Responding to an October executive order, the General Services Administration is prepared to roll out stronger chip and PIN charge cards to help agencies meet the mandate around payment security.
In the wake of several highly visible breaches at American retailers, President Barack Obama issued an order requiring all federal agencies to upgrade their payment cards and readers to ensure the government wasn’t the next victim.
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GSA plans to begin issuing the new secure cards to agencies by the end of January.
By the end of 2015, GSA expects to issue 1 million new cards.
GSA issued a request for information in December asking industry for input on any new developments in chip and PIN technology. Responses to that RFI are due Jan. 22.
“By working with our industry partners on the addition of chip and PIN technology to GSA SmartPay cards, FAS is quickly and efficiently providing greater security and even more value to the payment products and services we offer our government agency customers,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Tom Sharpe.
