Anteon wins contract for U.S. border technology

Anteon Corp. has won a $3.6 million contract by the Homeland Security Department to deliver 1,000 optical stripe read/write drives and biometric verification systems. The company's subsidiary, Information Spectrum Inc., will fulfill the order.

The systems will be installed at ports of entry around the United States and will let officials read encoded data on more than 13 million permanent resident and border crossing cards issued by the federal government. The systems also will authenticate biometric data stored on the cards and alert DHS inspectors of possible counterfeit cards.

Mark Heilman, Anteon's executive vice president for corporate development, said the order is for the U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology program office, which is responsible for the government-issued cards. But the contract is not a part of the U.S. Visit procurement, a multibillion-dollar project to revamp the nation's border screening and security systems.

The request for proposal for U.S. Visit is expected in November, but Congress has set a Dec. 31 deadline for DHS to screen people entering at U.S. air and sea ports.

"Is it possible they could be used to meet US Visit increment one? DHS has not announced it, [but] these are biometric verification systems. They do meet that requirement and will be delivered over the next four months. It's certainly consistent with the time frame," Heilman said.

Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., Anteon acquired ISI in May. The company currently has more than 7,200 employees, and reported 2002 revenue of $826 million. Anteon was ranked No. 14 on the Washington Technology Top 100.