The U.S. Postal Service awarded a contract worth up to $15 million on
Tuesday for a pilot program that may one day allow citizens to securely
use a single ID and password to access online services from multiple
government agencies, contracting documents show.
The Postal Service is managing the Federal Cloud Credentialing Exchange
system as part of a cross-agency team set up by President Obama’s
National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, launched in
2011.
The plan is that the credentialing exchange will act as a middleman
between agencies and popular private sector ID providers, such as
Verizon and PayPal.
If this service works, one day a person might be able to change an
address online by logging on to USPS.gov with the same passcode or smart
card he or she uses to file taxes through IRS.gov and buy books from
Amazon.com.
Agencies have been slow to accept third-party ID credentials “due to
technical, policy and cost barriers,” the contract solicitation said.
The current contract is for a one-year dry run with two optional
one-year extensions. It went to Canadian company SecureKey Technologies,
one of 18 bidders, according to the award notice.
Source:NextGov http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/08/postal-service-taps-canadian-firm-test-viability-single-online-id/69107/?oref=nextgov_today_nl