Hanis gets R130m 'refresh'

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 06 Sept 2007

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is spending R130 million to "refresh" the technology underlying its Home Affairs National Identification System (Hanis).

The amount forms part of the R700 million the department is spending on ICT this year. In June, Home Affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said this was about 19% of the department's budget.

DHA director-general Mavuso Msimang says the current "technology is obsolete". Hanis generates identity numbers and is fundamental to the issuing of identity documents (IDs). It is also the national fingerprinting repository.

Speaking earlier this week at a media briefing on steps taken during his first 100 days in office to set the dysfunctional department right, Msimang said a contract was signed in July. The necessary equipment would be delivered in March, he noted.

Protracted process

Home Affairs has also extended the maintenance contract of the Marpless Telecommunications Technologies consortium, which installed Hanis at the turn of the century, by a further three years. The "refresh" forms part of that contract.

The original contract was awarded to Marpless in February 1999, after a protracted tender process that started in 1995. A supply contract was signed in November 1999 and the system was commissioned in February 2002. The consortium includes Unisys, NEC and a number of other, smaller vendors.

The July contract extension came after more than a year of dithering on the part of Home Affairs on the future of the programme. During this time, the original contract expired and was extended on a month-to-month basis.

It has also taken half a decade to migrate data from the department's paper files onto Hanis. Acting Home Affairs CIO Sol Ngubane says the importation of fingerprints into the system is only now nearly complete.

The Automated Fingerprint Information System, part of Hanis, now contains about 30 million sets of fingerprints. He anticipates this will go up to 31 million of the country's 45 million citizens. The remainder are either children younger than 16, who are not fingerprinted, or the estimated 6% of adults who do not have an identity document and who the department is attempting to reach.

Emerging technology

Msimang added his department has issued a request for proposals to industry in connection with smart ID cards containing biometric identifiers. "The specifications are under review and we are developing a business case."

He also washed his hands of an attempt in 2001 to introduce such a card. The DG said he could, for now, give no timeframes, or a better description of the technology that might eventually be implemented, save to say it would be in line with Hanis.

The Home Affairs head also said government was studying similar proposals for biometric passports. He commented that the adoption of biometrics was being driven by the US and Europe by "political events" - on which he did not elaborate.

He added that smart technology - in the form of chips in ID cards and passports - was "clearly part of the future", but, at present, remained an emerging technology. Msimang noted: "Passports might be the best place to start."

A new-generation, more secure, passport - set for introduction from next April - was "in theory" upgradeable to an e-passport, he commented. In addition to a smart card, the e-passport could also contain a radio frequency identity device.

Msimang also announced the department had acquired a new printer from China, which would expedite the production of passports. He added the current printer was as "old as the hills" and "operated on a wing and a prayer".

Online application

More likely - and on the cards for 2010 - is automated border control gates that perform immigration and customs checks, largely by cross-checking travellers against a database of known or wanted criminals.

The border control operational control committee has already contracted the State IT Agency to handle the necessary data exchanges. The committee consists of an interdepartmental structure incorporating Home Affairs, the South African Revenue Service and the police.

Also contemplated is allowing the public greater access to Home Affairs documentation services. This would be achieved by, for example, allowing for online applications and providing a Web-based tracking system to enable applicants to follow the document through the production and delivery process.

The public may also - in time - apply for such documents at convenient locations such as travel agents, supermarkets and perhaps even automatic teller machines.

While none of this is now possible, parents can already register their children with the DHA at state and private hospitals.