Cogent Systems wins Haiti election fingerprint work

Cogent Systems Inc. has won a $2.5 million contract from the Organization of American States to provide an automated fingerprinting solution to support Haiti's electoral process, the company announced today.

Under the contract, Cogent Systems of South Pasadena, Calif., will provide its automated fingerprint identification system solution for use by the Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti to capture voters' fingerprints, establish a database and match the fingerprints to authenticate voters' identities and prevent duplicate registration.

Cogent also will provide installation and maintenance services and training to system operators to support ongoing voter enrollment in Haiti.

The OAS awarded the contract as part of its Special Mission to Strengthen Democracy in Haiti program. The system is expected to support the enrollment of 4.5 million voters for elections in Haiti that are scheduled to be held in the fourth quarter 2005.

Cogent is a provider of automated fingerprint identification systems and other fingerprint biometric solutions to governments, law-enforcement agencies and other organizations.

The company has more than 130 employees and annual sales of $87.7 million, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.