Navy makes swap of systems that let contractors on base

The provider of a base access system for commercial activity is raising concern about a little-noticed change by the Navy in Hawaii and on the mainland to what’s known as the “Defense Biometrics Identification System.”

All four Defense Department services and the Coast Guard use SureID’s RAPIDGate program in Hawaii, which requires background checks to allow contractors, vendors and service providers onto a base in a speedy manner, said SureID Inc. President Jim Robell. The program is described as being like a Transportation Security Administration Pre-Check for contractors.

But in a memo dated Wednesday, the Navy Installations Command said that effective immediately, ashore installations in Hawaii, on Guam and on the mainland would switch from the privately held RAPIDGate program — known as the Navy Commercial Access Control System — to the new government-run biometrics program, initially with paper passes and then ID badges.

Officials said both the Navy and Air Force would be affected at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Robell said in a phone interview from Oregon that “there were literally two business days, Thursday and Friday, on Easter weekend, for us to try to prepare for this, for the Navy bases to prepare for this and for all the men and women that are contractors, vendors and service providers that go onto the Navy bases (to prepare for the change).”

More than 57,000 credential holders and more than 2,800 local companies in Hawaii will be affected by the change, which “the Navy is trying to do at light speed,” the company said.

Commercial card holders under the current system will have 90 days from April 17 to obtain a temporary defense biometrics system paper pass and 180 days to obtain an actual ID card, Navy Region Hawaii said in a news release.

“The RAPIDGate program has provided increased security and streamlined access to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam since 2011,” the company said in a news release. More than 977,000 entrances have been monitored. Ingress was denied for 11,649 individuals. The program is in place at 66 mainland Navy installations as well as on many Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Army installations, the company said.

But in 2013 the Defense Department’s inspector general found that the Navy Commercial Access Control System “did not effectively mitigate access control risks associated with contractor installation access.”

As a result, 52 convicted felons received routine, unauthorized installation access, placing military installations at an increased security risk. The Inspector General’s Office recommended that RAPIDGate be replaced.

Navy Region Hawaii said the Defense Biometrics Identification System is maintained by the government’s Defense Manpower Data Center.

“Contractors and vendors are reminded to give themselves time as there may be a high demand during the transition to the DBIDS card, and possible delays in processing new credentials and passes are anticipated,” Navy Region Hawaii said.

The DBIDS system has been in place for military and civilian “Common Access Cardholders” for about a year at the joint base and at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, the Navy said.

The DBIDS system interfaces with criminal databases and can register arrest warrants issued in other states and flag individuals barred from a base, the Navy said. A guard can scan an ID card’s bar code or an individual’s fingerprints using a wireless hand-held device.