New Zealand seeks selfie guidance, liveness capabilities for biometric capture

New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is looking for new face biometrics capture technology that delivers better quality images and protects against fakes.

In a tender the DIA says it is after a “new genuine face capture solution” but clarified that it was not seeking a facial recognition solution.

Instead it wants online technology that can help the general public take a good selfie for passport applications, or for RealMe verification. “We are talking about online technology capable of capturing high-quality, genuine images,” the tender says.

Daon won the contract to supply the biometrics matching capability for RealMe back in 2018.

An evaluation of New Zealand’s public sector biometrics system by BixeLab last year found its false match rate (FMR) was slightly higher for Māori and Pasifika participants, which a DIA review suggested was caused in part by challenges with image quality.

The document reveals that growing sophistication in biometric spoofing necessitates a supplier who can tackle the increased threat. That means it needs a solution with presentation attack detection (PAD), injection attack detection (IAD) and face morphing detection. The software should also have the capacity for upgrades to respond to emerging threats.

The public service department had to manually review people’s photos due to the problem, since existing technology it employed was not up to scratch, and an upgrade is required to cut costs and improve efficiency. “We need a solution that guides users toward providing suitable high-quality photos,” the tender document states.

In addition to RealMe, the DIA also operates an Identity Check service which uses face biometrics on selfies for access to government benefits. The department says, “biometric technologies underpin our ability to provide fast, secure and efficient identity verification.”

The spoof attack detection and guided photo capture tools will be used to support the issuance of W3C Verifiable Credentials.

The contracted solution must be able to return results for 80 percent of requests within 30 seconds, and for 99 percent within 60 seconds. All data must be processed within New Zealand.

The document also sets out the criteria for the evaluation of bids.

The contract period is seven years, but with ongoing two-year extension options.

In the tender the DIA indicated that it would like to receive responses separated by price and non price components by the close date of May 20. It can be viewed here.