Page 60 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

HISTOR Y OF AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS 45

first Assistant Director of the CJIS, Norm Christensen, was instrumental in
implementing the vision of Director Sessions and Pat Harker.
4. ID hired, through the MITRE Corporation, then recently retired Air Force
Major General Eric B. Nelson to do an audit of the FBI’s Program Office
skills, taking into consideration the recently enacted congressional “program
6
office mandate.” Nelson found that the experience level for such an under-
taking was relatively low, as the Bureau had never previously used a “program
office” approach, and there were two significant, interrelated projects—revi-
talization of ID and the move to West Virginia. Nelson’s report called the
proposed 1995 IAFIS operational date into question. He worked with Pat
Harker and proposed the alternative of a new, integrated FBI division.
Nelson’s team consisted of himself, Peter T. Higgins, two independent
consultants, Robert Bowes and Frances Flett, as well as Michael Bloom of
MITRE. Ed Burke, also of MITRE, while not on the team, was also instru-
mental in the effort.
5. An acquisition round table was held on September 12, 1991, where it was
decided that IAFIS should be acquired in three major segments: FBI AFIS,
to be procured through an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Cir-
cular A-76-funded competition; the Image Transmission Network (ITN),
later re-scoped and renamed as the Identification Tasking and Networking
Segment; and the Interstate Identification Index (III). It also supported
“performance of the integrator role by the FBI/ID, with assistance from a
7
SETA contractor.” The ID accepted these recommendations. Century Plan-
ning Associates facilitated the round table session.
6. Section Chief Bruce Brotman, ID, contracted with NIST to hold a series of
workshops to draft and vote on an ANSI standard for the transmission of fin-
gerprint images.
7. In December 1991, the FBI offered the position of IAFIS Program Director
to Peter T. Higgins. He started on February 2, 1992.

The January 1992 Acquisition Plan called for the AFIS request for proposal
(RFP) to be developed in February 1991 and released in May 1991, with a con-
tract awarded by December 1991. Yet none of these events occurred. The U.S.
General Accounting Office (GAO) and others strongly recommended to the
FBI that they readdress the 1995 target date for initial operations. By April 1992,
when the RFPs were reviewed for completeness and were found to lack suffi-
cient maturity, the FBI agreed that the 1995 target date was unachievable. A

6 Letter from General Nelson sent to Deputy Assistant Director S. Klein of the FBI’s ID, dated
11/15/91.
7 Letter from J. T. Nocerino of Century Planning Associates, Inc. to Mr. J. Sullivan, FBI ID, dated
11/1/91.