It has put out a new tender for a "new genuine face capture solution", saying this was about getting new online technology that helped people take a good selfie when applying for a passport, or for RealMe verification.
"DIA is not seeking a facial recognition solution," it said.
"We are talking about online technology capable of capturing high-quality, genuine images."
A tender document said biometric spoofing was becoming more sophisticated and it needed a supplier who could handle the growing threat.
Its existing tech forced staff to manually review people's photos, and it needed to simplify that and cut costs, it said.
A selfie is typically fed into existing systems that already use facial recognition, such as the department's Identity Check service.
"Biometric technologies underpin our ability to provide fast, secure and efficient identity verification," DIA said.
