Unisys works to build Mexico’s biometric ID system

Unisys Corp. will work with the government of Mexico and the Mexican communications company Axtel to develop an advanced national biometric identification system. The three-year contract is valued at $50 million with about $32 million going to Unisys.

Under the terms of the award from Mexico’s Ministry of Internal Affairs/National Citizen Registry to Unisys’ Mexican subsidiary, the group will create and manage an advanced citizen identification solution by using biometric technologies.

The project would create a database of iris, fingerprint and facial biometric data for as many as 110 million Mexican citizens that will be used as part of the government’s larger national ID card project, according to a Unisys statement.

For its part, Unisys will integrate the solution, provide the IT infrastructure and manage the data center that hosts the solution. Axtel will provide communications services as well as the data center facility and the service operations center.

The Unisys solution will be based on the company’s Library of E-ID Artifacts software framework, known as LEIDA, which creates building blocks for rapid identity and credentialing.

Unisys also will provide applications outsourcing services to keep the identity and credentialing solution updated and running correctly.

The contract will allow the government of Mexico to benefit from Unisys’integrated biometric credentialing solutions in the United States, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Angola, Chile, Costa Rica and Spain, Guillermo Bocanegra, vice president and managing partner for Unisys Latin America, said in the statement.

Unisys Corp., of Blue Bell, Pa., ranks No. 32 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.