Ficam

FICAM stands for Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management. It is a U.S. federal government framework and program designed to standardize how identities are established, credentials issued, and access to federal facilities and information systems is controlled across agencies. The goal is to enable secure, interoperable authentication while reducing duplicative processes and strengthening protection of government resources.

The program organizes identity, credential, and access management into three interrelated domains: identity management (proofing and maintaining an individual's identity), credential management (issuing and revoking credentials such as smart cards), and access management (authenticating users and granting access to facilities and information systems). A primary credential within FICAM is the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, and related credentials such as the DoD's Common Access Card (CAC); both are based on standards defined in FIPS 201-2 and associated specifications.

FICAM aligns with digital identity standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including NIST SP 800-63 and related publications for identity assurance, as well as SP 800-73 and SP 800-79 for interface and credential management. The FICAM Roadmap and Reference Architecture provides the blueprint for enrollment, issuance, lifecycle management, revocation, and cross-agency trust and interoperability of credentials.

In practice, agencies implement FICAM to permit both physical access to buildings and logical access to information systems through interoperable credentials, with governance over issuance, renewal, suspension and revocation. While primarily a federal framework, FICAM concepts have influenced state, local, and private-sector identity programs seeking alignment with federal standards.