Accenture [ACN] says the Department of Homeland Security has notified the company that it will exercise the first option year of the US-VISIT contract. The contract was awarded in May 2004 and has a five-year base period, which runs through May 2009, and the potential for five one-year options. The first option year will run through May 2010. The value of the option year has yet to be negotiated. Accenture says the program remains on track to expand to 10 fingerprints this year.
The Transportation Security Administration has reinstated Verified Identity Pass to continue enrolling new applicants in the company’s Clear brand Registered Traveler service. Last month TSA suspended Verified from enrolling new applicants in Clear after the company reported that an unencrypted laptop computer containing the pre-enrollment records of 33,000 customers was missing from San Francisco International Airport. TSA says that Verified now meets encryption standards for enrollment computers. Earlier this month Verified found the computer that it had reported missing, saying that the pre-enrollment records were not compromised. TSA is conducting its own forensic exam of the computer. The agency also says that it will be conducting random audits of Clear operations across the country to further ensure compliance and has asked the company to provide a report detailing the status of all security features associated with the Clear program and to conduct a new and complete annual audit consistent with program standards.
TiaLinx, Inc., has received a phase II small business innovative research award from the Army to develop a proposed millimeter wave radar and radio frequency imaging system that can detect unexploded ordnance behind walls, on-road and off-road. The radar could work in poor conditions such as fog, rain and smog for homeland security, military and areas suffering from uncleared landmines. For the phase II work TiaLinx will build a prototype of its system for laboratory testing.