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Presidential Initiatives

E-Authentication

Program Manager

Myisha Frazier-McElveen

Managing Partner

General Services Administration (GSA)

Description

Minimizes the burden on businesses, public and government when obtaining services on-line by providing a secure infrastructure for on-line transactions, eliminating the need for separate processes for the verification of identity and electronic signatures.

Progress to Date
  • Issued Federated Technical Architecture Design and Component Interface specifications for government-wide deployment
  • Issued final OMB E-Authentication Guidance for Federal agencies (establishes 4 levels of identity assurance)
  • Issued Final NIST Technical Guidance on Authentication systems
  • Established interoperability testing lab
  • Published Federal Trust List of approved credential service providers
  • Published Approved E-Authentication Technology Provider List
  • Published enhanced Electronic Risk and Requirements Assessment (E-RA) tool and guidance
  • Published suite of implementation tools for government agency applications and credential service providers (CSPs)
  • Completed strategic business plan
  • E-Offer operational using E-Authentication architecture
  • Federation portal achieved Authority to Operate
  • Burton Group performed an independent program review of the E-Authentication Initiative’s technical architecture, interoperability and trust characteristics as well as the related Electronic Authentication Partnership (EAP)

Next Steps
  • Establish world-class operations and customer support functions
  • Drive the adoption and acceptance of the E-Authentication Federation for both public and private sector stakeholders
  • Create a Federation marketplace for Federation, State and Local procurement of Federation-compliant products and services

Web Site

www.cio.gov/eauthentication

Exhibit 300

Managing Partner Agency Exhibit 300

 

Hundreds of Federal services are available to Americans electronically, but many require some form of identity verification before an agency-to-citizen or agency-to business transaction can take place. It takes an estimated 3 to 5 years for Federal agencies to develop electronic identity authentication systems. Duplicative agency efforts to create such systems, which do not communicate with each other, are a substantial cost burden for the government. Moreover, the public is burdened by having to complete a separate registration process (e.g., user name, password, or other electronic credential) for each agency with which they want to conduct online transactions.

The E-Authentication Initiative will provide a trusted and secure standards-based authentication architecture to support Federal E-Government applications and initiatives. This approach will provide a uniform process for establishing electronic identity and eliminate the need for each initiative to develop a redundant solution for the verification of identity and electronic signatures. E-Authentication’s federated architecture will also enable citizens and businesses to use credentials issued by commercial entities, such as financial institutions, to conduct transactions with the government.

Successful implementation of E-Authentication will produce numerous benefits for the public and the Federal government. Citizens and businesses will have a secure, easy-to-use and consistent method of proving identity to the government and will be spared the burden of having to keep track of multiple sets of registration information. Federal agencies will be able to reduce authentication system development and acquisition costs and reallocate labor resources previously used to develop such systems, resulting in faster, less expensive implementation of E-Government.