IBT puts fingerprint on nation's security

The Tennessean | December 31 2004

A Nashville company is celebrating the end of 2004 with the news that it has just won a big chunk of business that will send revenues soaring for at least three more years.

Integrated Biometric Technology learned this month that it had snared a federal contract worth millions of dollars to fingerprint every trucker licensed to carry hazardous materials.

But it's worth more than just money to company President Charles Carroll, who has made a career out of providing security.

''It's one thing to have a contract where you make money,'' he said yesterday, en route to Nashville from his Dayton, Ohio, office. ''But this is a service that directly impacts the safety and security of our country. All of us are impacted by who's driving out on the highway. The whole intent of this new law is to make sure that terrorists have no access to driving these vehicles.''

Carroll said he initially estimated the three-year contract with the Transportation Security Administration would be worth $50 million. Now he's learned it is worth ''well over what we anticipated … much, much greater than $50 million,'' he said.

''It's a major deal, especially for a small, privately held company. It is a major win for us.''

The federal agency chose Integrated Biometric Technology over much larger competitors such as IBM to provide a digital fingerprinting system for the 2.7 million truckers licensed to carry radioactive, poisonous and explosive materials.

The initiative comes under the Patriot Act and is meant to prevent criminals from getting behind the wheel with cargo that could be used to explode buildings or unleash biological or chemical threats.

The deal accelerates the growth curve for IBT, based in Century City office park near the airport.

Founded in Dayton in 1999, IBT moved here in 2001 and has gone from posting revenues of a few million to more than $25 million this year, Carroll said.

He projects revenues will be more than $60 million in 2006, with a big chunk coming from the TSA contract and another potential contract that would be worth $200 million over nine years.

With seven full-time employees and about 20 subcontractors, the company will create several new offices and add 15 more positions within the next six months.

IBT provides the hardware and software to capture truckers' fingerprints and send them to the FBI. The FBI will match them against its database of about 400 million prints to look for red flags.

More than 30 states have agreed to use IBT's service through the federal contract; the rest will gather their own fingerprints and submit them to the FBI, although IBT may bid for the work.

The fingerprint project will begin at the end of January.

Carroll said his company won because of superior technology and compatibility with systems already in place. IBT co-owns its software with Lockheed Martin, and its first contract in 2000 was with the military.

''If you went into any branch of service in the past four years, you were fingerprinted by us,'' he said.

IBT's client list also includes insurance companies, banks and school systems, which use it to get a quick read on a job applicant's criminal history. It's faster and more accurate to scan a digital print than to use the old ink method, which could take months to match and had a 20%-25% failure rate, he said.

IBT is one of a portfolio of businesses Carroll owns that provide security. He once investigated narcotics and motorcycle gangs with the Dayton police. He later formed Asset Corp. there to investigate workplace crime and other corporate protection issues, as well as to provide personal bodyguards for entertainers and executives in places such as Mexico City and Bogota, Colombia, where kidnappings for ransom are not uncommon.

Carroll recently returned from Thailand, where he was a consultant to police forces. The personal protection business is labor-intensive, he said, and the nice thing about IBT is that it relies more on technology.

''It's a nice blend, to provide needs with security and background checks to taking care of people, making sure they're safe on the ground level,'' he said.

Carroll said he and partner Ivan Tennyson, who is chairman of the board, thought the biometrics market would be fully developed in 2000. It wasn't so, but Sept. 11, 2001, accelerated growth into what he estimates will be a $5 billion to $10 billion industry.

''It's a nice thing to have a company that's growing at a rapid rate and being very profitable and winning big contracts,'' Carroll said.

''We're not focusing on selling it but on sitting back and growing the company.''