AFMC Command News

New Visitor Enrollment System speeds up wait times for contractors

  • Published
  • AFIMSC Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- As Tyndall’s rebuild and transformation kicks into high gear, officials estimate between 3,000 to 3,500 visitors per day will enter the base during peak construction times. Those visitors will primarily be contractors rebuilding Tyndall into the Installation of the Future.

With that kind of traffic, the 325th Security Forces Squadron needed a new way to decrease visitor pass processing times and reduce the need for visitors to wait in line at the visitor control center. Long lines and paper passes just wouldn’t cut it.

The Air Force Security Forces Center in San Antonio developed such a system. The Defense Biometric Identification System Visitor Enrollment System, or DVES, integrates with the system currently used by security forces with a new system, where a visitor’s pass can be requested from a smart phone, tablet or personal computer, and visitor DBIDS cards could be distributed by security managers or contracting officers.

Tyndall’s security forces hosted a demonstration Oct. 6 to show the media how the new system works.

“This system has streamlined a critical process that guarantees the safety and security of the installation by enhancing our ability to rapidly grant authorized access to our base,” said Maj. Jordan Criss, 325th SFS commander.

Tech. Sgt. Tia Garland, NCO in charge of pass and registration, walked the media through the new standardized five-step process and pre-enrollment activity that has streamlined the process for visitors.

“Currently our foot traffic to the visitor control center for DBIDS cards has decreased more than 95%,” said Garland. 

Beside reducing wait times and long lines, the DVES system has other benefits. The reduction in foot traffic at the VCC will also increase safety for visitors and security personnel by enabling social distancing protocols and reducing exposure to COVID 19, said Garland. 

“Now we only go direct with the security manager or contracting officer representative, minimizing potential exposure to COVID-19,” she said. 

Across the Air Force, security forces issues more than 1.7 million paper passes annually at VCCs, entry control points and commercial vehicle inspection areas. 

This year, Tyndall, along with Ellington Field, Texas, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, conducted 90-day field tests of the DVES. Every location reported significant reductions in processing times and foot traffic. 

“Our feedback not only benefits the members of Team Tyndall, but will lay the ground work for an enterprise-wide deployment of this system,” said Criss.  “The (Chief of Staff of the Air Force) has charged us with the acceleration of change at the risk of losing mission effectiveness and we proudly embody that vision.”