GSA moves forward with 'smart card' initiative

The General Services Administration (GSA) last week awarded Virginia-based Maximus a $93 million contract to make "smart cards" for agency employees and contractors who access government facilities and computers.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will test the program in May 2004 at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and if that effort is successful, NASA's David Saleeba said in a release, the agency plans to deploy more than 100,000 cards before the end of fiscal 2005.

Under the program, employees will be able to swipe their cards across readers to gain access to buildings and then insert the cards to access their computers. The cards will not contain biometric data, but a portion of them will remain clear so that biometric data can be added in the future if necessary, a GSA spokeswoman said.