Feds combine smart card buys

Five federal agencies have agreed to pool their smart card needs into a large contract buy of up to 40 million cards during the next three years. The agencies — the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department, Interior Department, NASA, and Department of Veterans Affairs — will initiate the procurement, but other federal agencies could buy cards under the contract, said Bob Donelson, a senior property management specialist in Interior's Bureau of Land Management. He spoke today in Washington, D.C., at a Federal Public Key Infrastructure Deployment Workshop.

By combining their requirements, the five agencies will reduce their card costs, which can be significant — $5 to $24 per card — Donelson said. But card expenses represent only about 6 percent of the total spending needed to set up a smart card infrastructure for an agency the size of Interior, he said.

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