The Apex Air Entry/Exit Re-engineering (AEER) program is a multi-year effort within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to transform the international arrivals process and implement a biometric capability to verify the departure of foreign nationals leaving from U.S. air ports of entry.

Through the Apex AEER program, DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are collaborating to transform CBP operations by leveraging commercially available technologies, re-engineering current processes, and introducing new operational capabilities.

The Apex AEER program will identify, develop, test, and evaluate new concepts of operation to enhance and facilitate traveler-screening processes. There are three primary drivers for Apex AEER:

• Increase security while facilitating trade and travel
• Implement operational capabilities required by federal legislation
• Support the National Travel and Tourism Strategy

About the Apex AEER Program

The Apex AEER program, a partnership of DHS S&T and CBP, is composed of four inter-locking parts: technology, operations analysis, business case analysis, and stakeholder engagement.

To determine the best performing technologies for integration into airport entry and exit processes, the Apex AEER program will employ three phases of evaluation: laboratory testing, scenario-based testing and field trial testing.

The technology team engaged private industry, including biometric solution providers, to conduct a rigorous market survey of commercially available technologies. A sub-set of these systems will be used to evaluate the cost effectiveness of entry and biometric exit concepts of operation through laboratory and scenario-based testing at the Maryland Test Facility (MdTF).

Testing results from the MdTF and an analysis of operational impacts will inform a rigorous business case analysis that will document feasible solutions on the basis of performance, cost, and risk. While the results of the Apex AEER program will ultimately inform CBP acquisition activities, the program itself is not an acquisition activity. Visit DHS’ How To pages for more information on doing business with DHS and S&T.

For more information about the Apex AEER program, please email aeer@hq.dhs.gov.