Parliament to introduce facial recognition attendance tracking system for MPs

Parliament to introduce facial recognition attendance tracking system for MPs

SINGAPORE - The attendance of MPs in Parliament will soon be tracked using a facial recognition system.

According to tender documents on government procurement portal GeBiz on Thursday (Nov 7), the Parliament Secretariat will be implementing a facial recognition attendance tracking system to replace manual tracking.

The Secretariat, which oversees the organisation of Parliament proceedings, supports the Speaker of Parliament.

A facial recognition system will improve efficiency and enable Parliament to become a digitalised workplace, it said in the documents.

The system will enable Parliament to determine how many, and which, MPs are present during any sitting in real time.

It will allow users to conduct free searches on the attendance for any sittings online, based on specified criteria such as the sitting date and name of the MP.

"During any sitting day, an MP will not be required to attend throughout, as not all issues will concern him/her. An MP may also 'come and go' several times during a sitting and there are also designated break times during sittings. As such, attendance needs to be tracked throughout the entire sitting and not just at the beginning or end of sitting day," the document explains.

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This system must be able to generate exportable and printable reports on the number of MPs present and absent, and their names; as well as attendance records, such as when and how many times an MP was absent in a given time period.

The tender includes the installation of an estimated six "inconspicuous" cameras in Parliament for facial recognition capture.

The requirement specifications include solutions development, software licences and hardware such as the server, network switch, client laptop and video cameras.

There will be a soft launch during one of the sittings, to allow the contractor to fine-tune the system's accuracy and performance under actual conditions. The contractor may also take this opportunity to capture and update the facial profiles of the MPs.

The closing date for the tender is Dec 2.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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