Indonesia to Modernize National Biometric Infrastructure by Unifying Legacy ABIS Platforms

Indonesia is about to undertake a significant change in its national biometric infrastructure by a proposed ABIS upgrade Indonesia project. The project, which is spearheaded by the Directorate General for Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) at the Ministry of Home Affairs, has the goal of integrating the old biometric systems to a new scalable automated biometric identification system (ABIS). By working in collaboration with the World Bank, the program is aimed at enhancing civil registration, digital identity uptake, and service delivery and provision in both the public and the private sector. The government has started to undergo a market sounding exercise within a marketplace with biometrics vendors throughout the world in advance of genuine procurement.

Government Push for a Unified Biometric System

Indonesia has now two independent ABIS systems one of which is biometric data storage of more than 200 million citizens and the other is enrollment and biometric deduplication. This disjointed architecture has resulted in complexity of operation and lack of scalability.

The intended ABIS upgrade Indonesia will bring all these platforms into one system that can serve the population of approximately 280 million in the country. Dukcapil considers this integration to be one of the key steps towards building universal inclusion in the civil registry or making national identity infrastructure more resilient and interoperable.

World Bank Support and Procurement Roadmap

The World Bank supports the project in the form of the ID Project of Inclusive Service Delivery and Digital Transformation in Indonesia. It is also funded by previous tenders of biometric enrollment systems and the ID card printers.

Under the amended World Bank procurement plan, a sundry ABIS of some $12 million will be arranged, and the bids will be evaluated on December 31, 2025, and the project will be completed on April 2, 2027. The activities of market engagement will assist in shaping the strategies of procurement and implementation preceding formal bidding.

Biometric Modalities and Technical Direction

The current biometric system in Indonesia is identically based on the iris and fingerprint biometric when deduplicating, whereas facial recognition is mostly applied to verify identity. In the new regime, the iris and fingerprints will be used as the fundamental modalities of the deduplication, whereas face biometrics will be considered optional and complementary to the operation requirements.

This strategy is aimed at making inclusion as inclusive as possible especially among citizens who might have issues with some Biometric modalities as well as ensuring accuracy and efficiency.

Avoiding Vendor Lock-In and Ensuring Interoperability

One of the aims of the ABIS upgrade Indonesia is preventing vendor lock-in and long-term sustainability in terms of operations and financial sustainability. Dukcapil has placed the need to be scalable, resilient, and compatible with a new identity verification and digital KYC platform, which is currently in development.

The biometrics vendors who wish to take part are also expected to have experience in systems used in the national level with a population of at least 10 million and must also have rights to utilize the technologies proposed and must be a direct or a partner.

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