Croatia’s Ministry of the Interior (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova, MUP) has issued a procurement notice for a multi-lot acquisition of IT and technical equipment that includes hardware used for biometric capture and travel document verification. The tender, published through Croatia’s electronic public procurement system, includes lots for fingerprint readers and travel document readers, aligned with MUP’s readiness work for “smart borders” operations.
The procurement is structured around multiple equipment groups under the broader “Informatička i tehnička oprema” tender, with Lot 1 covering fingerprint readers and Lot 3 covering travel document readers. Tender documentation indicates the acquisition supports operational deployment needs across border and field settings, with technical scoring criteria emphasizing portability, resilience, and suitability for heavy use in frontline environments.
For fingerprint readers, published criteria include evaluation factors tied to device weight, with scoring favoring lighter devices, suggesting an emphasis on mobile use as well as standard desk-based deployment. The technical requirements also include antibacterial protection, pointing to hygiene requirements for shared, high-contact equipment in public-facing environments.
For travel document readers, the evaluation criteria include operating temperature range and humidity tolerance, with incentives for devices that can remain functional in harsher conditions such as cold-weather operations and high humidity. This indicates a focus on readers intended for a mix of indoor and outdoor environments, including border crossing points where environmental conditions are less controlled.
The tender is also linked to EU-level funding and border modernization planning, with documentation referencing Croatia’s participation in EU border management programming. As the European Union prepares for wider deployment of biometric border systems, member states are increasingly procuring hardware to support biometric capture and identity document verification at external border checkpoints.
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
