[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 10, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 31779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15414]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION


Office of the Chief Information Officer; Public Notice of Waiver 
of Federal Information Processing Standards

SUMMARY: Under the waiver authority granted by the Secretary of 
Commerce, The General Services Administration must make public all 
actions taken on waivers of Federal Information Processing Standards. 
The Administrator of the General Services Administration has granted 
the Agency a waiver to acquire and use any commercial-off-the-shelf 
product(s) which meet the Agency's requirement for information 
technology security. This notice serves to make this information 
public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this 
notice, contact L. Diane Savoy, Acting Assistant Chief Information 
Officer, General Services Administration, Room 3024, 18th & F Street, 
NW, Washington, DC 20405; telephone (202) 219-3062.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The General Services Administration (GSA) 
requires secure electronic communication with private sector vendors to 
perform its day-to-day functions. The limited availability of products 
employing FIPS compliant security techniques produced many 
incompatibilities with the vendor community. To eliminate or reduce 
this problem, the GSA Chief Information Officer requested and was 
granted Agency-wide authority to use commercial-off-the-shelf products 
that employ techniques for assuring identity, authenticity, integrity, 
or confidentiality in addition to those employing techniques specified 
in the FIPS. The waiver granted by the GSA Administrator became 
effective on September 29, 1997 and remains in effect until July 31, 
2002.

    Dated: June 5, 1998.
Donald P. Heffernan,
Deputy Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 98-15414 Filed 6-9-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-34-M