Securing Our Borders: Biometrics Assessment Event

Background
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through its Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) on behalf of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Technology Transfer and Commercialization Branch (T2C). The initiative aims to explore biometric solutions for screening at U.S. ports of entry, enhancing the identification and validation of traveler identities without causing operational disruptions.

Work Details
DHS seeks validated biometric technologies that can be integrated into existing port infrastructure. The process includes several phases:

- Phase 1 involves open submissions from interested respondents until September 21, 2025.
- Phase 1a includes a virtual Q&A session on September 12, 2025, to clarify technology objectives.
- In Phase 2, from September 22 to September 26, 2025, DHS subject matter experts will select submissions with high potential for meeting their needs, inviting those respondents to participate in an Assessment Event (AE) around September 29, 2025.
- Phase 3 is the AE itself, scheduled for October 7-9, 2025, where selected participants will have one-on-one sessions with the DHS assessment panel to pitch and demonstrate their solutions.
- Finally, Phase 4 outlines potential paths forward for awardees which may include various agreements such as research and development agreements or procurement contracts. Awardees must comply with NIST SP 800-171 standards for protecting controlled unclassified information.

Period of Performance
The contract activities will occur over several phases starting from September 4, 2025, through October 9, 2025.

Place of Performance
The event will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams.