"The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Personal Identity Verification Program (NPIVP) will hold a public workshop on March 3, 2006, at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD. The purpose of the workshop is the exchange of information among NVLAP, laboratories interested in seeking accreditation for the testing of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) components, vendors interested in having their product NPIVP-certified and Federal agencies seeking NPIVP certified products. The workshop will also review the mandates of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12, as well as Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201, Standard for Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors, and the associated Special Publications (SP) in general and more specific in relation to NVLAP, interested laboratories, vendors and Federal agencies. The results of the workshop discussions will be used in the development of the NVLAP Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Laboratory Accreditation Program (PIV LAP).

There is no charge for the workshop; however, because of security regulations, advance registration is mandatory. There will be no on-site, same-day registration. The registration deadline is Monday, February 27, 2006. A registration form can be found at https://cms.csrc.nist.rip/​npivp/​. Please e-mail the registration to npivp@nist.gov or fax the registration form with your name, address, telephone, fax and e-mail address to (301) 948-2067 (Attn: Hildegard Ferraiolo) no later than February 27, 2006."