PORT TOWNSEND — A patent issued this week to Intellicheck Mobilisa Inc. could help the wireless security systems company win a multimillion-dollar federal contract.
Company CEO Nelson Ludlow said Wednesday that the patent includes technology developed by Mobilisa for airport security devices.
The Port Townsend-based company has submitted a proposal to build 2,000 of the devices under a Transportation Safety Administration contract that likely will be awarded this summer, Ludlow said.
Mobilisa is a finalist for the contract, having already submitted its proposal before the patent was awarded.
“We’re pretty jazzed about it,” said Ludlow, 49, of Port Townsend.
“This couldn’t be a better time to have the patent issued,” he said.
“This is something we started developing before Homeland Security announced they were doing this.”
Intellicheck Mobilisa has 60 employees, including 35 on the North Olympic Peninsula. The remainder are in Washington, D.C., and Long Island, N.Y.
If awarded the contract, the company would hire 20 more employees, 15 of which would work at the Port Townsend facility.
“This would be a multimillion-dollar contract, without a doubt,” Ludlow said.
“It would be a big deal for a company of our size if we win this.”
TSA wants what it calls a Credential Authentication Technology and Boarding Pass Scanning System — CATBPSS for short, Ludlow said.
Mobilisa’s device scans bar code information, watermarks and other hidden security features in driver’s licenses, boarding passes and passports.
The scanning devices would be employed by TSA security personnel stationed in kiosks where passengers line up to have their documents verified before going through luggage and body scanners.
Passengers’ documents would be scanned inside the kiosks, which would include a computer to compare and verify the information.
The technology “really is our sweet spot,” Ludlow said.
“We are using artificial intelligence and different technologies and have a scoring algorithm of how the two documents will match with each other,” Ludlow said.
“We use the same approach to see if they are fake or not.”
Since the technology is patented, Mobilisa could still benefit even if it loses the contract, Ludlow said.
“We’re in a good position,” Ludlow said.
“If a bigger company wins, we need to be part of their team. Even if other companies wanted to make the device, our technology could be inside of it.”
Mobilisa scanners can determine if IDs are fake, reported lost or stolen, and if the person holding the ID has outstanding warrants.
Ludlow said Mobilisa’s security devices scan IDs at entry points for Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington in Maryland, formerly Andrews Air Force Base, which is home to Air Force One, and at Quantico, Va., home to a Marine Corps base where the FBI Academy is located.
The publicly traded company had $12.4 million in revenue in 2009, making it “roughly a break-even company,” but recorded a $500,000 loss on noncash expenditures such as stock options, Ludlow said.
Mobilisa has been named among the fastest-growing companies in Washington state by the Puget Sound Business Journal for five straight years and last year was the second-fastest-growing publicly traded company in the state, Ludlow said.
The company’s revenue grew 421 percent between 2005 and 2009, making it the 230th fastest-growing company in North America among companies that specialize in technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology, according to Deloitte’s 2010 Technology Fast 500.
