The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced that it will support a steering group for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace with $2 million in funding for up to two years to provide the group with ongoing secretarial, administrative and logistical support.

“This grant will help to establish an independent steering committee led by the private sector that works in conjunction with the federal government to support NSTIC,” said Jeremy Grant, NIST’s senior executive adviser for identity management. “The committee will guide creation of an ‘Identity Ecosystem’ in which businesses and individuals can have more confidence in the security and privacy of their online transactions. The committee will also be responsible for identifying resources that will support the effort into the future.”

Accredited institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations and commercial organizations located in the U.S. and its territories are eligible to submit a proposal for the NSTIC Steering Group Secretariat Cooperative Agreement. Proposers are expected to maintain a neutral stance toward the outcome of the steering group process and must agree not to become a voting member of the group.

The purpose of the agreement is to fund a secretariat for the steering group during its early phases. A major role of the secretariat is to serve as an broker between multiple stakeholders, with a focus on facilitating the creation of consensus standards and policies that will serve as the foundation of the Identity Ecosystem. Given this, it is important that the entity selected through this funding opportunity be objective and independent.

NIST released recommendation for the governance structure, which can be downloaded here. Applications are due on April 11. Detailed information and application requirements can be found here.

NIST will hold a webinar information session for organizations considering applying to this opportunity on March 19. Organizations wishing to participate in the webinar must register at the NIST public Web site here.

On March 15, NIST will host the NSTIC Identity Ecosystem Governance Workshop at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The workshop will review and take questions on the Governance Recommendations and on specific issues concerning the establishment of the governance structure. For more information and to register for the workshop, which will also be webcast, click here.