Down South
You know, whenever I write Postings for this blog site, I usually don’t pay attention to the geographic location (OK, I guess I do, when I compare the state of Biometrics in the United States versus the rest of the world), I mean heck, news is news, right??? Well, today I came across a story which put the geography perspective back in mind for me. It struck me, in three years of writing, I have never really written anything about the south. So, today’s Posting addresses that. The setting is in Tennessee, where a very large Biometrics Vendor known as “L-1 Identity Solutions” has announced it has just won a very lucrative down there.
Here are the details: “L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc., a supplier of identity solutions and services, was named the exclusive provider of digital fingerprinting services for the State of Tennessee in a contract valued at $40 million. The three-year contract with the Tennessee Applicant Processing Services (TAPS) program includes two additional one-year renewals for a potential combined contract duration of up to five years . . . The fingerprints are necessary for citizens employed as child care workers, school employees and real estate and insurance agents. The prints are also required for those seeking a State and/or Federal license permit, such as commercial drivers seeking to transport Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) and citizens seeking to carry a handgun. The State may add more groups to the L-1 fingerprinting network over time.” (SOURCE: http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9104/).
My Take
As you can see from the above quote, this is a very valuable contract, at some $40+ Million. And, it is not just one contract, it appears that this can be renewed up to two more times, for an entire time period of five years. When you factor all of that into account, this contract could well be worth over the $40 Million. This Biometrics Solution is meant for the TAPS program, and is intended to enroll all kinds of and types of workers involved in the social field, such as child care workers, employees of the various school districts in Tennessee, HAZMAT employees, people wishing to carry a gun, etc.
The Biometrics Technology of choice once again is Fingerprint Recognition, and the primary purpose of this application is to identify any criminal activity of social worker applicants when they are applying for a certain job, or are needing licensing by the state of Tennessee. With this system in place, what would take months, now will just take a matter of a few days, thus relieving some of the stress and burden of the state government. In other words, an entire Fingerprint Recognition network will become available, for all local offices. It is anticipated over time that some Fingerprint Recognition locations will be established, and enroll 175,000 people on an annual basis.
It is expected that an applicant will not have to travel more than 60 miles from their home in order to reach a Fingerprint Recognition location. So overall, this is nothing surprising, that the government has awarded such a huge contract. After all, the Federal Government here in the United States is the biggest customer and contract awarder of Biometrics. But I find it interesting how an entire state awarded the contract, I have not seen too much of that lately. But whatever it is, this is for sure good news that there some solid investments and contracts being awarded in the Biometrics Industry. I just hope that it is a sign of things to come, and perhaps, Biometrics could be the saving grace of the American economy. Now, that would truly be an irony in of itself.
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