With the Oct. 27 compliance deadline only two months away, late August has seen a flurry of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 activity.
Agencies have recently begun soliciting large orders of personal identity verification cards to comply with the mandate. For example:
- On Aug. 23, the Labor Department awarded a $7.8 million card contract to XTEC.
- The Social Security Administration has ordered 100,000 cards through the General Services Administration.
- The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a pre-solicitation notice, intending to award a fixed-price contract for 30,000 cards.
- The Department of Health and Human Services awarded a proof-of-concept contract to Lockheed Martin to provide an identity management and enrollment system.
Joining XTEC and Lockheed Martin with GSA’s approval is SI International, which became an approved HSPD-12 service provider Aug. 24. Previously, SI had created identification cards for the Transportation Security Administration and the Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services Integrated Card Production service. It also established a badge and biometric system for the Multi-National Task Force in Iraq.
Also putting its hat into the ring of HSPD-12 one-stop shops is the HSPD-12/FIPS201 Convergence Team, led by Alternative Technology, Novell, AEP Networks and Precise Biometrics. The team offers agencies all aspects of HSPD-12 compliance. Last July, a similar group, the HSPD-12 Interoperability Consortium, was formed by SafeNet, Consul Risk Management, CoreStreet, Entrust, Forum Systems, Precise Biometrics, Probaris Technologies, Intercede and Omnikey.
