Revamping AFIS for the FBI

If you think the FBI has a large fingerprint database now, wait until Lockheed Martin Corp. completes work on a $1 billion contract that would double the existing file of 46 million fingerprint sets and include the newest biometric-identification techniques. It's enough to make special agents Mulder and Scully think about plunging back into the bureau's X-files.

Lockheed won the 10-year contract in February to design and build the FBI's Next Generation Identification system. NGI will update and expand the bureau's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), an advanced database when it was created in 1999.

But initial work on NGI was halted when IBM Corp. filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over the decision to award the contract to Lockheed Martin.

Last month, shortly before GAO was scheduled to issue its ruling, IBM withdrew its protest, and Big Blue joined the Lockheed Martin team to develop and run the NGI multimodal biometrics system, which will be used by state, local and federal law enforcement authorities. Neither company was willing to offer details of the agreement.

"We don't talk about protest resolution, [but] we're delighted it was resolved," said Judy Marks, president of Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. "The role they've been given is a great role for IBM. Most importantly, while we're pleased to have them on the team, it did not take away from any of the commitments that we have made to the subcontractors and teammates who've been with us for a couple of years."

The brief stoppage will not delay the original target completion date of 2017, she said. "IBM and Lockheed Martin have a strong history of collaborating in the federal community," Dave Amoriell, general manager at IBM Global Services Federal, said in a statement.