The authority to grant waivers to Federal Standards has been delegated to the heads of all federal agencies. RSA applauds EPA management for the courage and foresight to undertake the waiver process so that they may utilize the cost-effective security features of Lotus Notes. The announcement cited the high cost of acquiring products that implement the government standards, and the equal protection offered by the RSA products, as the basis for its waiver.
Taxpayers are interested in seeing the government save money wherever it can.
I would also note that RSA encryption will be used in the vast majority of the Digital Signature Demonstration Projects, which are an integral part of the Vice President's Government Reinvention Initiative. The Commerce Department should consider granting a government-wide waiver so that agencies don't have to reinvent the wheel by going through the waiver process. Every copy of Lotus Notes, since the first shipment in 1989, is RSA-enabled. The agency was clear on why it granted its waiver. The installed version of Lotus Notes, currently used by EPA, does not employ FIP standard cryptography.