WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. federal agencies will be held to their deadline of Oct. 27, 2006, for issuing new wireless chip identity cards.
The new ID cards are to be issued to all federal employees and contractors, and the deadline for them to be in operation remains Oct. 27, federal officials said Tuesday.
In an interview last week with Government Executive, John Sindelar, acting head of the General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy and a member of the government-wide identity card executive steering committee, said that agencies agreeing to procure cards through cooperative arrangements with other agencies "may not be, by Oct. 27, in a city or an agency" that issues cards by the deadline.
However, U.S. federal officials stressed Monday that entire agencies will not be exempt from the deadline. In fact, every agency will have to issue at least one new wireless chip identity badge by Oct. 27. But under a policy to be issued by the executive steering committee, not every office branch must supply employees with the credential by that date, GovExec.com reported.
The steering committee is seeking agencies to volunteer as service providers to other agencies in procuring the cards. Among the possibilities is the Interior Department's National Business Center, GovExec.com said.
Some agencies say they are likely to miss the Oct. 27 deadline.
"There's still a lot of unanswered questions," said one agency chief financial officer who requested anonymity. "You're asking me to answer questions about a program that hasn't even been defined yet."
The identity cards are required under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, signed by President George W. Bush in August 2004. The badges will be used for physical entry into buildings and possibly for access to computer systems, GovExec.com said.
