One of the challenges with the whole NSTIC thing is that it has a bunch of different parts. I wrote up this description as part of our What could Kill NSTIC paper.
NSTIC National Program Office. The NSITIC NPO operates within the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards. It is lead by Jeremy Grant. The office has several full time staff and they are responsible for the transition of NSTIC from a US government initiative to an independent, public- private organization. They’re smart, talented, and they care.
Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG). The NPO invited many people, NGOs, government bodies, and companies to participate in building an identity ecosystem in the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group. All the people and organizations who sign up to be a part of this are together called “The Plenary.” The NSTIC NPO wrote IDESG’s charter and its first bylaws.
IDESG Management Council. The IDESG management council is elected by the members of the plenary who self-selected into stakeholder categories. Each stakeholder category elects a delegate to the Management Council. The entire plenary also elects two at-large positions and two leadership positions. The management council can create sub-committees to get its work done. I’m chaired one that collected holistic ecosystem pictures, for example.
Committees within the IDESG Plenary. These committees do the actual work of making the identity ecosystem’s vision a reality. New committees can be proposed by any member. Committee membership is open to all plenary members. The work and activity of the committees is shared openly. A few of the active committees are working on standards, privacy, trust frameworks, accreditation, and nymrights.
The Secretariat. The NSTIC NPO awarded a $2.5 million dollar contract to provide support services to the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group. Trusted Federal Systems won the contract to act as the IESG’s “Secretariat.” They coordinate meetings, manage listservs, and the like.
NSTIC Pilot Projects. In early 2011, the National Program Office put forward $10 million in funding for five pilot projects that worked to solve some of NSTIC’s challenges. Grants were awarded in September 2012 and run for one year. The pilot projects were set up before the IDESG existed and the IDESG had no input into the selection of the the winning pilots. 187 different initial pilot projects applied for grants, 27 were selected to submit full proposals, and five were selected. Applications for a second round of pilots are coming in Q1 2013.
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