Indiana awards driver license contract

The US State of Indiana is to take delivery of a new driver license issuance system in a move designed to prepare for the requirements of the impending Real ID Act. The over-the-counter issuance system will be deployed across the State to process applicants and instantly issue driver licenses. The new system is expected to be fully operational by the fall of 2006.

Digimarc Corporation announced it has been awarded a six-year contract by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to supply the new driver license issuance system, which includes a number of driver license security enhancements.

Joining more than a dozen States across the USA, Indiana will incorporate Digimarc’s covert, machine-readable digital watermarking technology – IDMarc – into its driver license to enable cross-jurisdictional authentication and deter ID counterfeiting.

Digimarc said it will also deploy the Microsoft .NET version of its driver license issuance. This will provide seamless integration with other State databases and applications, the company claims, establishing a platform that can be extended to incorporate new secure ID applications in support of State or Federal requirements, including the REAL ID Act*.

The Digimarc solution will include:  

• more than 200 workstations and camera towers to process driver license applications, capture signatures, and take high quality portraits of applicants;
• over-the-counter secure printing systems allowing associates to securely and easily issue driver licenses at BMV offices across the State;
• a secure extranet for integrated inventory management of card materials and consumables, enabling direct management and control by BMV office personnel of production materials.

* The REAL ID Act provisions of Public Law 109-13, an emergency supplemental appropriations bill signed into law on 11 May 2005, establishes minimum federal standards for driver licenses and other state-issued IDs. This new legislation will impact state driver license issuers.

The REAL ID Act provides States with three years to comply with the provisions of the act. States may opt-out, but if they do their IDs will not be accepted for federal identification purposes, such as use as identification to board an airplane or gain access to federal facilities.

In summary, the law sets out to:  

• strengthen the physical security of the cards, such as making them resistant to counterfeiting or alteration;
• set tougher requirements for proving one’s identity at the time of application or renewal;
• require states to retain and share information about applicants;
• require temporary IDs to be issued to non-citizens with temporary status, set to expire at the same time as their lawful stay in the USA;
• allow the government to issue grants to the states to improve ID security, but does not go so far as to appropriate funds for this purpose.