IDEMIA Wins 5-Year UK Fingerprint Matching Contract

“IDEMIA’s fingerprint matching service will primarily be used by domestic law enforcement agencies, as well as border control and immigration authorities…”

The UK’s Home Office has selected IDEMIA to provide it with an upgraded fingerprint matching system.

In a statement announcing its contract win, IDEMIA did not disclose the project’s value. But the company did indicate that it covers a period of five years, with an option to extend to up to eight years. The contract was undertaken with the Home Office Biometrics Programme.

IDEMIA’s fingerprint matching service will primarily be used by domestic law enforcement agencies, as well as border control and immigration authorities, the company said. Commenting further on the project, IDEMIA Citizen Identity and Public Security EVP Philippe Barreau said the fingerprint matching system “will form one of the keystones of security in the UK, in a context where security is more important than ever before.”

The contract reflects UK government authorities’ growing interest in biometric technology, with the Home Office also using facial recognition to identify criminal suspects. While that technology has recently caused some controversy in the country, fingerprint-based identification appears to be more generally accepted, with such technology widely used for criminal identification in the UK and many other parts of the world.

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June 19, 2018 – by Alex Perala