Cross Match to work for the feds

The General Services Administration (GSA) has named Cross Match an approved contractor under a presidential directive to create a standard to identify U.S. government employees, the company announced today.

The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., vendor produces fingerprint capture stations, which have made the approved list of products that government agencies plan to deploy before an Oct. 27 deadline to improve the identification and verification of federal workers and contractors – mandated under the Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12).

The GSA, and leading IT standards body National Institute of Standards and Technology, established evaluation programs to test the products and services to be deployed under HSPD-12, according to June 30 White House memorandum.

Cross Match's products "quickly and easily capture the fingerprints of government employees, helping agencies achieve fast compliance and prevent security breaches from fraudulent ID use at government buildings," according to a company statement. Cross Match already is a major Department of Defense provider.

Other suppliers to receive government approval under HSPD-12 include VeriSign, Operational Research Consultants and Cybertrust – all of whom are offering public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions – and Cogent Systems, which is providing a template generator and matcher, the White House memo said.