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Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 06/21/04 issue

Entry-exit strategy

Project: Transportation Workers Identification Credential

By Richard W. Walker, GCN Staff

Agency: Transportation Security Administration

Description: The aim of TWIC is to provide physical and logical access to millions of U.S. transportation workers via smart cards supported by biometric identifiers. Officials in TSA’s credentialing program office finished a technical evaluation phase last year.

Prime Contractor: As this issue went to press, officials were evaluating proposals to award a prime contract through the General Services Administration’s Smart Access Common ID Contract.

Cost: Currently funded at $50 million. The administration has requested $50 million for fiscal 2005. When complete, the program will be self-supporting, funded entirely by user fees, TWIC officials say.

What’s next: TWIC’s business processes will be assessed in the next phase, which officials expect to get under way in July.

Outlook: Officials say a final decision on the feasibility of full implementation will be made after they evaluate TWIC business processes. GAO has identified high cost as a major hurdle to implementation.
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More news on related topics: Biometrics, Homeland Security, IT Infrastructure, IT Security