{"slug": "ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies", "title": "ICE Awards $25 Million Iris-Scanning Contract to Bi2 Technologies", "summary": "The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a $25.1 million no-bid contract to Bi2 Technologies on May 22 for iris biometric recognition technology and database access, allowing agents to authenticate identities during field operations. The contract is five times larger than ICE's previous deal with the company and covers 1,570 devices, which are expected to be deployed by late June. The procurement did not require FedRAMP security clearance, independent audits, or congressional notification before deployment.", "body_md": "ICE Awards $25 Million Iris-Scanning Contract to Bi2 Technologies\nThe no-bid deal is five times the size of the agency's previous contract with the Massachusetts company and could put devices in agents' hands by late June.\nICE has finalized the no-bid iris-scanning contract that Project Salt Box reported on this month, awarding Bi2 Technologies $25.1 million on May 22, according to a contract award posted to SAM.gov. The figure is more than five times what ICE spent on its first contract with the Massachusetts company eight months ago.\nThe award describes the purchase as covering iris biometric recognition technology and access to a biometric information system \"to allow ICE agents to quickly authenticate the identity of subjects during field operations.\"\nIt gives ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division continuous access to Bi2's database of more than five million booking records.\nThe procurement did not require the system to clear FedRAMP, the government’s security review for cloud systems handling sensitive data, before deployment. It described no independent audit, congressional notification or outside review of how the system would be used.\nThe May 22 award is roughly five times the $4.6 million DHS paid Bi2 in September 2025, and nearly eight times the device count — 1,570 units compared to 200.\nUnder the contract terms, those devices are due at ICE locations by late June.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies", "canonical_source": "https://www.projectsaltbox.com/p/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning", "published_at": "2026-05-23 21:15:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-24 01:06:28.638072+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["policy-regulation", "cybersecurity", "data"], "entities": ["ICE", "Bi2 Technologies", "DHS", "Project Salt Box", "SAM.gov", "Enforcement and Removal Operations", "FedRAMP"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ice-awards-25-million-iris-scanning-contract-to-bi2-technologies.jsonld"}}