As HSPD-12 compliance deadline looms, federal agencies rush to order identification cards
Labor, SSA, EPA, and HHS among agencies trying to get their HSPD-12 houses in order; to assist, Alternative Technology announces formation of HSPD-12/FIPS-201 Convergence Team; effort similar to HSPD-12 Interoperability Consortium
As a 27 October 2006 deadline looms for federal agencies to comply with the HSPD-12 mandate, a number of them are rushing forward to solicit large orders of personal identy verification cards, reports Federal Computer Week . These include:
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1. The Labor Department last week awarded a $7.8 million card contract to XTEC.
2. The Social Security Administration has ordered 100,000 cards through the General Services Administration.
3. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a pre-solicitation notice, intending to award a fixed-price contract for 30,000 cards.
4. The Department of Health and Human Services awarded a proof-of-concept contract to Lockheed Martin to provide an identity management and enrollment system.
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For those agencies seeking a comprehensive solution, Englewood, Colorado-based Alternative Technology last week anounced the formation of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-12/FIPS 201 Convergence Team, which has already been working for four months to create off-the-shelf products and packaged solutions for channel partners and government agencies. “We have assembled a stellar group of vendors, including a major smart card, applet, and card management vendor, who have the capability to deliver solutions across the entire spectrum of HSPD-12/FIPS 201 needs,” said John Stubbs, vice president, Alternative Technology.
Partners with Alternative Technology include AEP Networks (public key infrastructure); Novell (identity management solutions) and Precise Biometrics (biometrics).
The HSPD-12/FIPS-201 Convergence Team is similar to the HSPD-12 Interoperability Consortium, which, as we reported at the time, was formed earlier this summer by SafeNet (smart card, authentication, and encryption solutions); Consul Risk Management (security audit and compliance); CoreStreet(integration and identity management software); Entrust (certificate authority, shared service provider, and encryption solutions), Forum Systems (secured systems architecture); Precise Biometrics (biometrics); Probaris Technologies (secured business process solutions); Intercede (smart card management); and Omnikey (smart card readers).
-read more in Wade-Hahn Chan’s Federal Computer Week report
; see also this Alternative Technology press release
