FIPS 201 Evaluation Program

The Federal Information Processing Standard 201 (FIPS 201) Evaluation Program (sometimes called the FICAM Testing Program) tests and certifies services and commercial products used in PIV credentialing systems, physical access control systems (PACS), and public key infrastructures (PKIs).

For the latest testing news, view the program announcements.

Testing and Certification

We test and certify a variety of products and services such as:

• Smart cards (secure elements) used in Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and Common Access Card (CAC) credentials
• Physical access control systems for buildings including readers and infrastructure
• Service providers who manage, install, or provide hosted solutions for issuance of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and CAC credentials

If you’re looking for testing procedures related to products not listed above, review the announcements. Over the years, some product testing has been deprecated to eliminate redundancy, or the product categories have become stable and represent general commercial use products.

Product Testing

Product testing is performed by either:

• Third-party accredited testing labs, OR
• GSA-managed testing labs

If the product passes testing and review, the vendor is granted a letter of certification, and the product is placed on the Approved Products List (APL). The APL includes product information, version, date of certification, and special considerations.

Visit the Vendors page for more on testing and certification.

Testing Guidance and Documents

Functional requirements for the products are outlined in each test procedure. Review the testing agreements, and the test procedure for your specific product, and submit the agreement and package to fips201ep at gsa.gov.

Testing Agreements

Review the testing agreements, and sign and submit the appropriate agreement with your testing package to fips201ep at gsa.gov.

• FIPS 201 Evaluation Program – Evaluation Agreement (MS Word, September 2020) – The formal agreement to enter into testing, signed by the vendor and the government official.
• Reseller Acknowledgement Form (MS Word, September 2014) – If you are reselling another product, this must be disclosed and the signed agreement submitted.
• Approved Product List Application Guidance Document (PDF, April 2022) – Provides a checklist of which documents are required when submitting a new or upgraded solution.
• Removed Products List (RPL) Process Document (PDF, April 2022) – If your product has been removed from the APL, review this document for the procedures.

Personal Identity Verification Credentials

• Annual PIV Credential Issuer (PCI) Testing Application Form (PDF, February 2020) – If you are an agency or organization applying for your Annual Review Audit for the Federal Public Key Infrastructure (FPKI), submit this form to fips201ep at gsa.gov; two testing options are available:
  • In-person Lab Testing - testing organizations can provide available dates and times to visit the GSA FIPS 201 lab when sending in their application form, or
  • Remote Testing - testing organizations can leverage the Card Conformance Tool (CCT) and Certificate Profile Conformance Tool (CPCT) to generate artifacts to be sent along with the testing application form.
• Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credential (PDF, January 2010) – These test procedures are used by the independent, third-party labs to test card stock.

Derived PIV Credentials

Agencies that wish to issue D-PIV credentials should follow these steps:

1. Perform a NIST SP 800-79 assessment and receive an Authority To Operate (ATO)
2. Work with your Shared Service Provider (SSP) to obtain D-PIV Object Identifiers (OIDs)
3. Submit sample D-PIV public certificates for testing or provide results from the Certificate Profile Conformance Tool (CPCT) to fips201ep at gsa.gov.

Upon successful completion of DPCI testing, the agency or organization will be granted approval to issue D-PIV credentials.

Physical Access Control System

GSA tests and validates the interoperability of PIV and CAC credentials with the software and hardware used to restrict physical access to government facilities.

Review the test procedures, choose one of the application packages, and submit to fips201ep at gsa.gov.

• PACS Functional Requirements and Test Cases v1.4.2 Rev. B (PDF, October 2021)
  • SM-OCC Companion Paper (PDF, March 2021)
  • Backend Registration Companion Paper (PDF, March 2021)
  • FRTC Express Companion Paper (PDF, March 2021)

• PACS FRTC PIN Usage Policy Addendum (PDF, August 2018)

  • Review this Addendum for help resetting PIN retry counters, and determining the number of remaining PIN retries during Discovery Object testing.

PACS Application Package for New Systems or for Updates to Previously Approved Systems

All applicants, please complete the following steps:

1. Review the - Approved Product List Application Guidance Document (PDF, April 2022) – Instructions for completeing the Approved Product List Application Form.
2. Complete the Approved Product List Application Form (Word, April 2022) – Required for each solution submission, new or upgrade.
3. Include the following document when adding a new series, or adding new product to a prior listed series, signed by a C- or VP-level individual:
   • Product Series and Licensing Form (MS Word, August 2018)
4. For New Solutions Complete the additional documentation
   • Supply Chain Self-Attestation Form (MS Word, March 2020)
5. For New Solutions: Review the following documentation and select from the appropriate topology that best describes your solution:
   • Approved PACS Topology Mapping Document (PACS 13.01) (PDF, February 2019)
   • Approved PACS Topology Mapping Document (PACS 13.02) (PDF, February 2018)
   • Mobile Handheld Approved Topology Mapping Document (14.02) (PDF, November 2017)
     • When you complete the FRTC Workbook, use the mapping in the workbook, not the mapping inside the Mobile Handheld Topology document.
   • Approved PACS Wireless Reader Topology Mapping Document (PACS 20.01) (PDF, November 2020)
6. For New Systems: Complete the PACS FRTC Topology Mapping Workbook (XLSX, October 2021) for your topology.
7. Complete the FIPS 201 Evaluation Program – Evaluation Agreement (MS Word, September 2020).
8. Include all applicable VPAT statements, UL-294, and FIPS 140-2/140-3 listing documents.
9. Submit all completed forms to fips201ep at gsa.gov.

Test Card Loaners

GSA can loan you test cards to help you pre-test your physical access control system products.

• PACS Test Card Loaner Process (PDF, November 2019)
• PACS Test Card Loaner Set Request Form (MS Word, October 2019) – Sign and submit this form to fips201ep at gsa.gov.
• PACS Test Card User Guide (PDF, January 2019)