Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a set of policies, processes, server platforms, software and workstations used for the purpose of administering certificates and public-private key pairs, including the ability to issue, maintain, and revoke public key certificates.
The Federal Bridge Certification Authority (FBCA) is an information system that facilitates acceptance of certifications for transactions. Since its initial conceptualization and operation, the FBCA has evolved into the Federal Public Key Infrastructure (FPKI) Trust Infrastructure that encompasses Certification Authorities (CAs) from multiple vendors supporting different FPKI policy and function.
The FPKI Trust Infrastructure enabling policy CAs are the:
- FBCA
- SHA-1 Federal Root CA
- Federal PKI Common Policy Framework (FCPF) CA
- Citizen and Commerce Class Common (C4) CA
The operation also incorporates the E-Governance Certification Authorities used to issue Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security protocol certificates supporting assertion-based credentials for Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) data exchanges.
The General Services Administration, Office of Governmentwide Policy has been appointed as the Federal PKI Management Authority (FPKIMA), to manage the design and development, and implement and operate the Production FPKI Trust Infrastructure.