The Federal Government wants to test new facial recognition systems this year.

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) says it is planning public tests of the facial recognition component of the government’s digital identity app by mid-2020.

DTA chief digital officer Peter Alexander says the agency wants to get the biometric feature right before introducing it.

“We would like the biometric to be in by mid-year, but we wouldn’t pressure that,” he told Senate estimates.

“This is about getting it right because the biometric is so important that we do need to make sure that this is successful.”

The DTA is working on the Australian Taxation Office’s myGovID digital identity credentialing app.

myGovID allows Australian citizens to create a digital identity that they can use to log into a limited range of online government services.

Currently, it performs what is essentially a digital 100-point ID check using the Document Verification Service and Face Verification Service to verify identity documents like passports, Medicare cards and driver’s licences.

To allow access to more confidential services, the DTA says it requires facial verification and liveness detection.

Early versions have detected liveness by prompting users to move their head between a series of points.

But the ATO wants more identity-proofing, approaching the market for “additional vendor to test their solution against the ATO’s core usability and security requirements”.

“No decision has been made on which vendors and which products will be eventually used for Liveness detection. All options are being kept open,” an ATO spokesperson has told iTnews.

“The ATO will continue to test multiple vendors and products in order to optimise the available usability and security requirements.”

DTA chief Randal Brugeaud says the “implementation of the biometric features to ensure the Facial Verification Service operates as expected” has been “very considered”.

“We are working through a set of technical issues in order for us to allocate an identity which has a biometric anchor,” he told estimates.

“We want to make sure that the person that is granted that identity is entitle to it, so we’re ensuring that the quality of the biometric is exactly where it needs to be.”