WASHINGTON-BearingPoint Inc., a top business consulting and systems integration firms, said it is one of four firms companies awarded a contract by the Government Printing Office to help develop and test an electronic passport using radio frequency identification technology.
BearingPoint said this is the first phase of a three-phase project involving the GPO, the Department of State and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to implement a new version of the American passport. The ePassport will contain an embedded contactless integrated circuit with an antenna, which is designed to enhance the security of the passport and facilitate movement of travelers at ports of entry. The technology is expected to store all of the data currently found on the data page of the U.S. passport, including a digital facial image and biographic data.
BearingPoint, working with SuperCom Inc., said it will submit a number of prototype ePassports during the next few months for testing within the GPO facilities and among State Department and NIST systems. Based on the results of that testing, the U.S. government will determine which type of e-passport technology will be issued to the general population.
“We are honored to be the only systems integrator selected to play a key role in ePassport’s development, a program that will increase security throughout the international travel community,” said Chris Marston, managing director with BearingPoint’s State Department practice.
Consumer advocates have urged policy-makers to ensure that the privacy of citizens is not undermined by RFID systems, which major retailers and the Pentagon plan to deploy on a large scale in coming years.
