The IJIS Institute, an organisation that focuses on mission-critical information sharing for justice, public safety, and homeland security, has established a joint Government Industry Panel to identify challenges in interoperability between biometric-based products and systems.

The organisation says: “In spite of significant progress in the development of national and international biometric standards, many interoperability problems still remain. This panel will be a major catalyst for enhancing biometric interoperability in specific context areas that have fallen short in meeting interoperability goals."

The panel will meet as part of BIGSIG (Biometrics Industry Government Standards and Interoperability Group) subcommittee of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Programs Advisory Committee (CPAC) on 28 July 2012 at the IJIS Institute Summer Industry Briefing in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico to collaboratively explore various perspectives on the challenges of and future for improving biometrics interoperability. The CPAC is comprised of IJIS Institute member companies, as well as FBI representatives, and defines a role for industry in collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state-level agencies to improve, expand, and help implement numerous FBI CJIS Division programmes.

Representatives from the FBI, US VISIT, National Security Agency, Department of State, Department of Defense (Biometrics Identity Management Agency), and state and local governments have been invited to represent government. Also invited are members of relevant standards organisations, including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS), and the Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC JTC 1), as well as representatives from leading biometric and technology companies.

The panel will be led by Bruce Kelling of Athena and Sudhi Umarji of Trusted Federal Systems, who are chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the CPAC.