Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and FIPS 201, the standard that formalises PIV requirements, address Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), “Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors”, dated August 27, 2004.

FIPS 201 comprises two parts, PIV-I and PIV-II.  PIV-I describes the requirements for a personal identification system to the objectives of HSPD-12, including personal identity proofing, user registration and credential issuance but PIV-I does not address interoperability of PIV Cards and systems.  PIV-II provides detailed technical specifications to support PIV-I and describes the policies and requirements of a PIV Card to enable interoperability of credentials for physical and logical access across organisational boundaries.

FIPS 201 may the first useable formalisation of pan-Government identity management processes and systems.  It could be argued that PIV is “by US government for US government” but two exceptional benefits have emerged that make it significant to non-US government and non-Government organisations.  These are, adoption of many of its principles in the emerging ISO 24727 series of standards, and the significant number of multinational identity management system vendors that have their products accredited to FIPS 201.