The U.S. State Department has awarded a sole-source contract to supply an automated fingerprint identification system for Honduras’s national police, part of a regional effort to help Central American governments share criminal biometric records.
The contract, disclosed in a justification notice posted to SAM.gov, was awarded by the department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to Grupo Vision S de RL de CV. It covers the supply and technological upgrade of workstations and a Secura Livescan system to implement the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, known as AFIS, within the Police Criminal Investigations Unit in Honduras. The bureau awarded the firm-fixed-price contract without competition under an authority that permits sole-source awards when only one responsible source is available, and said no solicitation was issued.
According to the notice, AFIS is a biometric data-sharing tool used jointly by Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to identify individuals with police records and to counter transnational organized crime across the Northern Triangle. A Livescan system captures fingerprints digitally, allowing them to be searched against stored records. The period of performance runs from July 2 to October 7, 2026, with the work carried out in Honduras.
The bureau frames the program as part of its mandate to strengthen the criminal justice systems of partner governments, saying more capable foreign law enforcement helps disrupt narcotics trafficking and transnational crime before it reaches U.S. borders. A single-source justification document was attached to the notice.
The award adds a criminal-justice biometric component to a broader U.S. push on identity systems in the region, after Washington and Costa Rica expanded border-security cooperation around biometric screening. Honduras has separately been building out civil identity infrastructure, having contracted TECH5 for a national digital ID and public-infrastructure program that uses face and fingerprint biometrics.
Sources: SAM.gov
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
