SAIC to help maintain Army biometric systems

Science Applications International Corp. will assist Sensor Technologies Inc. (STI) with maintenance support for the Army Communications–Electronics Command under a four-year contract that could be worth more than $115 million if all options are exercised.

The task order was awarded under CECOM’s Strategic Services Sourcing contract.

As a subcontractor to STI, SAIC will provide operations and user maintenance for CECOM’s Tactical Biometrics Systems.

TBS is a collection of biometric identification tools that include the Biometrics Automated Toolset–Army, the Biometric Identification System for Access and the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment program.

Developed and distributed by the Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems, TBS collects fingerprints, iris scans, facial photos and biographical information on people of interest.

The biometric data is then matched against a database of wanted or dangerous people. Through the subcontract, SAIC will provide operations and user maintenance support to help ensure continued, reliable technical support of TBS devices and networks, company officials said.

STI, of Red Bank, N.J., is a small business that provides software and systems engineering support to the CECOM Software Engineering Center.

SAIC has been providing design, development, training, operations and maintenance support for the Defense Department’s biometric initiatives since 2003, said John Thomas, SAIC’s senior vice president and business unit general manager.

SAIC, of San Diego, ranks No. 5 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.