The Veterans Affairs Department has awarded EDS an $11.6 million contract to develop personal identity verification (PIV) cards for all VA employees, affiliates and contractors.

Under the Personal Identity Verification Deployment and Operations/Maintenance contract, EDS will assist VA in issuing cards in a format accepted throughout the federal government, in accordance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12.

EDS will establish PIV card deployment teams, provide training for the VA officials who will issue the cards, and establish supporting warehouse, staging and shipping facilities. In addition, the company will assist in distributing PIV cards to more than 200 VA sites nationwide.

EDS has worked with the department on previous identity management projects, including the Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure Project Implementation and Training Support program with the VA Office of Cyber and Information Security.

The company will use its experience working on identity management contracts at other agencies to support the VA program, said Dennis Stolkey, vice president and general manager of the U.S. government and public sector group at EDS.

EDS of Plano, Texas, ranks No. 10 on Washington Technology’s 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.