Overview
- On May 27 procurement documents showed ICE has a sole‑source contract with Massachusetts firm BI2 Technologies that runs from June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 and is worth about $25 million.
- The agreement requires delivery of roughly 1,570 handheld iris scanners and access to BI2’s IRIS/MORIS platforms, which link iris, fingerprint and facial recognition and draw on more than five million booking records from 47 states.
- Contract language allows in‑field, near‑real‑time identity checks for people without documents and permits bulk searches and record downloads, and DHS says BI2’s iris tech is FBI‑certified.
- The award was made without competitive bidding and does not require prior FedRAMP authorization; procurement papers show BI2 must submit a draft security plan but has not completed federal cloud certification.
- Privacy advocates and some lawmakers, together with a DHS Office of Inspector General privacy audit, say the rapid nationwide rollout and broad data access raise risks for surveillance, mistaken matches and weak external oversight despite contractual limits on reuse and image deletion.