Department of State, Office of Acquisition, P. O. Box 9115, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, VA 22219-0244

B -- DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS FOR ICAO SOL n/a POC Richard McClevey, Phone: (202) 955-0257 This is a Request for Information (RFI). The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Technical Advisory Group on Machine-Readable Travel Documents (ID1, ID2, ID3) is considering possible development of standards for the optional use by Member States to facilitate automated identity verification by linking travel documents to their rightful holders, and to enable document authentication through the inclusion of machine-readable verification features on the documents. ICAO is also interested in relevant technical developments in document physical security concepts that may be integrated in travel documents. As a result, ICAO has decided to issue an RFI every three years in order to keep abreast of new and improving technologies. Relevant information gathered during the RFI process will be summarized and shared among the ICAO Member States. Relevant information will also be considered by ICAO in the possible establishment of standards for incorporating the use of such technologies in travel documents, border control systems, and airport passenger processing and travel facilitation. Interested parties are invited to provide technical and pricing information for technologies in the following categories: ITEM A: Biometrics technologies and concepts that may be used to link travel documents to their rightful owners. ITEM B: Machine verification concepts that may facilitate automated document authentication. ITEM C: Document security features and concepts, that either at the point of document personalization or at the point of document manufacture, may be used to protect on-board data from alteration or simulation. ITEM D: Data storage media that can be utilized in conjunction with Items A and B. ITEM A will be reviewed with regards to several qualitative and quantitative factors, including intrusiveness and public acceptability, uniqueness, accuracy, consistency of the measurement, speed of measurement, type and required size of on-board storage medium, reliability and stability over time (minimum life 10 years), acceptable false accept and false reject rates, and all associated costs for the technology. ITEM B will be reviewed with regards to several qualitative and quantitative factors, including uniqueness, security provided by the concept, simplicity and ease of incorporation and detection, compatibility with current document reading systems, reliability and stability over time (minimum life 10 years), intrinsic safeguards and protection against technological compromise, acceptable false accept and false rejects rates, and all associated costs of costs for the use of the technology. ITEM C will be reviewed with regards to several qualitative factors, including, degree of overt and covert physical protection afforded by the feature, uniqueness, difficulty in counterfeiting or reproduction, ease of application/incorporation in travel documents, ease of use and detection, all associated costs for the use of the technology. ITEM D will be reviewed with regards to several qualitative and quantitative factors including feasibility of application to travel documents, printed versus fabricated media, storage capacity of media, speed of unloading data from media, protection of stored data, and associated costs for the use of the data storage media. Interested parties must present their technologies in the context of ICAO Document 9303 which prescribes international format and on-board data standards for machine readable passports, visas, and other official machine readable travel documents. Interested parties should recognize that it is the intention of ICAO to consider those technologies for ITEMS A and B that may have the best likelihood of being applied on a global basis by the ICAO Member States. Thus, in the application of these technologies, global interoperability at borders, global acceptance by citizens of Member States, conduciveness to open international standards and multiple sources of supply, and affordability by all Member States will be particularly considered. ITEM C is recognized as an item/s of choice of individual Member States and does not necessarily require global interoperability. Information is sought for consideration of use in machine-readable passports, visas and card-based travel documents. The technologies sought for consideration are those that link documents to holders, provide reliable authentication of genuine documents, and that will facilitate the secure and reliable transit of travelers through international border control points and can facilitate the movement of passengers through airports and other international transportation facilities. Written response to this RFI must be provided by November 20, 1998 to Richard McClevey, RFI Coordinator, ICAO New Technologies Working Group, c/o U.S, Department of State, Room 500, 1111 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20524, USA (Phone: 202-955-0257). Supporting information and descriptive literature may be provided as part of the response. However, a succinctly written information summary paper is required for all responses. The purpose of the summary paper is to help facilitate the compilation of summary information on each technology into a summary report that can be provided to each ICAO Member State. The format and simple instructions for completion of the summary paper can be downloaded via the Internet at the following address: http://travel.state.gov/icaorfi.html. Following receipt of summary sheets and descriptive literature and information, firms may be invited to make oral presentations to the New Technologies Working Group and representatives of ICAO Member States. Oral presentations are planned for February 23-25, 1999 in Geneva, Switzerland. Interested parties are advised that ICAO is under no obligation to designate any standard or take any further action with any party as a result of this Request for Information. Summary sheets supplied in response to this RFI will be made available to Member States. Accompanying information and descriptive literature may be made available to Member States. With the exception of the summary sheets, anyother information that is considered non-disclosable to all ICAO Member States should be identified as such. Non-disclosable information will be retained exclusively for the use of the Members of the ICAO New Technology Working Group. Requests for copies of ICAO standards documents (ICAO Document 9303, Parts 1 to 4) should be directed to sales_unit@icao.org. This Request for Information is placed by the Department of State in furtherance of its participation in ICAO, a United Nations international organization. The United States Government and its employees accepts no responsibility for the actions or undertakings of ICAO, ICAO participants, or ICAO staff. Posted 09/21/98 (W-SN252241). (0264)

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