IBM Corp is to set up a pilot smart card scheme for the US Government’s General Services Administration purchasing agency, in a rare sign of life for the smart card industry outside of Europe. The GSA will include 450 employees in the tests, using smart cards for security identity badges. The cards will enable uses to sign electronic documents with digital signatures, and will also include biometric technology for fingerprint identification. Siemens AG’s Microelectronics Inc unit will supply the cards, which will run IBM’s Java Card operating system.
Meanwhile, the GSA confirmed the names of the final 12 companies picked to compete in its Millennia service contracts, worth up to $25bn over the next ten years (CI No 3,570) . The two-stage contract covers five years, with an additional five year renewal option. Participants include Boeing Co’s computer information services unit, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Computer Science Corp, DynaCorp, Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp’s Logicon unit, OAO Technology Solutions Ltd, PRC Inc, Raytheon Co, SAIC, Systems Research & Applications Corp and Unisys Corp.
Millennia replaces the current five year contract, worth around $840m, which started in 1996 and was shared between eight companies. CSC claims it won nearly $400m of that business, selling to federal customers such as the Department of Defense, US Agency for International Development and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In January CSC said it expected $250m from the contract. Last week, Unisys said it expected the contract to be worth $445m to the company over the 10-year period.
