DHS taps CSC to automate immigration files

A project to convert immigration files from paper to digital will get a boost through a new contract awarded to Computer Sciences Corp.

The Homeland Security Department awarded CSC of El Segundo, Calif., a one-year, $5.9 million contract with four option years to develop the Integrated Digitization Document Management Program.

Under the contract, CSC of El Segundo, Calif., will develop and implement infrastructure and integrate products and solutions to enable the transformation of Citizen and Immigration Services alien files from paper to digital format.

Using the document management system, Homeland Security personnel will be able to more efficiently support benefits adjudication efforts because of better access to files within the Citizen and Immigration Services, as well as across Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies supporting investigation initiatives.

In addition, the automated system will provide features for future planned capabilities that support the objectives for the Citizen and Immigration Services' transformation programs and the Temporary Worker Program.

The Citizen and Immigration Services has as many as 55 million alien files which it uses to make decisions about immigrants' applications for citizenship and other benefits. The new system will capture and retain scanned and electronic images for each file, which can each contain anywhere from one to hundreds of pages, and make them available to authorized users through a single repository.

CSC teammates are Perpetual Logic LLC of Alexandria, Va.; Taxonomy Strategies LLC of San Francisco, Calif.; and Washington Consulting Inc. of McLean, Va.

CSC has more than 78,000 employees and had annual sales of $14.6 billion in fiscal 2006. The company ranks ranks No. 5 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.