SWFT Applicant System

Government contractors can take advantage of SWFT Applicant, a new electronic fingerprint submission system that facilitates DoD prescribed method to capture and submit electronic fingerprints.

SWFT Applicant fully adheres to the Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification (EBTS) 9.3 Appendix F Live Scan Specifications of image quality as required by the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (IAFIS).

It also provides backward compatibility with the Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification (EFTS) 7.1 format, which is used by the Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT) program.

What’s more, SWFT Applicant is an FBI IAFIS accredited solution, which is listed on the approved product list of FBI. SWFT Applicant users can be sure of swift DoD fingerprinting/OPM fingerprint check with SWFT Applicant and stay compliant with Department of Defense directives. DoD directive is a mandate, but with SWFT Applicant you can stay a step ahead by supporting the national security goals set by Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

SWFT uses highly secure digital data transmission standards for the transmission of personal and fingerprint data. It also eliminates the need for manual fingerprint capture and greatly reduces the time taken for background verification. Chances of errors owing to manual processing are also reduced greatly, which can potentially lead to the rejection of the background check request.

Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT) is a web enabled software system to facilitate electronic fingerprint collection and secure transmission of data. SWFT system is maintained by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), the agency which is responsible for data generated out of U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) activities. DMDC is also responsible for funding and operations of SWFT.

Participant industries (as well as those which are applying to participate) in the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) have to comply with fingerprint background check mandate of the applicants. This is done to ensure industrial security by providing nominal access to classified data (e.g. Personally Identifiable Information, biometric data, etc.) under government control.

Industries under NISP can securely perform applicant background check by capturing electronic files using FBI IAFIS approved equipment and transmitting them using SWFT. SWFT enabled fingerprint submission is sometimes also referred to as DoD fingerprinting and OPM fingerprint check.

Organizations that hold a SWFT account can initiate a background check / DoD fingerprinting / OPM fingerprint check process by capturing electronic fingerprints using approved devices. Captured fingerprint is uploaded to the SWFT server along with PII, which is transferred to OPM and then finally to the FBI to perform FBI IAFIS background verification.

SWFT is the only method by which all NISP participants can submit electronic fingerprints to OPM.

Contrary to the common misconception, that you need to invest in expensive SWFT fingerprint transmission kit to become SWFT compliant, it can be easily done even with ink-and-roll fingerprint cards! SWFT supports electronically captured fingerprint as well as digitalized fingerprint images scanned from fingerprint cards, provided that they are scanned using a certified method.

SWFT can be directly assessed by SWFT account holders, who can submit prints using SWFT fingerprint transmission kit. However, companies that do not hold an active FCL (Facility Clearance) can use alternative methods like submission of electronic fingerprint file to SWFT via FCB (Facility Clearance Branch) or via a third party SWFT account.

A third party vendor, who is an approved e-Fingerprint service provider (aka FBI approved channeler), can help submit fingerprints via SWFT. The third party vendor should have FBI IAFIS certified fingerprint capture equipment as well as access to SWFT to do that.

Vendors who do not have access to SWFT but have FBI IAFIS certified capture equipment, can assist DSS-SWFT cleared contractors in scanning fingerprint cards into the required digitized format. It will allow uploading files to the Secured Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT) system.

As per the U.S. government directives to support Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12) and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, all NISP (National Industrial Security Program) cleared contractors need to do electronic submissions of fingerprints using Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT).

According to U.S. Department of Defense –

By memorandum dated July 29, 2010, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence issued a requirement for Department of Defense (DoD) components to transition to electronic capture and submission of fingerprint images in support of all background investigations by December 31, 2013 (e-Fingerprint memo). In an effort to comply with this mandate the Defense Security Service (DSS) is providing guidance to assist companies participating in the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) to transition to electronic fingerprinting. Additionally, this transition will support goals established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and the implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12.