Public-Private Standards Development Collaboration 

Case Study: INCITS M1 

Executive Summary 

Law enforcement officials demanded an application-specific data format standard for the interchange of 

biometric information. In 2001, INCITS (a voluntary standards forum operated by ITIC) established a 

U.S. standards committee to develop generic biometric standards and the international standards 

community followed. In the past ten years, INCITS has developed more than two dozen standards, with 

input from industry experts, government officials and academics. U.S. government agencies, such as the 

Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, rely on these standards (particularly for Personal 

Identity Verification (PIV) cards for federal employees). 

Results: 

In November 2001, the INCITS (InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards; 

(http://www.incits.org/)) Executive Board (INCITS EB) established INCITS Technical Committee M1 

on Biometrics, and decided to propose the formation of a counterpart international Subcommittee in 

ISO/IEC JTC 1 to develop international generic biometric standards. 

From the beginning, INCITS M1 has been comprised of members from the private sector (vendors and 

system integrators), government, consultants and academia. The present M1 membership total is: 32 

member organizations including 23 voting members, five Advisory members and four Liaison 

organizations. Currently, approximately 75 percent of the voting and Advisory members are from 

private industry. Approximately 21 percent of members are from government, and four percent are from 

academia. Liaison organizations include the International Biometric Industry Association, OASIS, the 

Security Industry Association and the BioAPI Consortium. 

Since the inaugural meeting of INCITS M1 in January 2002, 26 American National Standards and one 

ANSI Technical Report have been published. Although its major emphasis is supporting the 

development of International standards, INCITS M1 continues to develop national standards required by 

its members. Currently, 10 draft standards are in development. 

Since the first meeting of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC37 in December 2002, 31 international standards and four 

Technical Reports have been published. SC37 is currently processing 52 draft standards and six draft 

Technical Reports. INCITS M1 is a significant contributor to SC37’s Program of Work under the 

responsibility of SC37 and its six Working Groups. 

INCITS M1 provides technical contributions to about 85% of the SC37 projects. In addition INCITS 

M1 contributes with a large number of technical editors/co-editors for the international projects. Most 

of the international standards developed by SC37 have been adopted as American National Standards. 

The M1 and SC37 standards have proven to be very market-relevant. The initial M1 concept of 

operation was to quickly develop ANSs and semi-concurrently develop SC37 standards. 

Large international organizations have adopted a number of the international standards developed by 

JTC 1/SC37. International Civil Aviation Administration (ICAO) adopted them for the Machine 
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Readable Travel Documents (MRTD) and the International Labor Office of the UN (ILO) for the 

Seafarers’ ID Card. Countries represented in JTC 1/SC37 have adopted some of the international 

biometric standards as well. 

In the U.S. government, the requirements for the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Card for Federal 

Employees/Contractors requires conformance to several of the biometric ANSs developed by INCITS 

M1. Other representative examples in the U.S. of government agencies requiring the use of M1 and 

SC37 developed biometric standards are the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of 

Defense. 

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity 

Management (which includes participation of a significant number of U.S. government agencies) has 

developed the Registry of USG Recommended Biometric Standards. For U.S. government-wide 

applications, this publication recommends several standards developed by M1 as well as international 

standards developed by SC37. 

Background 

The need for the development of biometric standards to support applications in open systems 

environments was recognized in the 1980s. Around 1985, the law enforcement community and other 

government and private sector interested parties developed six versions of an application-specific data 

format standard for the interchange of biometric information. This standardization was done under the 

auspices of NIST/ITL, which is an ANSI accredited standards developer. 

After September 11, 2001, biometrics and biometric standardization became a priority for the U.S. 

Many government users and industrial organizations expressed the urgent need for the rapid 

development of national and international generic biometric standards that could be used in many highpriority applications. In response to these new requirements, NIST worked with other U.S. government 

agencies and private industry via INCITS to help establish national and international standards groups 

for generic biometric standards development. 

The purpose of INCITS M1 is to ensure a high-priority, focused and comprehensive approach in the 

U.S. for the timely development of national and international biometric standards that are needed for 

biometric personal authentication in growing identity management applications in commerce and 

government. INCITS M1’s program of work includes the development of biometric standards for data 

interchange formats, sample quality standards, common file formats, technical interfaces, application 

profiles, conformance and performance testing, and reporting methodologies. 

ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC1) SC37 on Biometrics was established by JTC1 in June 

2002. The formation of JTC1/SC37 was initiated and championed by the U.S. through INCITS. 

Since its inception, INCITS M1 has been chaired by a NIST representative. An SC37 Working Group 

Convener and the SC37 Chairperson are also NIST employees. Many of the project editors for the 

INCITS M1 projects and the SC37 projects are from U.S. government agencies, such as DOD, DHS, 

FBI and NIST. 

For further information, please contact the Information Technology Industry Council at 202-626-5752.