BIAS defines biometric services used for identity assurance that are invoked over a services-based framework. It is intended to provide a generic set of biometric and identity-related functions and associated data definitions to allow remote access to biometric services. To allow BIAS to be flexible to the amount and types of biographic and biometric information available to and used by a system, the terms "biographic data" and "biometric data" as used in this standard are very general.

The binding of these services to specific frameworks is not included in this project, but will be the subject of separate standards. The first such standard (for a Web services framework) is planned to be developed by OASIS by the BIAS Integration Technical Committee.

Although focused on biometrics, this standard will necessarily include support for other related identity assurance mechanisms such as biographic and token capabilities. BIAS is intended to be compatible with and used in conjunction with other biometric standards as described in clause 3.

Specification of single-platform biometric functionality (e.g., client-side capture, etc.) is not within the scope of this standard.

Integration of biometric services as part of an authentication service or protocol is not within the scope of this standard; however, it is possible that some of the basic biometric services defined herein may be used by such an implementation in the future.