E-passport awards coming

The State Department and the Government Printing Office in the next few weeks will decide which and how many companies will provide electronic passports for U.S. citizens.

A team from the two agencies will finish evaluating sample passports with embedded, contactless chips and antennas from nine vendors, and start producing electronic passports this spring, said team member Joanne Artz, a State Department policy adviser for biometrics in the Bureau of Consular Affairs.