The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has opened an early-stage procurement process examining the next generation of the state's Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or AFIS.
TBI issued Request for Information 34800-081126 on August 18, 2026, seeking industry feedback concerning the acquisition, cloud hosting, migration and ongoing maintenance of a comprehensive fingerprint-identification environment.
The agency says its objective is to replace its current AFIS with a scalable, highly available cloud-hosted system supporting production and testing environments while integrating with other state and federal criminal-justice systems.
This is not yet a competitive solicitation or contract award. TBI describes the RFI as an information-gathering step intended to help Tennessee refine specifications, evaluate market capabilities and structure a competitive procurement strategy. Responding to the RFI does not create contract rights and is not identified as a prerequisite for participation in a later solicitation.
Procurement at a glance
Tennessee is evaluating a broad biometric infrastructure replacement
The RFI goes considerably beyond fingerprint-matching functionality.
TBI asks potential suppliers to describe approaches for cloud provisioning, separate production and testing environments, dynamic resource scaling, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, data migration, biometric workflows, hardware deployment, system integration, maintenance and training.
The agency estimates that AFIS data is growing at approximately 7% annually and asks vendors how infrastructure could scale without degrading application performance, transaction throughput or system availability.
The contemplated environment would support multiple operational workflows, including criminal livescan submissions, hard-copy criminal fingerprint-card entry, law-enforcement applicant livescan, DNA collection, mobile submissions, sex-offender-registry functions and Rap Back subscription and notification services.
That breadth makes the project relevant to more than forensic fingerprint examination. TBI's Criminal Justice Information Services functions include fingerprint-based criminal-record information and biometric processing tied to Tennessee's criminal-history infrastructure.
More than five million biometric records are in scope
Migration is one of the most substantial components of the contemplated project. TBI asks vendors how they would migrate an AFIS database containing more than five million records while preserving historical information and associated biometric functions and maintaining applicable criminal-justice security and biometric-transmission requirements.
A separate data-conversion effort could involve approximately 250,000 unindexed hard-copy fingerprint cards. Potential suppliers are being asked to explain how those cards could be scanned, indexed and converted into searchable records available within criminal and applicant workflows while maintaining data integrity.
The RFI also addresses database synchronization, secure transfer of existing information, residual migration following system go-live and testing intended to prevent record loss during conversion.
The current system is already cloud-based
TBI's FY2022–23 reporting states that in May 2023, its more than 20-year-old legacy AFIS was upgraded and replaced with an Idemia cloud-based MBIS5 system. The agency also reported replacing livescan equipment at TBI headquarters and regional offices.
The 2026 RFI nevertheless expressly seeks market information concerning replacement of TBI's current AFIS with a scalable, highly available cloud-hosted environment.
The RFI does not explain why TBI is considering another replacement, identify the current system by vendor name within the procurement document, or establish whether a future procurement would retain components of the existing environment.
Accordingly, the 2026 RFI should not be interpreted as evidence that Tennessee has selected a replacement vendor, terminated an existing vendor relationship or finalized a new system architecture.
Resilience requirements point to critical infrastructure
TBI's market inquiry provides specific indications of the operational performance Tennessee is evaluating.
For disaster recovery, the agency asks vendors to address an architecture capable of a four-hour Recovery Time Objective and a Recovery Point Objective of zero data loss during an unplanned outage.
Potential suppliers are also asked about semiannual disaster-recovery exercises and performance reporting following those tests.
For ordinary operations, the RFI asks how vendors would maintain at least 99.9% system availability per calendar month. It also contemplates rapid response and restoration targets for critical incidents associated with unplanned outages.
Those requirements position the contemplated AFIS as continuously available criminal-justice infrastructure rather than a standalone forensic application.
CJIS security is embedded throughout the proposed environment
Security requirements run across the contemplated project.
TBI asks vendors to address controls including encryption of stored and transmitted information, multifactor authentication, role-based access, vulnerability assessment, auditing, logging and system-hardening procedures.
The contemplated production and testing environments would also need to operate in accordance with applicable FBI Criminal Justice Information Services security requirements.
TBI further asks how suppliers would test software updates and patches before deployment so that criminal-justice security and biometric-transmission requirements can continue to be maintained.
The combination of cloud infrastructure and criminal-justice information makes security architecture a central procurement consideration rather than an ancillary IT requirement.
Connections with state and FBI systems are another major requirement
A future AFIS would need to operate within a broader criminal-justice information environment.
TBI asks potential vendors how they would establish secure interfaces and exchanges involving external systems, including Tennessee's Computerized Criminal History system, its message-switch environment, mugshot transmissions associated with the FBI's Next Generation Identification environment and FBI palm-response functions.
The agency is also examining standardized APIs and secure communications for designated third-party systems and workstations.
These connections reflect AFIS's operational role in criminal investigations. TBI's Latent Print Examination Unit uses fingerprint-identification systems to search unidentified prints recovered from crime scenes or developed from evidence against fingerprint records. TBI also describes circumstances in which qualifying unidentified latent prints can be submitted to the FBI for database searches.
New workstations and physical equipment are contemplated
The potential project is not exclusively a cloud-software acquisition.
TBI asks suppliers to describe delivery and installation of new turnkey capture and latent workstations, batch scanners, printers and other required peripherals.
Those systems would need to remain compatible with the cloud-hosted AFIS environment and supported operating systems. Vendors are also being asked about software licensing, third-party software, updates and patches, technical support and continuing technology upgrades.
A future procurement could therefore span cloud infrastructure, biometric applications, physical hardware, cybersecurity, system integration, data conversion and long-term lifecycle support.
Tennessee is using the RFI to test potential pricing structures
No contract value or procurement budget is established in the RFI.
Instead, TBI asks respondents to provide information about typical pricing units and price ranges for comparable products and services.
The state's cost questions extend across cloud compute and storage, hardware and workstations, disaster recovery, migration of more than five million records, digitization of approximately 250,000 fingerprint cards, security controls, biometric searches, interfaces, technical support, technology upgrades and training.
The RFI also explores pricing associated with different biometric-search categories and expected throughput.
Those questions indicate that Tennessee is using the market-research phase to understand both technical capabilities and potential cost structures before determining the terms of a competitive acquisition.
What happens next
The RFI describes the information-gathering exercise as part of an ongoing procurement process. Tennessee says industry feedback will help refine specifications, assess market capabilities and structure a competitive procurement strategy.
The document contemplates possible later procurement activity, but it does not guarantee that an RFP or any particular procurement method will follow.
The next material developments would include an amendment or clarification to this RFI, resolution of the conflicting deadline information, issuance of a formal competitive solicitation, or another official procurement action.
An eventual award would represent a separate intelligence event by establishing a selected vendor and contractual relationship.
Until then, RFI 34800-081126 remains an early-stage justice-technology market signal — not an award or documented new vendor deployment.
Why this matters for the justice-technology market
Tennessee's RFI illustrates the expanding scope of justice-technology procurement surrounding biometric identification systems.
Fingerprint matching remains central, but the procurement questions extend into cloud architecture, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, data conversion, physical workstations, APIs, federal interoperability, system availability and long-term technology management.
The procurement also presents an instructive lifecycle example. Tennessee reported modernizing its AFIS environment in 2023 and is now gathering market information concerning replacement of the current system only a few years later.
What technology, contract, performance or lifecycle considerations are driving that next step is not stated in the RFI and should not be inferred without additional official documentation.
For agencies and justice-technology suppliers, however, the RFI provides a detailed public view of the technical, security, migration and operational questions Tennessee is considering before determining the structure of its next acquisition.
Official sources
Tennessee Central Procurement Office — RFI 34800-081126 Cloud-Hosted Automated Fingerprint Identification System Solution Tennessee Central Procurement Office Current RFP and RFI opportunities Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Criminal Justice Information Services Division Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Forensic Services Division TBI FY2022–23 Annual Report Historical source for the May 2023 AFIS / MBIS5 modernizationTrack justice technology from market research to award
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