Summary
The following are acquisition guidelines for implementing national AFIS systems derived from the experience of member delegates of the INTERPOL AFIS Expert Group (IAEG). It is the focus of the IAEG to provide general guidance to countries/organizations acquiring, developing, integrating, and operating national AFIS systems. The following guidance is advisory in nature, and organized in chronological order to cover the stages of a program from initiation to installation. The recommendations included in these acquisition guidelines apply specifically to planning and writing the proposal and entering the contract. The IAEG intends to issue guidelines covering subsequent stages of life cycle management, such as integration, installation, migration from legacy systems, and operations and maintenance in the near future.

(1) Identify/establish operational requirement for the system.

(2) Establish a program management team comprised of the following attributes:

• IT professionals in the required specialities (e.g., requirements capture, telecommunications, programming)
  
• Ten-print and/or latent fingerprint experts
  
• End user and system operator participation.

(3) Contact a variety of end users and AFIS vendors to get an overview of the state of the art systems, plans for development within the given time frame, in addition to an estimation of the level of costs.

(4) Prepare a report showing possible achievements from (cost-benefit analysis of) a new system:

• Performance
  
• Cost
  
• Schedule.

(5) Prepare a functional specification (do not specify technical solutions since it should be left to the supplier in order to be able to monitor defects regarding functionality, response demands and stability). Identify the relevant standards and stress that the solution shall be defined where possible as the supplier's standard application (not special software).

(6) Preparation of evaluation criteria. These may include and are not listed in order of priority:

• Prices, including discounts and deferred rebates
  
• Operational reliability
  
• User-friendliness
  
• Time of delivery
  
• Maintenance
  
• Performance
  
• Accuracy
  
• Security
  
• Training
  
• Interoperability
  
• Flexibility of system (expandability, scalability)
  
• Possibilities for standardisation and networking
  
• Terms of contract (general and specific)
  
• Functionality
  
• Energy and environmental conditions
  
• Past performance and confidence in technology of vendor
  
• Project management approach
  
• Record conversion
  
• Costs in running the system.

(7) Prepare "Invitation to tender" consisting of:

• Description of the procurement process
  
• Criteria for the award of the contact
  
• Purchasers limit of liability
  
• The structure of the offer is to be in accordance with the composition of the specification
  
• System standards
  
• Interoperability with other systems, internal and external
  
• Maintenance
  
• Record conversion
  
• Benchmark preconditions
  
• Acceptance test
  
• Handling of subcontractors (all communications are to be addressed through a main supplier)
  
• Specification, consisting of:

  Search Types, Composition and sizes of databases, volumes, input functions at the workstation, speed of response, statistical management information, output functions at the workstation, vendors site specification, system security, training, accuracy, record conversion, communication, maintenance, miscellaneous provisions, pricing proposals.

(8) Where possible meet with the suppliers after bid deadline to ensure the offer satisfies the specification. It is important to precisely define which parts of the offer represent technology in use and what is under development. It is important to stress the deadline for any correction or clarification from the bidding parties.

(10) Prepare a plan for Benchmark. This is a difficult process. Caution should be exercised and wherever possible guidance sought with regard to this. Vendors will wish to show their product in the best light. The people undertaking the test should be familiar with the system. The buyer should witness all benchmark testing.

(11) For the benchmark the supplier chooses the installation with the approval of the buyer. Where possible the benchmark installation should reflect the buyer’s requirements.

(12) Implementation of the Benchmark test

• Prepare an accurate plan for implementation and control.
  
• Make notes of all the supplier's promises and get these signed.
  
• Evaluate the professionalism of the supplier and operators.

(13) Entering the contract (some important issues listed)

• Ensure consistent interpretation of terms and language among participants to avoid later misunderstandings (for instance 10-print card, 10-print record).
  
• Price offer according to the structure of the specification;
  
• Options are to be described and priced with total costs for incorporation;
  
• Training is to be specified and priced;
  
• Suggest supplier trains instructors. Carefully evaluate and investigate if manuals and screen menus are to be translated;
  
• Define milestones of the project and fix penalties per day of delay, caused by the provider or subcontractors. These fines should be cumulative. Suggested milestones are:

Factory acceptance test, delivery of the system, user system acceptance, start of Record Conversion (RC), regular conversion status, end of conversion, operational start.

(14) Inform users of announcement of award, timeline and impact

• proactive communication to users
  
• ensure realistic user expectations
  
• impact on end user business processes
  
• transition from legacy systems to new environment.

(15) Installation and testing

• Should include testing with own data
  
• Test all functionality at 3 stages : factory (FAT), site acceptance (SAT) and full-up (load) performance testing
  
• Tests are implemented on the user's terms after compiled checklist;
  
• Work list/problem list is compiled as a binding document
  
• Capture problems/fixes for specified period of time to determine continuity of operations.
  
• Consider refusal to install equipment if serious defects have been discovered, even if the supplier is obligated to correct them.

IAEG
28.02.2000