The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for “on the move biometric facial capture” technology solutions that it can deploy at CBP Ports of Entry (POE) and other “high throughput border environment” entry points to confirm the identity of individuals seeking entry into the United States.

The goal of the solution CBP is intending to field at some point “is to implement a continuous flow of travelers to the greatest extent possible while maintaining the integrity of the CBP inspection process.”  CBP said the fielding of this technology “will enable travelers to proceed in a continuous flow through high-throughput lanes using biometric facial capture to support risk-based segmentation of travelers.”

The facial images that will be captured by the technology solution CBP eventually purchases “will be passed to a CBP Traveler Verification Service (TVS) or other CBP system to be compared with flat two-dimensional travel document source photo(s) on file in government” databases that are accessed by CBP POE Field Operations agents manning primary and secondary inspection lanes.”

A person’s photo taken at a U.S. entry point is compared to images from previous CBP encounters, passports, visas, and other travel documents for the purpose of verifying a traveler’s identity and confirming the person is the true bearer of the travel documents that are presented.

TVS supports comprehensive biometric entry and exit procedures in the air, land, and sea environments through the CBP Biometric Entry-Exit Program, a facial biometric matching service that receives a temporary gallery of photographs, matches those photos against travel document photos and unique identifiers (UIDs) on file, verifies travelers’ identities, and responds within seconds with match results.

All travelers are subject to identity and document verification when entering and exiting the country. However, CBP only requires in-scope foreign nationals to have their pictures taken when entering the U.S. CBP does not require any travelers, including U.S. citizens, to have their photos taken when exiting the U.S.

CBP has a Congressional mandate to biometrically record all foreign nationals who enter and exit the U.S.  Years of using biometric facial comparison technology “have demonstrated that [it] is the most secure, efficient, and cost-effective way to fulfill the Congressional mandate while protecting the privacy of all travelers,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says, adding, “Overall, the use of facial biometrics provides travelers with a secure, touchless process that modernizes air travel and supports travel recovery.”

CBP said the responses to its RFI “should meet a desired minimum threshold determined by CBP and meet technical and operational requirements.”

This RFI is solely for information, planning purposes, and market research only; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or a promise to issue an RFP or RFQ, and does not commit the government to contract for any supply or service. Not responding to the RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP or RFQ.

CBP is interested in capabilities that:

  • Capture facial images of travelers at speed while they are in motion (on the move and without the need for the traveler to stop) and sends images to internal CBP systems or directly to CBP’s TVS system for comparison against travel document source photo(s) on file in government holdings;
  • Receive a matching response from CBP’s system; and,
  • Include options for visual notification of the response from the CBP system to the CBP officer on duty.
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