In a new quarterly progress report released today, OMB found that 11 of 16, or 42 percent, of the agencies that the Presidents' Management Agenda scorecard tracks had completed HSPD-12 standards for data quality. That's up from the 23 percent reported last quarter.

More than 4.5 million federal employees are now included in the agency reports, a 260,000-employee increase over the same report a year ago. More than 2.5 million of the employees have completed the background investigations that HSPD-12 requires.

Agencies have issued personal identity verification credentials, as mandated under HSPD-12, to more than 450,000 federal employees and more than 130,000 contractors.

“While agencies have made significant progress over the past year, there is still much to be achieved over the next several months to ensure agencies complete all the required background investigations and issue credentials in accordance with their plans,” said Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management. “Agency senior leadership must ensure their HSPD-12 plans are on track for completion.”

The goal is for agencies to complete the background checks and issue credentials to all employees and contractors by Oct.  27.