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Treasury Dept. to get new smart cards

Margaret Kane Former Staff writer, CNET News
Margaret is a former news editor for CNET News, based in the Boston bureau.
Margaret Kane
Around 9,000 Treasury Department workers will get new smart cards starting this fall.

Management and consulting company Maximus won a $1.4 million contract to provide the cards, which will contain an integrated circuit chip and antenna, the General Services Administration announced Thursday. The idea is to give employees a single card to access their computers and gain entry into buildings. The cards, which will use biometric and public key infrastructure technology to identify people, will follow the current interoperability standards of the General Services Administration agency, allowing the Treasury Department to share information with participating government bureaus.