[Federal Register: February 2, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 22)]
[Notices]
[Page 5053]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02fe07-63]
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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
[ME-2007-N01; Docket 2007-0005, Sequence 1]
Change in Fee Structure for FIPS 201 Product/Service Evaluations
AGENCY: Office of Governmentwide Policy, General Services
Administration.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Under the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 201
Evaluation Program, the General Services Administration (GSA) publishes
this notice of intent that it will no longer fund product/service
evaluations as of April 3, 2007. Overall impact on the FIPS 201
Evaluation Program is minimal with respect to operations. Product/
service evaluations will continue to be performed and approved through
the current fully operational laboratory and future qualified
laboratories; however, fees for evaluations will be borne on a cost-
reimbursable basis by the Supplier. Instruction on how to obtain
product/service evaluations and an estimated fee structure will be
posted at: (http://fips201ep.cio.gov/index.php).
DATES: The GSA FIPS 201 Evaluation Program currently provides funding
for evaluation of products and services through its fully operational
laboratory. Suppliers whose applications for evaluation are received by
the laboratory after April 3, 2007 will be required to bear the cost of
their evaluation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. April Giles, FIPS 201 Evaluation
Program, GSA, 1800 F Street, NW, Stop 2013, Washington, DC, 20405,
telephone: 202-501-1123, e-mail: april.giles@gsa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), ``Policy for
a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and
Contractors'' requires agencies to use only information technology
products and services that meet this standard. The Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) has designated the GSA as the Executive Agent for
government-wide acquisitions for the implementation of HSPD-12. HSPD-12
establishes the requirement for a mandatory Government-wide standard
for secure and reliable forms of identification issued by the Federal
Government to its employees and contractors. OMB has directed Federal
agencies to purchase only products and services that are compliant with
the Federal policy, standards and numerous supporting technical
specifications, including:
Federal Information Processing Standard 201, Personal
Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors;
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Special Publications (SP) 800-73, Interfaces for Personal Identity
Verification, 800-78 Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes for
Personal Identity Verification, and 800-79, Guidelines for the
Certification and Accreditation of PIV Card Issuing Organizations; and
Special Publication 800-76, Biometric Data Specification
for Personal Identity Verification (Pending).
To ensure standard HSPD-12 compliant products and services are
available, NIST has issued requirements in FIPS 201 and supporting
documentation (http://csrc.nist.gov/piv-program/fips201-support-docs.html
).
As mandated by OMB through M05-24, GSA has been designated as the
``executive agent for Government-wide acquisitions of information
technology'' under section 5112(e) of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (40
U.S.C. Sec. 11302(e)) for the products and services required by the
HSPD-12. GSA will ensure all approved Suppliers provide products and
services that meet all applicable federal standards and requirements
through its fully operational laboratory under the FIPS 201 Evaluation
Program, web site found at (http://fips201ep.cio.gov/index.php).
The GSA FIPS 201 Evaluation Program is currently set up to evaluate
products and services against the requirements outlined in FIPS 201 and
its supporting documents. Twenty-two product/service categories were
created using FIPS 201 and supporting documentation as the foundation.
Each category has developed approval and test procedures which outline
the evaluation criteria, approval mechanisms and test process employed
by the laboratory during their evaluation of a Supplier's product or
service against the requirements for that category. Initially the cost
of evaluating each product was funded by GSA.
Once evaluated and approved by GSA, products and services are
placed on the FIPS 201 Approved List. Agencies can then procure these
products and services from Suppliers for their HSPD-12 implementations
having full assurance that they meet all the requirements of FIPS 201
and all supporting documentation.
Dated: January 24, 2007.
Mary Mitchell,
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Technology Strategy.
[FR Doc. E7-1693 Filed 2-1-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-34-S