Subscriber Registration Process

Registration Operational Process
NFC’s registration process includes the use of a Registration Authority (RA), Local Registration Authority (LRA), and Trusted Agents. 

• LRA’s are Government employees who have signed an LRA Agreement, Form-1150, taking on a trusted role and have gone through the registration process to also become subscribers. The LRA verifies subscriber’s identity, and obtains the proper forms-Certificate Action Request (CAR), Form AD-1148 and the Subscriber Agreement, Form AD-1149. The LRA retains copies of the documentation and forwards the originals to NFC for retention.  The LRA’s use the User Management and Registration System (UMARS) to enter the information gathered during the identity proofing process.  The LRA provides the first shared secret for certificate activation.

• The RA’s are government employees who issue certificates to subscribers based on completed application requests received from the LRA’s.  The RA receives the CAR forms and supporting documentation, checks the forms for completeness, retains the original documentation for retention and audit purposes, and provides the second shared secret for certification activation (delivered in a different manner than the LRA’s first shared secret).

• Subscribing organization LRA’s can be established through identity proofing by an RA or through the use of a Notary Public.  Once an agency LRA is established, that person can then perform subsequent identity proofing tasks for the organization’s subscriber applicants. The subscriber obtains the appropriate approving official’s signature and presents picture ID’s in person to the LRA or to a Notary Public.  The subscriber signs a Subscriber Agreement, Form AD-1149 in the presence of an LRA or the Notary Public and completes a Certificate Action Request (CAR), Form AD-1148.

• Trusted Agents complete the identity proofing process in situations where the LRA’s are not physically located near the subscriber.  In these cases, an organization may determine which type of Trusted Agency (e.g. Notary Public, Organization specified individual, etc) is acceptable for identity proofing the applicant.  Once identity proofing is completed by the Trusted Agent, the subscriber forwards the notarized documentation to the LRA.  The LRA then completes the rest of the registration process.  The Trusted Agent does not complete any other part of the registration process.