[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 22 (Friday, February 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 5053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1693]


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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: [email protected].

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