The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has requested establishment of the Biometrics Laboratory Accreditation Program (Biometrics LAP) by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) to accredit laboratories that perform conformance testing, interoperability testing, technology testing, scenario testing, and operational and usability testing for biometrics products (systems and subsystems) as defined in nationally and internationally recognized biometrics products testing standards of biometric systems and subsystems. The program will offer accreditation only in the areas where a need was expressed and the requirements have been provided, but it is designed to easily expand and accommodate requirements from any interested governmental agency or the private sector.
Laboratory accreditation requirements are derived from the elected scope(s) of accreditation. NIST Handbook 150 and NIST Handbook 150-25 govern the general and specific technical requirements for accreditation under the Biometrics LAP. Each scope of accreditation has at least one test method associated with it. NVLAP reserves the right to update, modify or rename the set of test methods associated with any scope of accreditation.
A chained list showing all currently offered scopes of accreditation is presented below. The list indicates that any descendant scope of accreditation mandates all scopes of accreditation listed above it in the chain to be elected, too. For example, the selection of the Data Interchange Standards Conformance Testing (30/DISCT) scope, mandates, as prerequisites, the Conformance Testing (30/CT) and Biometric Testing and Analysis (30/BTA) scopes as well. - 30/BTA - Biometric Testing and Analysis (BTA)
- 30/CT - Conformance Testing (CT)
- 30/TISCT - Technical Interface Standards Conformance Testing (TISCT)
- 30/DISCT - Data Interchange Standards Conformance Testing (DISCT)
- 30/ST - Scenario Testing - Human Crew (Laboratory) (ST)
- 30/SLT - System Level Testing (enrollment/verification) (SLT)
- 30/CPST - Conformance to Performance Specifications Testing (CPST)
- 30/GPT - Graded Performance Testing (GPT)
- 30/PPT - Pure Performance Testing (PPT)
- 30/BSCT - Biometric Sample Collection Testing (BSCT)
- 30/IT - Interoperability Testing (IT)
- 30/SIT - Sensor Interoperability Testing (SIT)
- 30/MTMIT - Modality-Specific Template/Matcher Interoperability Testing (one-to-one or one-to-many) (MTMIT)
- 30/TT - Technology Testing - Non-Human/Laboratory (TT)
- 30/MMAPT - Modality-Specific Matcher Algorithm Performance Testing (MMAPT)
- 30/STT - Sensor Technology Testing (STT)
- 30/SIQAT - Sensor Image Quality Algorithm Testing (SIQAT)
- 30/BIST - Biometric Image Segmentation Testing (BIST)
- 30/DCST - Data Compression Software Testing (DCST)
- 30/OT - Operational Testing (OT)
- 30/UT - Usability Testing (UT)
The next chart gives a graphical representation of the list presented above. (Please note that "Yellow" color-coded technologies are currently unavailable for NVLAP accreditation.)  Currently, NIST Handbook 150-25, Biometrics Testing, is in draft stage. A copy of the draft requirements document is now available for public review and is posted at http://ts.nist.gov/Standards/Accreditation/handbook.cfm. For additional information on the Biometrics LAP, contact Brad Moore, Biometrics LAP Program Manager at (301) 975-5740 or send e-mail to: brad.moore@nist.gov.
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