South Pasadena, CA -- Cogent Systems announced today it has been awarded a contract as the prime contractor for it's new integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The initial order is estimated at approximately $10 million, not including options. The AFIS will be used by the RCMP as part of its Real Time Identification (RTID) initiative which will meet the growing demands for post 9/11 identification services for criminal, civil, immigration and international needs. The contract provides for options to support additional integration over the next four years. IBM Canada is Cogent's partner for this project.
The contract includes software and hardware, as well as engineering services and maintenance. Cogent's new AFIS, which replaces a legacy system, will allow fingerprints to be electronically recorded, transmitted and verified against broader databases in a fast and accurate manner. The system also includes a seamless, paperless electronic workflow based on international standards and is designed to scale to support a national database in the millions of records. It will be installed and operational in 2006.
"Law enforcement and civil agencies rely on the accuracy and timeliness of these systems to support the safety and security of Canadians," said Deputy Commissioner Peter D. Martin, who is the RTID Project Sponsor. "The AFIS contract award is a significant step in the RCMP efforts to modernize these essential systems."
"We are pleased to have received this new contract award for the RCMP's RTID project," commented Ming Hsieh, President and CEO of Cogent Systems. "The bidding process for this contract included extensive in-depth independent testing of all potential vendors' matching technology. The strength of Cogent's fast, accurate and reliable AFIS technology during the testing process was a key factor in winning the contract award. Another factor is our ability to provide full electronic interoperability with existing AFIS systems throughout Canada with the new Cogent AFIS. We look forward to working with the RCMP to develop a world class system."
Cogent Systems is online at www.cogentsystems.com.
