The world is getting smaller. As globalization boosts the demand for cross-border travel, the threat of terrorism has left government agencies struggling to manage border and immigration challenges while protecting national security. CSC’s Border and Immigration Solutions (BIS) Center of Excellence harnesses CSC’s expertise in civil identity, border management and immigration solutions to help clients balance the competing demands of fraud and terrorist threats, economic and migration policies, and the need to process people efficiently and respectfully.

The center offers expertise in identity management, credentialing, risk assessment, biometrics and entry-exit systems. CSC can meet a range of client needs in the civil identification and privilege management process, including establishing high-confidence, unique identities at enrollment; assessing the risk posed by each distinct identity; issuing high-security ID cards; and providing tools and procedures for verifying claimed identities at the point of transaction.

			Related Information: Learn more about CSC’s work with Belgium’s national ID cards and biometrics work in Iraq. Discover more about CSC’s national security offerings. Read about CSC’s Centers of Excellence. Contact us and let our experience help you produce results.

Global experience, localized delivery

The center draws from more than 300 technical and subject matter experts with national-level experience. CSC’s border management and immigration projects span the globe, from implementing national ID cards in Europe and Asia, to securing military facilities in the Middle East, to helping U.S. customs detect fraud and suspicious persons at the borders.

Domestically, CSC works with agencies such as the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. For the Department of State, CSC outfitted more than 6 million Mexican nationals with biometric Border Crossing Cards and managed operations at the southern border for the SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection) project. On the northern border, CSC established and manages the US-Canadian NEXUS ID system that enables citizens from both countries to easily and securely cross borders.

In Belgium, CSC designed and managed the implementation of a national ID card to help the government pursue e-government initiatives, increase citizens’ access to private information accounts and upgrade Belgium’s civil identity infrastructure. The Belgian ID card system reads and validates identity data electronically, authenticates data remotely, and provides a digital signature for Belgium’s 10 million citizens. The Center of Excellence will also call on CSC’s Global Security Solutions group and its vast biometrics experience, including an innovative program to protect U.S. military facilities in Iraq. The Biometric Identification System for Access (BISA) program issues biometrically enabled ID cards to foreign nationals with access to military facilities, and has already proved effective in preventing insurgents from infiltrating Coalition Force bases.

Strengthening border programs

Tim Ruggles, director of the BIS Center of Excellence, says the center is unique in that it integrates both identity management and risk assessment into its solutions. “It is important not only to make sure the person who claims a privilege such as a visa actually is who they say they are – using biometrics for example – but also to continually ensure that there is nothing that would disqualify them from continuing to hold that visa,” he explains. For example, since their enrollment in the system, have they been placed on a watch list or become a wanted felon? CSC can carry out that qualification both at the time of enrollment and continually afterwards.

He adds that such a comprehensive approach is not always employed today. The necessary technologies are available, but many civil agencies have trouble implementing and integrating them. The center will work with a client on all stages – from evaluation and strategic planning to systems integration and program management.

“It’s clear that civil identification when crossing borders is a worldwide issue,” says Ruggles. “We continually monitor the evolution of the industry, in terms of technology, and look not only for solutions, but for improvements on those solutions.”

The BIS center is one of CSC’s 18 Centers of Excellence, which are certified by CSC’s Leading Edge Forum and are dedicated to exploring and testing state-of-the-art solutions, products, methodologies and concepts.

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Contact us and let our experience help you produce results.