The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) wants to implement a new way to identify taxpayers, issuing a tender for a mobile OCR solution to allow identity documents (e.g. driver’s licence, passport or Medicare card) to be scanned on a mobile device and the fields prefilled using data held in the national Document Verification Service (DVS).

Known as AUSid, the new platform will be provided via mobile and desktop apps, and is expected to replace the AUSkey digital certificates that are currently employed with accountants and small business owners when dealing with the ATO online. AUSid will also provide a range of enhanced security features including device-based fingerprints and facial verification.

The ATO wants the device document scanning to include enhance OCR functionality that will also assist in detecting fraudulent or altered identity documents. Verification of the prefilled data with DVS, provided by the Attorney General’s Department, and any manual error correction of the extracted data will occur within the AUSid application.

The successful tenderer will also need to provide the required OCR templates for scanning document types.

“The services are expected to include updates to templates over time i.e. a new ACT driver’s license template becomes available in 2019. Details of how these updates are expected to occur and associated timeframes will be required,” the tender documents state

Configuration of the AUSid platform is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has also issued a tender to enhance its Govpass national digital identity program with the ability to capture “Liveness” on mobile, tablet and PC devices.

Govpass is a platform currently being built by the DTA that is expected to be launched some time in 2018

The “Liveness” function involves checking a photo taken on a mobile device against an image stored on a central database to ensure the individual is a ‘live’ person and not a facsimile image being employed in an attempt to create a fraudulent identity. This could even extend to use of video or a 3D avatar.

The solution will require the ability to perform image correction on the photo and in some cases ask the user to “turn their head a certain/random way and verify that the head turned in the specified direction.”

This will require facial tracking such as; Position of face; Distance from camera; and Anti-spoofing (eg. Defocusing techniques).

Other tests will include asking the user to speak a series of words or random digits to determine “liveness”.