The Meaning of Significant and HSPD 12

The Federal Aviation Administration's chief information officer, David Bowen, said this week that the agency wouldn't make an impending deadline to comply with a governmentwide mandate for implementing an employee identification system.

We asked the Office of Management and Budget to clarify what the deadline is and how many agencies are likely to meet it. The directive, known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, HSPD 12 for short, requires agencies to complete background checks and issue personal identity verification credentials "to a significant portion of their employees and contractor population by Oct. 27, 2007. In September 2006 agencies submitted updated HSPD-12 plans, and agencies are on track to meet the milestones indicated in their OMB-agreed upon implementation plans," the spokeswoman said.

Asked to define a "significant portion," the OMB spokeswoman replied that the interpretation of a "significant portion" depends on agency-specific implementation plans. The spokeswoman said that OMB expects agencies to have by October 2008 credentials issued to all, or the majority of all, their employees and contractors as indicated in their plans.