Assessment of Trusted Identities in Cyberspace State Pilot Awards | 2017 NIST TIG 01

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2017 NIST TIG 01

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced a discretionary funding opportunity titled "Assessment of Trusted Identities in Cyberspace State Pilot Awards" (Funding Opportunity Number: 2017 NIST TIG 01) to fund an independent evaluation of five state pilot projects that implemented digital identity solutions for accessing government services. Those five implementations were originally funded under the 2016 NSTIC State Pilots Cooperative Agreement Program (NOFO 2016-NIST-NSTIC-01). The purpose of this new award is not to build another identity system, but to step back and assess what the already-funded pilots achieved and what their real-world effects were for members of the public who use government services online.

At the core of the opportunity is a public-benefit and impact assessment: NIST is looking for a qualified organization to examine how these digital identity approaches performed, what value they created, and what tradeoffs they introduced. This includes documenting benefits such as improvements to security and trust in online transactions, potential reductions in fraud or account takeover, and increased usability or accessibility for legitimate users trying to access public services. It also implies examining impacts that matter to policymakers and agencies, such as implementation considerations, operational burdens, privacy implications, user adoption patterns, and the conditions under which these solutions might scale or transfer to other states and services.

A major goal of the award is broader adoption through better evidence-sharing. NIST explicitly frames dissemination as a central outcome: the assessment is intended to produce information that can be communicated to policymakers, state agencies, and the general public so they can better understand the measurable and practical impacts of the pilot solutions. In other words, NIST is trying to move the conversation from theory and pilot-level experimentation toward actionable lessons learned that can help governments make informed decisions about deploying online credentials more widely. By strengthening the evidence base around what worked, what did not, and why, the work supports NISTs broader objective of enabling more secure online transactions for public-facing government services.

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, meaning the government expects substantial involvement with the awardee during the project rather than a hands-off grant arrangement. The activity category is "Science and Technology and other Research and Development," and the program is listed under CFDA 11.619. NIST anticipated making a single award (Expected Awards: 1). The posting was created on 2017-03-10 and had an original application closing date of 2017-05-09. The public summary data notes an award ceiling field but does not provide a numeric value in the excerpt.

Eligibility is broad but includes a strict conflict-of-interest style restriction. Applicants may be any U.S.-located non-Federal entity (the listing labels eligible applicants as "Others"), but an applicant becomes ineligible if it had any involvement in any of the 2016 NSTIC State Pilot projects being assessed. This requirement is meant to preserve independence and credibility of the evaluation by ensuring the assessor is not grading its own work or evaluating a project where it had a financial or operational stake. The notice points applicants to specific sections of the full announcement for the exact eligibility and involvement definitions (Sections IV.2.a.(12) and V.2.d.), which would typically spell out what counts as involvement (for example, prime recipients, subrecipients, contractors, key personnel, or other direct participants).

Taken together, this opportunity is best understood as a single-award, independent assessment effort designed to translate the outcomes of earlier digital identity pilots into clear, decision-ready findings for government leaders and the public. The end goal is practical: accelerate safer and more trusted online access to government services by making the benefits, impacts, and lessons from the state pilots easier to understand, compare, and apply elsewhere.

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Assessment of Trusted Identities in Cyberspace State Pilot Awards" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.619.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-03-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-05-09. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 2017 NIST TIG 01

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