The UK government has issued a tender for £450,000 (about $588,000) of mobile biometric enrollment devices to reduce its reliance on fingerprint capture wet ink.

According to the purchase notice, the UK Home Office Department is seeking a single supplier capable of delivering 150 mobile biometric enrollment devices over three years and covering device maintenance and support for at least three years. There is also an option to extend the contract for ongoing support services for two 12-month periods.

The government expects the solution to be a fingerprint scanner with machine-readable zone (MRZ) functionality and compatibility with Android smartphones and an electronic notebook app. It also requires a software development kit for integration with Android smartphones used by Home Office.

The purchase notice aims to reduce the need to capture fingerprints of wet ink and enable connectivity to digitally record fingerprints and other biometric data from home office biometric databases.

The Home Office will accept offers and requests to participate by May 13, 2022, and will invite a maximum of four applicants.

Police in a dozen UK jurisdictions already use integrated biometrics biometric fingerprint scanners to identify people.

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