DOGE enters Homeland Security’s biometrics operations; Trump administration kicks off acquisition overhaul

The Department of Government Efficiency has arrived at the Office of Biometric Identity Management, a quiet but powerful component of the Department of Homeland Security that handles a critical database of fingerprint, facial, and iris data used throughout the federal government. Three people, including one person within DHS and two more familiar with the matter, confirmed that DOGE now has a presence at the agency. Two of those sources added that DOGE seems to have restarted conversations about the future of the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program, which DHS has long hoped would replace the agency’s current biometrics database — the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), one of the world’s largest known systems of that kind. OBIM was created more than a decade ago to manage the biometric information used to make border security decisions. As a relatively small office, OBIM provides assistance to DHS and federal agencies, including the State Department. OBIM also sometimes exchanges biometrics with other countries. OBIM’s biometric database stores hundreds of millions of biometric data points. A DHS website notes that a single query of the system “can retrieve data for an individual tied to a Department of State visa application, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection log of an entry into the United States, and an immigration status change logged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” The Trump administration has launched an effort to overhaul the Federal Acquisition Regulation with a focus on delivering a quicker, more efficient and less burdensome procurement process for federal agencies. To provide details on the progress of the so-called “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul,” the General Services Administration — one of the federal government’s lead procurement agencies and a member of the FAR Council — launched a new website Tuesday for the initiative. Federal acquisition stakeholders can expect to find a streamlined version of the FAR, buying guides — the first of which will be focused on software-as-a-service — and opportunities to share their feedback about acquisition policy on the new website, according to a release from GSA. The Trump administration’s overhaul of the FAR was spurred by an executive order in April that called on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Office of Management and Budget to lead the effort with FAR Council members GSA, NASA and the Defense Department. Within 180 days of that order, the group is expected to “amend the FAR to ensure that it contains only provisions that are required by statute or that are otherwise necessary to support simplicity and usability, strengthen the efficacy of the procurement system, or protect economic or national security interests.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.