Government

The US Federal Bridge Certification Authority

In the late 90s, the General Services Administration (GSA) took the lead in facilitating the interoperability of agency PKIs and established a working group and the Federal PKI Policy Authority (FPKIPA) to help guide the development of the US Federal government's PKI infrastructure.

One of FPKIPA's centerpiece achievements is the establishment and operation of the Federal Bridge Certification Authority (FBCA). The FBCA helps facilitate and simplify secure information exchange by enabling cross-certified agencies' PKIs to recognize and trust digital signatures and certificates sent from and between other participating government organizations. This enables agencies to further expand the benefits achieved from PKI.

Entrust has worked closely with GSA and our Federal customers on building the US Federal PKI architecture and Entrust technology forms the basis of the fully-functional FBCA. Click here for the full listing of agencies cross-certified with the FBCA. The majority of the government entities cross-certified with the Federal Bridge are Entrust customers, including:

• Department of Treasury
• Department of Energy
• Department of State
• Department of Homeland Security
• NASA
• USDA National Finance Center
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• State of Illinois

See the following links in order to learn more about PKI and authentication in the US Federal government:

US Government Sites:

• IDManagement.gov
• Federal Bridge Certification Authority
• Federal Identity Credentialing Committee
• Federal PKI Policy Authority
• E-Authentication
• Federal PKI Steering Committee
• Federal E-Government Strategy

• The Federal Bridge: A Foundation of Trust

• GCN article on State of Illinois

• Entrust Shared Service Provider for US Fed

• Federal Bridge Certification Authority
• CygnaCom Solutions