HP faces giant killer in ID management market
By
Nick Wakeman
HP has competed twice and lost twice to a small Florida company that is a dominant player in the HSPD-12 market. Thanks to a bid protest, HP has another shot at keeping a $58 million contract it has held since 2007.
There may be a giant killer in the identity management market. Just ask HP Enterprise Services.
Twice HP has faced the tiny Xtec Inc. for identity management work, and twice HP has lost.
The first battle was for a 10-year, $102.8 million Homeland Security Department contract for program management support, engineering services, materials and equipment related an HSPD-12 identity system. HP first won the contract, but Xtec filed a protest and won the contract after DHS decided to re-evaluate bids.
HP filed its own protest, which was denied by the Government Accountability Office.
Now, HP is embroiled in another battle with Xtec. The two faced off over a General Services Administration contract for HSPD-12 related services. HP has held the contract since 2007 but lost the $57.9 million contract to Xtec in October.
HP protested and GSA pulled the award back to re-evaluate bids. But again, Xtec won the contract and again HP protested.
GSA has agreed a second time to pull the award to Xtec back and relook at bids. HP could still come out on top, but the company must realize that Xtec is a formidable competitor.
Neither company is commenting about their competitions.
The GSA contract supports the GSA Managed Service Office that provides HSPD-12 credential enrollment, issuance and management under the USAccess program.
A nice win for any bidder.
So, who is Xtec?
According to the company website and LinkedIn profile, they have other customers such as the State, Homeland Security and Labor departments. The Smithsonian also is a customer for its services and systems related to personal identity verification credentials.
It was certified as an HSPD-12 provider in 2004 and now has over 70 federal agencies as customers.
The company is headquartered in Miami and has another office in Reston, Va. According to LinkedIn, they have between 51 and 200 employees.
Their products include credential issuance, logical access control, physical access control and authentication and validation.
As the importance of identity management grows as a cybersecurity tool, Xtec should be a company we hear more from in the future.
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