GPO seeks vendor to run D.C. identity card facility

The Government Printing Office is seeking a vendor to operate a manufacturing facility for governmentwide identification cards, according to a presolicitation notice.

The cards are part of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, which requires agencies to issue standard identity credentials to employees and contractors as a way of increasing security and interoperability among agencies.

The contractor will own and operate a facility in a building owned by GPO, at 732 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

“The USGPO will enable economies of scale by centrally locating identification card manufacturing, personalization and issuance activities for the government,” states the notice posted today.

All employees and contractors are supposed to have the new cards by October 2007.

To meet the deadline, GPO anticipates initially producing the cards in a contractor-owned facility.

This initiative falls under GPO’s new security and intelligent documents division. Security and intelligent documents are paper or plastic materials with embedded security features. Intelligent documents, such as the new U.S. passports, enable the government to compress large amounts of information and prevent counterfeiting.

The 2001 terrorist attacks increased demand for protected and anti-counterfeit products throughout the federal government.

Contractor systems must adhere to Federal Information Processing Standard 201, which sets the requirements for issuing the new credentials under the personal identity verification process.

A draft request for proposals will be issued in about two weeks, and comments on the draft are due June 30.