Precise Biometrics wins Portuguese national ID contract

When writing about Sweden-based Precise Biometrics, its important to be accurate. Loyal readers will recall that the fingerprint-biometrics company has signed major contracts in the past with Scandinavian Airlines and the government of Qatar (among other successes). The Qatar deal, for the country’s national ID card, was part of a Gemalto-led effort, and now the company has another one to report: a large Gemalto-led contract to supply the Portuguese “citizen card”. Now that’s what we call teamwork.

That card is intended to replace several government-issued ID documents and will include functions for interaction with civil, tax, social security, health, and, in the future, elections officials. “This is our first national ID card project in Europe, and after our successes in Asia and the Middle East we are very pleased about this breakthrough on the European market,” said Precise Biometrics CEO Thomas Marschall. “Additional applications are planned for the Portuguese national ID cards in the future, so this project has the potential to become even bigger.” All told, Precise Biometrics will supply 144 million licences for the project, as well as hardware readers.