NASA to use Aware's biometric PIV workflow platform

Aware, a provider of imaging and biometrics software, has announced that NASA has deployed its new Biometric Workflow Platform (BWP) as a key component of its PIV-compliant credentialing system upgrade. 

Aware’s BWP, a service-oriented server platform, was used by ID Networks, a system integrator, to bring the NASA credentialing system into full compliance with PIV standards and requirements.

In addition to BWP, Aware’s PIVSuite software components were used to develop the new enrollment workstation application, tailored by ID Networks to NASA’s specific role-based workflow and requirements. The application performs all required enrollment and administrative functions, including collection of biometric fingerprint, facial, and applicant signature images, data formatting, and credential validation.

Using BWP, NASA was able to conduct a biometric enrollment proof-of-concept in under five weeks, and a fully functional test system able to produce compliant PIV cards was in place in just twelve weeks.

According to Aware, BWP was used to overlay the legacy infrastructure, establishing connectivity between the new enrollment application and the existing identity management and card management systems, the certificate authority, and the Office of Personnel Management for background checks.

Aware says that its success at NASA was due largely to its highly programmable, configurable nature. Another differentiating feature of BWP is its incorporation of functionality traditionally performed remotely at workstations but more efficiently performed centrally as a web service. The result is greater control and visibility over the entire enrollment network and process.

Biometric specifications for the PIV government employee ID program were published by NIST in Special Publication 800-76. These specifications are part of a larger body of work headed by NIST to standardize biometric-enabled ID cards for all federal government employees and contractors, as specified in the new “FIPS 201: Personal Identity Verification (PIV) for Federal Employees and Contractors”.

This new standard is a result of Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-12 issued by President Bush in August 2004, which mandates standardization of IDs and their use for the purpose of controlling access to government facilities and information systems.

 

More information on HSPD-12 can be found online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040827-8.html.