Page 234 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

CONTRACTUAL ISSUES REGARDING THE PURCHASE OF AN AFIS 219

must take ownership to comply with the funding requirements. (Note: while
beyond the scope of this chapter, the government could mitigate the costs of
taking ownership by licensing the vendor to use the materials and make deriv-
ative works.)

9.7.3.4 Consulting/Customization Services
This section addresses the anticipated modifications to the software and obtains
information for future changes. As part of the business needs assessment, the
governmental agency may have identified non-standardized codes needed to
achieve its purposes. For example, in the criminal justice context, the RFP may
specify that the vendor must successfully develop an interface to accept elec-
tronic data from another vendor’s livescan system. Data exchange specifications
would be provided along with any other specifics that are available.
A mechanism to obtain future customization or consulting services from the
vendor should be addressed in the RFP. The idea is to obtain sufficient infor-
mation from the RFP process to develop a formalized contractual means for
the government to present the vendor with a problem and for the vendor
to present a proposal (and price) for solving the problem within the frame-
work of the existing contract. Both the mechanism and the pricing (such as
maximum hourly prices by category of work) would be established in the con-
tract; however, only the pricing must be obtained in response to the RFP. The
RFP should also address the expectations about which entity takes ownership
rights over the custom work product and whether the work product is subject
to the escrow requirements. The mechanism should also specify whether such
customized work products are subject to the acceptance testing procedures in
the resulting contract.
Consideration must be given as to whether control agency approvals are
needed before the commitment to any future work. For example, in New York
State, the AFIS contract for the criminal justice system includes a similar mech-
anism and further specifies that prior to committing to a customer enhance-
ment request exceeding $15,000, prior written approval must be obtained from
the Office of the State Comptroller. The needed flexibility was acquired to
permit additional customization without development of a new contract vehicle
or formal amendment, while still satisfying the control agency.

9.7.3.5 Conversion Services
Depending on the AFIS application, it may be necessary to obtain services to
incorporate pre-existing fingerprint images into the AFIS database. These fin-
gerprint images may exist as hardcopy ink-and-rolled prints or could exist in a
different digitized format. Even if the AFIS application is intended to consist
of newly enrolled prints (such as from those enrolled in a public benefits eli-