Secretariat for ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37, Biometrics

ANSI is seeking to obtain $50,000 from NIJ to support the cost of the administration of the Secretariat of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37, Biometrics, including travel. This application does not include funding for the SC 37 Chair; financial support for the SC 37 Chair is provided by the individual’s home organization. The proposed project period is October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, is the standards development environment where experts come together to develop worldwide Information and Communication Technology standards for business and consumer applications. ISO/IEC JTC 1 Subcommittee 37, Biometrics (SC 37) is the major worldwide forum for the development, approval and dissemination of formal international biometric standards. These standards are necessary to support the rapid deployment of significantly better, open systems standards-based security solutions for purposes such as homeland defense, the prevention of ID theft, border control, law enforcement, criminal justice, intelligence and the military. The strategic direction of SC 37 is determined in annual international meetings of the subcommittee which brings together delegations from 28 member countries. SC 37 standards projects are assigned to six Working Groups for technical development; SC 37 is responsible for oversight and management of these Working Groups. The Working Groups typically meet twice a year. The international biometric standards developed and maintained by SC 37 are available to the public. They are being implemented worldwide for verification (1 to 1) of claimed identities and for identification (1 to many) from biometric databases. The subcommittee work program and standards support information systems that use biometric data as part of identity management and access control systems. These systems include information systems for border control, law enforcement, criminal justice, intelligence, military and homeland security communities. ANSI shall provide to SC 37 and its Working Groups the reliable and competent leadership, management and administration required to effectively complete its standards development and maintenance in accordance with the requirements of the ISO/IEC Directives. This is accomplished by overseeing the timely development of meeting agendas and attendance at international meetings to ensure the successful execution of these agendas; establishing target dates for contributions from technical experts and member countries and, establishing target dates for tracking and executing all action items of the subcommittee work program. ANSI shall attend and participate in meetings of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to SC 37 to ensure that U.S. experts are fully informed of the issues and agenda items for SC 37 international meetings.