Dear Brett:
Thanks for your interest in working with the OpenID and Information Card Foundations. Here is the latest chapter in our conversations that began in last spring.
Since March of this year, the OpenID and the Information Card Foundations have collaborated on responding to US Government request to participate in its “Open Identity for Open Government Initiative.” Together with Kantara and InCommon, we have contributed to the development of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) identity standards and certification requirements. The impact of our work with the government can be seen in the first set of deliverables at
www.IDmanagement.gov published in September. As you know, ICAM’s
Trust Framework Provider Adoption Process (TFPAP) established a new way to enable citizens to easily and safely engage with government websites, and ICAM’s
Identity Scheme Adoption Process (ISAP) laid the techical foundation for government-approved profiles of open identity specifications. ICAM’s profiles for OpenID 2.0 and IMI 1.0 Information Cards profiles we published shortly afterwards.
The OIDF and ICF have been collaborating to develop an open approach to trust frameworks that will meet the needs of our respective communities. Two weeks ago at the OpenID Summit and again in three different sessions at the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW), ICF Executive Director Drummond Reed and I presented this approach to the community at large and asked for feedback, challenges, and contributions. These sessions produced a wealth of invaluable input and a strong concensus that OIDF and ICF should proceed with this approach, which the community dubbed the Open Identity Framework (OIF), as quickly as possible.
Immediately after IIW, the Boards of Directors of OIDF and ICF agreed to form a joint steering committee (JSC) to refine strategic goals, investigate operational alternatives, and guide deployment planning for the OIF. The JSC is composed of four representatives of companies that are members of both foundations and four community representatives, including the Chairs of both foundation boards.
The JSC started by carefully considering the goals and objectives of the Open Identity Framework (OIF) and weighing the tradeoffs between what aspects should be outsourced vs. what aspects were strategic and thus should remain “in-sourced”. The JSC then asked Drummond and I to prepare the attached Request For Information (RFI) to initiate discussions with prospective outsourcing partners. Because the JSC wants to make recommendations to the OIDF and ICF boards and set a course of action by year’s end, it wants to fast-track this RFI review process and expects a report in 30 days.
The attached RFI has two objectives: 1) to solicit your informed collaboration and feedback about how best to achieve the objectives of the OIF, and 2) to identify the potential outsourcing partners with whom we should proceed with more detailed negotiations. We have attached supplemental material that fully describes our approach to the OIF with the hope that it will be of benefit to your plans regardless of whether you decide to respond as a potential outsourcing partner.
The JSC partner selection criteria focuses on cost efficiencies, execution synergies, and compatible business models. You are welcome to provide general feedback as well as respond specifically to any or all of the activities described in the Outsourced Program Elements section. For needs in that section where you feel your organization would be a good outsourcing fit, please be specific as to how you would fulfill those needs. Please include pricing estimates broken out for each outsourced program element—the more detailed the better.
Please note that the OIDF and ICF reserve the right to change the timeline or other portions of this RFI at any time, as well as to cancel or reissue the RFI at any time without obligation or liability. Also, please designate any information contained in your response that is proprietary or confidential. While we will we will treat the material provided as business confidential, please note that both the OIDF and ICF operate in a transparent, open source business environment, so some commentary, discussion, or speculation may occur on mailing groups, blog posts etc.
Please email your response as a word document attachment to
don@oidf.org before midnight EDT on 12/01/09. Of course, feel free to contact either Drummond or myself with questions, and we would be happy to arrange telecons or in-person meeting to discuss it as time permits.
Thank you again for your interest.