The duration of the contract is six years, during which time the whole population of Argentina will be issued with new, non-forgeable, machine-readable ID cards. Responsibility for the production and turnkey delivery of the contracted services lies with the general contractor.
Specifically, the contract with the Argentine government comprises:
- Conception and implementation of a system for the process-oriented handling of applications for personal identification papers; construction and equipping of 62 processing centers for the online registration of applications from the public, and definitive management of the application documents sent through the administrative channels
- Management and coordination of all partners and suppliers of products and services, and integration of the individual service packages
- Construction and operation of a center for data storage, administration, production and personalization of the ID cards (including all structural and security measures)
- Conception and operation of a network for connecting the above center with the processing and information centers, State departments, border control posts and po-lice stations throughout Argentina
- Development and operation of the technical facilities for the production of up to 840,000 ID cards per month; preparation and organization of countrywide logistics for the processing and distribution of the ID cards
- Digitization of existing population records and construction of an image database with an anticipated size of 14 terabytes
- Conception and development of an IT-based system for immigration and emigration control and identification (border control system); implementation and introduction of the new system at more than 200 border crossings
- Development and introduction of systems for the process-oriented handling of visas and residence permits at 19 locations around the country
- Development and preparation of a program for the training and instruction of 6000 to 8000 system users at the different centers
- Modernization of the systems for electoral data and the printing of electoral rolls
- Care and maintenance of the technical systems for the duration of the contract (including training, instruction, management, technical updates and implementation of any modifications requested by the client)
This contract is the result of an invitation to tender issued by the Argentine government, for which the Siemens bid was accepted in February of this year. Following the initial period of six years, it may be extended for a further two periods of three years each. The first new ID card should be issued a maximum of nine months after commencement of the contract, and the same period applies for implementation of the new border con-trol system at Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires.
The contractor is Siemens IT Services S.A. Argentina, Buenos Aires, a subsidiary of Siemens AG. As general contractor, the company will work with local firms and subcon-tract work to partners that are skilled in specific technical fields, based in the USA and Europe. The subcontractors are:
- Printrak , California, USA, for automatic fingerprint recognition
- Imaging Automation , New Hampshire, USA, for data recording and back record con-version
- Boldt , Buenos Aires, Argentina, for highly secure printing of the ID cards
- Gieseke & Devrient , Munich, Germany, as supplier for security paper and the ID card production line
- Indra , Spain, for system support and development of the electoral systems
Responsibility for project implementation lies with the Major Projects Group of Siemens Business Services, which specialises in the performance of complex large-scale projects around the world.
With this contract, Major Projects intends to further extend and consolidate its leader-ship in the field of domestic security projects, according to Eberhard Reichert, Head of Group and Executive Board Member of Siemens Business Services. He sees the project not merely as a solid foundation for long-term cooperation with the Argentine government, but also as a good starting point for building up the IT services business in Argentina and selected Latin American states.
Share
Editorial contacts