The first and currently only fingerprint capture stations have been placed on the approved list of products in accordance with President Bush's Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-12). General Services Administration (GSA) has made Cross Match an approved contractor -- their fingerprint capture stations can be used to help government agencies improve the identification and authentication of federal workers.

The HSPD-12 mandate establishes guidelines for government employees to comply with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201 program, and also requires major government agencies to issue at least one secure, interoperable biometric ID card for their employees and contractors by October 27, 2006. Cross Match is already a major supplier of the Department of Defense and other key civilian and federal government agencies.

"The GSA informed applicant vendors that it would be selecting and approving products that had matched certain qualifications," said vice president of Cross Match Technologies Paul Frasca. "The criteria met by Cross Match in order to gain approval from the GSA were set by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Institute of Technology (NIST) which demanded the highest of quality certification and interoperability standards."

KW