UID moves another step forward

28 July 2010

L-1 Identity Solutions has received a notification of award as one of the Biometric Service Providers (BSPs) to India’s Unique Identification Number (UID) programme, or AADHAAR. The notice was received after a competitive process involving multiple bidders.

The UID programme seeks to gather basic demographic and biometric (iris and finger) information from residents in India to establish the uniqueness of that individual in order to issue them a 12-digit identification number that will serve as verification of identity anywhere in the country. The UID can be used for access to goods and services, such as food, education, telecoms, medical care, banking and financial services. This is particularly critical as much of the poor and underserved population of India lack identification documents and the UID may become the first form of identification these individuals receive.

L-1 was one of three providers notified of an award, which is expected to include a two-year prime contract in favour of L-1 from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as part of the first stage of the programme. With it, L-1 intends to use the ABIS 7 multi-biometric platform to perform a one-to-many search of new enrolments against those already in the database to ensure that the identity does not already exist under another name or alias, eliminating identity fraud and preserving the integrity of various entitlement programmes. A total of 200 million identities are expected to be de-duplicated by a combination of the three BSPs in the first stage of the programme. The specific allocation of transactions among providers will be determined based on the throughput performance of each system. Each BSP will receive Rs 2.75 per de-duplicated identity for the service. Upon expiration of the two year contract, which is in the final process of negotiation, it is expected that L-1 and the other two BSPs will exclusively compete for the de-duplication of the remaining one billion identities included in this voluntary programme.

L-1’s consortium members on the UID programme are 4G Identity Solutions, which is providing L-1 with critical services, and Hewlett-Packard India Sales, which is providing L-1 with middleware and hardware. Funding for the hardware required as part of the de-duplication process is provided by the Indian government and is in addition to the Rs 2.75 per enrolment transaction.

Separately, L-1 is marketing its Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile 10-fingerprint slap devices for use in the enrolment process. The devices will be available for purchase by authorized Registrars and Enrolment Agencies throughout the period of the enrolment process, which is expected to continue over the next five years.

“With UID, one of the most heavily populated countries in the world is signalling that it is embracing biometrics as a means to deliver enhanced services to its citizens,” says Robert V LaPenta, chairman, president and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions. “As such, this is a truly revolutionary identity infrastructure programme that will serve as the foundation for all day-to-day interactions of Indians and will impact all other aspects of society including banking, healthcare and more...This represents a tremendous opportunity for L-1 in that it ensures we will be a key player in what is expected to be the world’s largest identity market over the next five years, leveraging our ABIS 7 software, Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile fingerprint capture devices.”