NEC Solutions Asia Pacific is awarded Singapore's First Biometric Passport Project

Singapore - NEC Solutions Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, has been awarded the Singapore biometric passport project, issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority. NECSAP and the Ministry of Home Affairs will sign a Form of Agreement today to officiate this contract valued at SGD 9.7 million dollars.

Said Mr. Tan Boon Chin, Senior Vice President of NECSAP, "Fingerprint identification remains as one of the most reliable biometric authentication means, maximising security requirement with its high accuracy rate while raising efficiency with its fast turnaround time.

NEC is honoured to be given yet another opportunity to demonstrate our extensive experience in implementing security mega projects. We have been implementing world-class turnkey systems for Singapore over the last ten years. This goes a long way in showing our commitment to the Singapore government in implementing and commissioning biometric passport system within 6 months."

"With NEC's 30 years of continuous R&D and breakthrough in Biometric Identification technology, coupled with 2 decades of implementation experience over 27 countries in the world, we are confident of delivering a robust secure e-passport project for Singapore," added Mr. Tan.

NECSAP is the Prime Contractor to deliver the Singapore biometric passport, providing the biometric applications for the system. Working together with NECSAP are fellow consortium members - NCS Pte Ltd, SNP Security Printing Pte Ltd and Gemplus Technologies Asia Pte Ltd.

"NEC has been a close, longstanding business partner of Gemplus since we rolled out the Access Card for the Immigration Automated Clearance System in 1997. We are very pleased to be working with them again on this win as it is a significant endorsement of our contactless chip technology and systems," commented Mr. Chou Fang Soong, South East Asia president for Gemplus Technologies Asia. "Together with NEC, we are confident that our winning offer meets ICA's stringent requirements to provide a secure, convenient and efficient authentication at immigration checkpoints."

Said Mr. Lee Kwok Cheong, Chief Executive Officer of NCS, ""NCS has been a partner of growth with ICA for many of its strategic applications and e-Services, since early 1980s. We are honoured to be part of this consortium to develop the biometric passport, which will benefit both the government and Singapore citizens, and help improve national and global travel security. This is an ongoing journey, which NCS continues to create value for MHA and ICA by building robust and secured systems.

Our participation in this project showcases our application development and IT security capability in homeland security solutions,"

"With a history dating to Singapore Straits Settlement days, SNP has grown to become one of the leading print providers in the region. SNP is very excited to be a part of this project to bring national security to an even higher level. We are committed to deliver the best and are confident that we will be able to continue to serve up our trademark excellence through outstanding quality, service and value." said Mr. Yeo Chee Tong, President & CEO of SNP Corporation Ltd.

The development work will commence end March 2005, and the system is expected to be commissioned in October 2005.