Federal Investigations Notice

Letter No . 00-04

Date: March 13, 2000

Electronic Submissions to OPM's Fingerprint Transaction System

As noted in Federal Investigations Notice 00-03, OPM implemented the first phase of the Fingerprint Transaction System (FTS) on November 29, 1999. On that date we began to submit all of our fingerprint searches electronically to the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) of the FBI. This was accomplished by OPM scanning all HardCard fingerprints at the Federal Investigations Processing Center (FIPC) in Boyers, PA and converting them into electronic images. The fingerprint images and the subject's demographic data are then sent electronically via a wide area network (WAN) to CJIS. The search results, and an arrest record (if one exists), are sent back through the WAN to the OPM FTS.

The second phase of our FTS is to allow our customer agencies to send electronic fingerprint submissions to OPM. The FTS is designed to accept electronic submissions from any FBI-approved LiveScan unit configured for electronic transmission to OPM. The attachment to this FIN outlines the requirements necessary to electronically submit to the FTS. The attachment may be shared with any FBI-approved vendor that you select to electronically submit to the FTS.

We are eager to work with our customers to enable electronic submissions to the FTS. If you have any questions about our FTS and how to electronically submit fingerprints, please contact the Program Services Office on 724-794-5612.

Richard A. Ferris
Associate Director for Investigations

Attachment

Inquiries:

OPM-IS, Oversight and Technical Assistance Division, 202-606-1042
OPM-FIPC, Program Services Office, 724-794-5612

Code:

736, Investigations

Distribution:

SONs/SOIs

Letter Expires:

Until Superseded