US-VISIT Contract
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has notified Accenture of its intent to continue the contract under which the company acts as prime integrator for the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program.
The original contract was awarded to Accenture in May 2004 and included a five-year base period plus five one-year options.
The US-VISIT program, created in 2003, provides biometric identification and analysis services to agencies throughout the immigration and border management, law enforcement and intelligence communities to help government decision makers identify, mitigate and eliminate security risks. US-VISIT’s most visible service is the collection and analysis of digital fingerprints and photographs from non-U.S. citizens at visa-issuing posts and ports of entry. Immigration officials rely on this information to help them make visa-issuance and admission decisions.
To further enhance security, DHS asked the Accenture team to increase the biometric identity capability at the ports of entry from two to 10 fingerprints. Work on the 10-fingerprint implementation began in 2007, with the subsequent roll-out to 10 U.S. airports completed earlier this year. DHS plans to replace all two-fingerprint scanners with 10-fingerprint scanners at all U.S. ports of entry by the end of this year.
“The US-VISIT program will evolve over time with increasingly robust biometric technologies and interoperability with other countries’ systems,” said Jerry Briggs, managing director of Accenture’s U.S. Federal practice. “Accenture shares DHS’s commitment to providing biometric identity management services to its customers and will continue seeking innovative ways to deploy technologies and strategies that help make the program a success.”
Accenture LLP leads a team that includes L-3 Communications (previously The Titan Corporation); Raytheon Company; and Systems Research and Applications Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of SRA International Inc. Key small business team members include Blackstone Technology Group; Intelligent Decisions Inc.; SyApps LLC; and TSymmetry Inc.