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House-to-House/NRR merger… Fingerprint cross-matching can be done in less than two weeks
Today, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to make vital decisions about the planned merger of the data garnered from House-to-House Registration and the National Register of Registrants (NRR).
The first major decision has to do with who will cross-match the fingerprints. With 370,000+ persons registered, the quickest option appears to be an international digital security company called Gemalto. It has been calculated, tentatively, that the approximate cost to cross-match 350,000 registrants against the NRR (10 prints each) will be US$105,000 (approx. GY$21.9M), at US$0.30 per registrant. It has been estimated that that will take 10-12 days.
It has been reported that 370,000+ persons were registered at the recently suspended House-to-House exercise, but an advantage noted by GECOM is that the cost would only be for 350,000 registrants. Also, Gemalto has already de-duplicated the 663,365 registrants listed in the National Register of Registrants Database 2007 (NRRDB2007), and GECOM could, perhaps, dispatch prints to advance the process as they become available.
Gemalto is GECOM’s likely choice as the other options available would take much longer to be completed.
Another option would be to have the prints cross-matched at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), but the current matching engine there does not meet the speed requirement necessary to perform the task in a timely manner. And the machine matches four prints, not 10, like GECOM is requesting. The option is also being explored to upgrade the EOJ’s matching engine but that’s unlikely too, since Jamaica’s procurement policy would see the procurement process taking up to six months.
The third option would be to have the matching done right here in Guyana. In that case, GECOM would have to procure an ABIS (matcher) solution. As GECOM already has the ability to scan fingerprints in a certain format, the ABIS solution would be modularly implemented into GECOM’s technological infrastructure. The cost of purchase could be near US$1M, with additional consultancy and administration costs. The solution could be installed in two weeks, and the cross-matching could be done in another two weeks. GECOM would need assistance from EOJ’s technical team, as the training of local personnel just wouldn’t fit into a reasonable timeline for elections.
EOJ could explore this option with GECOM, but that choice would involve a high level of risk as the timelines are not guaranteed. Also, the cost is very high and is not budgeted for in GECOM’s 2019 subvention.
Another major decision GECOM needs to make is about production of identification (ID) cards.
EOJ can personalize 750,000 cards within eight weeks. At a cost of US$0.70 per card, that would total US$525,000 (approx. GY$109.6M).
On the other (less costly) hand, GECOM would procure its own card issuance system at a cost of US$450,000 (approx. GY$93.9M). There would also be consulting and administration costs.
These are the choices before the Guyana Elections Commission, and while Monday’s statutory meeting was widely criticised by Commissioners (especially the Opposition-nominated ones) as having borne no fruit, Commissioner Charles Corbin said that the meeting today should see them focusing much more on the specific decisions which need to be made.
After those decisions are made, GECOM will be able to provide timelines to President David Granger for General and Regional Elections. (Kemol King)
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