Whitepaper: PIV-I Cards Provide Efficiency, Trust for State, Local Governments

Educating state and local governments on Personal Identity Verification Interoperable credentials (PIV-I) is the aim of a new whitepaper released by the Smart Card Alliance. PIV-I, based on the same framework as the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards that been issued to more than 5 million federal employees and contractors, provides a way for state and local governments to enable interoperability and trust for a wide variety of identity credentialing programs.

The whitepaper, “Personal Identity Verification Interoperability (PIV-I) for Non-Federal Issuers: Trusted Identities for Citizens across States, Counties, Cities and Businesses,” was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council and Identity Council, with input from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). It is available for download at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-piv-i-for-non-federal-issuers.

“Many of the components of PIV-I policies and processes, such as strong identity-vetting procedures, public key infrastructure and smart cards, are already being used by numerous states and jurisdictions. It isn’t a big leap for these organizations to embrace the PIV-I framework,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “Moving from issuing multiple credentials for a variety of state programs to issuing a single, multipurpose, trusted PIV-I credential can greatly improve efficiency and enhance citizen privacy for state and local governments.”

To provide states, local jurisdictions, and commercial organizations with applicable standards and guidance for PIV-I, the federal government has published two papers: “Personal Identity Verification Interoperability (PIV-I) for Non-Federal Issuers” (issued by the Federal CIO Council in May 2009) and “PIV-I Frequently Asked Questions.” The Smart Card Alliance whitepaper takes a specific look at how state and local governments can leverage the PIV-I framework, providing a concise overview of:

  • The policies, processes and technologies available to achieve interoperability;
  • The value of a single multi-purpose credential, including cost, security and privacy benefits;
  • Examples of state programs that are suitable candidates for considering a move to an interoperable identity credential; and
  • Future considerations for technology migration.

  • “NASCIO sees this whitepaper as very helpful to our Digital ID Work Group, our state CIOs and state members as they develop strategies for their identity credentialing efforts,” said Chad Grant, NASCIO policy analyst. “We agree with the Smart Card Alliance that education will be essential as state and local governments move ahead with these efforts, and look forward to helping develop and deliver further resources about PIV-I.” NASCIO and the Smart Card Alliance will be hosting a Web seminar in mid-March to present topics from the whitepaper and engage in active discussion of how the PIV-I framework can be used by states for their identity credentialing initiatives.

    Smart Card Alliance Council participants involved in the development of this whitepaper included: Accenture LLP; AMAG Technology; CardLogix; CertiPath; Datacard Group; Datawatch; Diebold Security; Gemalto; Hewlett-Packard; HID Global; Hirsch Electronics; IDenticard; Identification Technology Partners: IDmachines; Intellisoft, Inc.; L-1 Identity Solutions; NagraID Security; NASA; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Organization Change Future Workplace, LLC (OCFW); Probaris, Inc.; Roehr Consulting; SCM Microsystems; Software House / Tyco; Technica; U.S. Dept. of Defense/Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC); U.S. Dept. of State; XTec, Inc.

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