A group led by Accenture Ltd won a U.S. government security contract on Tuesday worth up to $10 billion to track foreign visitors using digital photographs, fingerprints and other "biometric" information.
The U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) program is part of an effort to tighten U.S. borders and prevent another Sept. 11-type attack.
The contract, awarded by the Homeland Security Department, covers five years with five one-year options after that. The package has a minimum value of $10 million but could be worth up to $10 billion, Homeland Security officials said.
The alliance, led by Accenture, has 30 companies including Dell Inc., Raytheon Co., SRA International Inc. and Titan Corp.
"This is what our challenge for the future will be: That we continue to be a welcoming nation but that we protect the United States at the same time from visitors who hurt us," said Asa Hutchinson, U.S. undersecretary for border and transportation security.
Launched nationwide at airports and seaports in January, US VISIT requires most foreign visitors to have a digital photo and inkless fingerscans taken by an immigration officer who checks them against watch lists and other databases.
More than 4.5 million people have been screened so far at 115 airports and 14 seaports, with about 500 singled out for immigrations or criminal violations.
By the end of the year, the program will be expanded to the 50 busiest land border crossings. It must be in place at all points of entry by Dec. 31, 2005.
Accenture's initial bid for the first two phases of the contract was $72 million.
The company plans to stick with inkless fingerscans and digital photographs initially, but is testing radio frequency identification tags to speed up border crossings.
Hutchinson said the agency would not rule out other biometric standards like iris scans, but said they would not be likely to be used any time soon.
Accenture beat out Computer Sciences Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., which had been considered the odds-on favorite due to its experience in similar areas.
"The questions now are what is the risk of the contract and what implications it will have for Accenture's results," said Rod Bourgeois, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein, adding that Accenture's innovative approach helped it win the deal.
Some delays experienced by CSC with its Internal Revenue Services contract may have hurt its positioning, he said.
Accenture, formerly Anderson Consulting, is making a big push into the fast-growing, but less profitable outsourcing business as companies skimp on consulting.
Analysts said the deal is regarded as less risky compared to other multi-billion government contracts.
The deal is expected to have a slow start, according to analysts.
"I expect the impact for fiscal 2004 to be very modest," said Louis Miscioscia, an analyst with Lehman Brothers. "For 2005, we look for the deal to add no more than a few pennies to its earning per share."
Accenture was not immediately available for comment.