The General Services Administration and the Navy opened a center at GSA's Washington headquarters on Friday to encourage federal agencies to start using "smart card" technology.
The two agencies say driver's license-sized smart cards, which can be used for building and computer access, personnel and property tracking, record-keeping and purchasing, can help agencies reduce paperwork, improve security and operate more efficiently. While the technology has received a warm reception in parts of Europe, it has been slow to take off in the United States, where privacy, security, interoperability and price concerns have stymied smart card growth.
"The smart card is basically a computer that fits in your pocket," said Jackie Robinson, special assistant to GSA Administrator David Barram and the coordinator for the agency's smart card programs, at the Smart Card Technology Center's opening.
Barram, Vice Adm. James Amerault, Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., and Ed DeSeve, acting deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, attended the opening. Smart card program managers from the Navy and GSA took the officials on a tour of the center, which demonstrates numerous uses for smart cards.
For example, the center boasts a security gate that uses a handprint identification system. People place their hand on a reader that compares the handprint with an image of the print stored on a smart card, eliminating the need for people to memorize PIN codes. The center also contains soda and candy machines that operate on smart cards. Another application shows how workshops can use smart cards to track when and to whom tools are issued.
The Navy highlighted its smart card program at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Ill., where all recruits are now being issued smart cards. Each sailor's card contains medical and immunization data and dental records.
Recruits also get $200 advanced payments stored on their cards, which they can use to pay for hair cuts and personal items at the Navy Exchange. In the past, recruits received chit books for such purchases. They had to sign each chit before using it. In the past two months, recruits have used smart cards for 250,000 transactions at Great Lakes.
GSA uses smart cards for access to its headquarters, and is pilot testing other uses, including property tracking.
"We're here to demonstrate and evaluate smart card technology for use in the federal government," said GSA's Ken Sardegna, the Smart Card Technology Center director. "The center lets decisionmakers put their hands on smart card applications."
GSA also maintains a smart card Web site with more information on the technology.
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