Solicitation: Biometrics Research and Development

February 4, 2010 - NIJ, through its Office of Science and Technology (OST), is the national focal point for work on criminal justice technologies, including law enforcement, corrections, investigative, forensic, and judicial process-related technologies. NIJ administers programs that improve the safety and effectiveness of, and criminal justice agency access to, these technologies.

Law enforcement officers need the ability to positively confirm an individual's identity in real-time to effectively protect the public and themselves. Achieving this capability is particularly challenging in a mobile environment (e.g., during incidents such as major sporting events). Hand-held devices that can capture a biometric (e.g., facial recognition) of a person of interest at a distance and transmit it wirelessly for comparison against biometric databases offer a solution to this need. NIJ seeks applications to develop and demonstrate a cost-effective, mobile wireless device capable of acquiring a biometric at a distance of up to 1000 meters in a manner compliant with the relevant sections of National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST) Special Publication 500–280: Mobile ID Device Best Practices and Recommendations Version 1.0, including data encryption. NIJ is also interested in the evaluation of any existing technologies that meet the requirements outlined in this solicitation. A successful application will focus on solutions for State and local law enforcement and must address the following issues:

• Describe how State and local law enforcement will play an active role in the development and testing of any technologies proposed in response to this solicitation.
• Demonstrate how the particular solution would increase the efficiency of work currently being performed by State and local law enforcement and how it will complement existing methods and solutions used to confirm identity.
• Clearly define the deliverable that will result from the research and development of the solution described in the applicant’s proposal.
• Describe how the solution or tool would be distributed to law enforcement.

Read On
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000896.pdf