National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) Pilots Grant Proposers' Conference

To accelerate progress toward improved systems for interoperable, trusted online credentials that go beyond simple passwords and user IDs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced on Feb. 1 a competition to award a total of about $10 million for pilot projects in support of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).

On Feb. 15, NSTIC will hold a public meeting to provide general information regarding the pilot program to offer guidance on preparing proposals, explain criteria to be used in making awards, and answer questions from the public.

NIST will solicit proposals from eligible proposers to pilot on-line identity solutions that embrace and advance the NSTIC vision: that individuals and organizations utilize secure, efficient, easy-to-use, and interoperable identity credentials to access online services in a manner that promotes confidence, privacy, choice, and innovation. The Federal government seeks to initiate and support pilots that address the needs of individuals, private sector organizations and all levels of government in accordance with the NSTIC Guiding Principles that identity solutions will be privacy-enhancing and voluntary; secure and resilient; interoperable, and cost effective and easy to use. NIST will fund pilot projects that are intended to test or demonstrate new solutions, models or frameworks that do not exist in the marketplace today.

The event will be webcast live, starting at February 15 9:00 AM EST. Participants may live Tweet using #NSTIC as the event hashtag.