GSA picks BearingPoint for HSPD-12 system

BearingPoint won a contract worth $104.6 million Aug. 17 to provide a turnkey solution to produce identification cards that meet Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 credentials requirements, the General Services Administration announced today.

The integrator will provide the technology and services for setting up the Personal Identity Verification accounts. GSA will be responsible for managing the contract and providing the enrollment locations through its four-week-old Managed Services Office (MSO) in New York, Atlanta, Seattle and Washington, D.C., officials said.

The MSO will be responsible for managing all of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service offerings, including products and assisted-service acquisitions.

HSPD-12 requires all agencies to begin supplying their employees and contractors with secure identity cards by Oct. 27. The mandate, issued in August 2004, states that the cards should be interoperable with various access systems.

The intent of HSPD-12 “was to secure our people, our facilities and our technology within our community, and everyone understands after [the 2001 terrorist attacks] how incredibly important that is,” said Michel Kareis, director of GSA’s HSPD-12 program, in a conference call updating the agency’s directive activities.

Marty Wagner, acting deputy commissioner of FAS, said GSA’s efforts are part of a multiagency effort to build credentials that are standardized and interoperable governmentwide.

By offering a shared services center to interested agencies, GSA will save them money through bulk purchases of goods that comply with HSPD-12, he said. Prices will remain uncertain, he added, until GSA knows precisely how many federal agencies will join the program for their ID needs.

The contract requires BearingPoint to use only products on the GSA approved list.

The Office of Management and Budget named GSA the executive agency for information technology acquisitions for HSPD-12, Kareis said.

GSA mobilized many resources under a tight deadline, she said. She said the contract award and the newly established MSO are successes for the agency.

Under HSPD-12, the credentialing of all civilian federal workers and contractors must begin by Oct. 27 and be completed by Oct. 27, 2007. GSA estimates the law will affect millions of workers.