French biometrics firm IDEMIA has landed a contract with the Department of Home Affairs to continue its support of Australia’s ageing airport arrivals SmartGates for the next 10 years.
The lucrative extension to an 18-year partnership comes after the company completed a partial upgrade of the border technology in the arrivals halls of Australia’s eight international airports.
But the upgrade only came about after a failed venture with competing provider, Vision-Box, which was contracted to deliver a new fleet of arrivals gates with facial recognition capabilities in 2017
The project, part of the ‘Seamless Travel’ initiative, was expected to enable zero-touch processing and, in the future, a fully automated marshalling process. It was also to work alongside a digital passenger card, a project which is only now progressing.
In mid-2019, a trial of the first two Vision-Box SmartGates in Canberra and Perth were paused pending a review that ultimately found the solution was not “fit-for-purpose”, leading to a new contract with incumbent IDEMIA.
The contract, which was valued at $30 million and expired in July this year, saw IDEMIA replace the existing self-service kiosks that work hand-in-hand with an ageing fleet of SmartGates.
IDEMIA had previously delivered the government’s first airport arrivals SmartGates in 2007, allowing travellers to take a live photograph of their face and match it to the image in their passport.
Its rollout at Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Coolangatta, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney airports from late 2022 introduced a two-step system that still requires travellers to present a passport, unlike the 2017 proposal.
Home Affairs says the new kiosks offer a “improved experience for travellers”, but there have been complaints from some that they are more cumbersome, resulting in long, bleary-eyed queues
In a statement this week, IDEMIA said it will “continue to support the upgraded arrivals systems” under a new 10-year contract, the value of which had not been disclosed at the time of publication.
It is unclear whether the company will replace the existing SmartGates, with the company only saying it will “continue upgrading Australia’s environment with the latest technology” and that the contract is “designed to continue to promote innovation”.
IDEMIA Public Security senior vice president for travel and transport, Tim Ferris, said that the extended contract will ensure travellers continue to have a “secure and convenient airport experience”.
“With this expansion of our partnership, IDEMIA has the opportunity to facilitate easy technology refreshes for Australia and ensure it has our most up-to-date border control technologies to best serve their residents, as well as travellers across the globe,” he said.
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