TMC Technologies helping make FBI background check system more efficient

“We developed the system, an electronic application, to allow you to do that online,” Linger said. “You still have to get a fingerprint card and mail that in, but basically you can do the rest of it with your computer and a credit card.”

Linger said the new online system developed by TMC and two other West Virginia technology firms, Lakota Software Solutions and Trilogy Innovations, has sped up the process to about three days once the fingerprint card has been received.

“And you could probably get it the same day if you could transmit your fingerprints digitally, which we’re looking at,” he said.

The program’s success has been confirmed by what Linger and FBI officials say are tens of thousands of people who have successfully used the online system in just the first two months of operation.

“That’s an exciting thing to be part of,” Linger added. “It’s created a real buzz at the FBI in Clarksburg. This kind of thing can be done by a small company team in West Virginia without a bunch of drama.”

That “drama,” according to Linger, is what can happen when a larger company does government work, spending more than the initial price and taking much longer than originally planned.

“We didn’t do that,” he said. “We bid to win the work. We delivered it early and we did not ask for another penny. So, it’s a real good success story for our company, our state and the FBI CJIS facility.”

How successful? According to FBI CJIS Division Chief of Multimedia Productions Stephen G. Fischer Jr. “in its first month of operation to the public, the electronic department order (eDO) application was more successful than the business line had estimated or expected.”

Identity History Summary Check submissions, according to the Fischer, were initially estimated to be 10 percent of all submissions that come through the eDO portal.

“Instead, 52 percent or approximately 12,000 submissions came through the eDO portal the first month,” he added. “Since it was deployed, the eDO system’s popularity continues to increase. In February, there were 23,076 department orders (DOs) completed, surpassing January’s completions by almost 4,000. This is a huge accomplishment for the DO business line. We anticipate seeing high closeout figures similar to February in the coming months, and expect to see a decrease in the DO processing time.”

Along with its work on the IDHS system, TMC software engineers are also developing a national Use of Force (UoF) data collection system, which consists of a standalone system using the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) for state programs or agencies to enter their data.

“In addition, the program will provide a web application programming interface (web service) to accommodate direct submission from agencies and state programs that have a system to capture this information already in place,” Linger added.

The goal, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is to develop an electronic repository of use-of-force information. The FBI will periodically release statistics to the public, as well as publish descriptive information on trends and characteristics of the recorded data.

TMC is developing the system by employing what Linger is calling an “agile software development methodology” to accelerate the development timeline for the FBI.

Prior to winning contracts to develop eDO and Use of Force, TMC helped Accenture develop the new National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). NICS is the system used by retailers to determine if prospective firearms or explosives buyers are eligible to buy.

Currently, 22 people work for TMC at the FBI CJIS facility. The company’s other 70 employees are split among a handful of federal projects happening at the NASA Independent Validation and Verification (NASA IV&V) facility in Fairmont; two U.S. Navy research bases, one in Dahlgren, Virginia, and the other in Crane, Indiana; as well as at its corporate office on Pleasant Valley Road in Marion County. But, a big part of the Fairmont-based technology firm’s success has come from the methodical way it has grown, mainly through merging and acquiring other small companies.

Since its inception in March 2010, TMC Technologies has merged with three other firms: Galaxy Global Corp., CreateTank LLC, and, on its eight-year anniversary in February, Mountain State Information Systems Inc. (MSIS).

The combined company employs 90 high-tech staff with skills ranging from computer systems design and development, to testing and research.

MSIS president Paul Garnett will support TMC in a business development role. “Our excellent staff and management team provides the combined company with a tremendous foundation on which to build an even larger operation,” Garnett said. “With the combined capabilities of TMC and MSIS, we will be able to compete effectively for larger contracts across a broader customer base. What great news for Fairmont and West Virginia.”

Finding a perfect target for acquisition is a company Linger said that first has to be doing at least between $2 million and $5 million a year.

“It also has a good foothold in some federal agency, is well funded and has a couple to three years left on contract work. And for whatever reason, the owner is ready to cash in,” Linger explained. “Then we’re happy to pick that up and carry the ball.”

But growth through acquisition is only part of how TMC has developed work experience. Since the beginning, TMC has won several multi-million-dollar government contracts that have helped to accelerate its ability to get larger.

One of the more notable projects is happening at the NASA IV&V facility under the direction of TMC Program Manager Scott Zemerick. The team is called the Test Capability Team. Team members are developing software that simulates what a spacecraft endures.

“The goal is to make sure the flight software will do what it’s supposed to do when it’s in orbit,” Zemerick explained.

To achieve that goal, Zemerick said the nine-member team develops software that simulates every aspect of the spacecraft’s mission, from what it could expect when it launches to the rigors of orbiting the Earth.

“Meaning you can run that spacecraft from a laptop as if you were sitting at an operator station at NASA,” Zemerick said.

Some projects the team has worked on include: James Webb Space Telescope, Space Launch System, the DSCOVR or Deep Space Climate Observatory and the Global Precipitation Management mission.

The real value, Zemerick said, is the opportunity for mission training and the ability to perform what he calls fault testing.

“We provide risk mitigation and mission assurance and increase the chances of mission success,” he said.

We are heavily involved in the building and eventual launch of West Virginia’s first spacecraft, STF-1. In February 2015, the STF-1 project was selected for participation in NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. STF-1 will fly as a payload on the ElAnA XIX Electron, before being deployed at 311 miles above Earth’s surface. The project is a collaboration between TMC, West Virginia University and NASA IV&V.

The spacecraft or “CubeSat” is 13.9 inches high, weighing a little more than 8 pounds.

“The primary focus of it is to demonstrate the simulation and modeling technologies that TMC has developed for NASA to showcase it in a CubeSat,” Zemerick said.

STF-1 has a tentative launch window of May 22 to June 7.