In one of the largest rollouts of point-of-sale (POS) equipment accepting Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payment, VeriFone, Inc., and Lockheed Martin IMS have announced the signing of a seven-year service contract whereby VeriFone will install and maintain up to 50,000 EBT terminals in 15 states.
EBT is one of the fastest growing card markets in the U.S. today. It is a new type of transaction which processors can use to differentiate themselves. Concord EFS, for example, is heavily involved in EBT. Its success is being driven by the desire to reduce welfare fraud as well as administration paperwork costs. The U.S. government has mandated that all state food stamp programs be converted to EBT by 2002. The initial application is card-based distribution of Food Stamps and WIC (Women, Infant, Children) payments through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One expert states, "One out of every two children born this year will spend some time on the WIC nutrition program by the time they are five years old."
Many states have already migrated to the EBT card systems. EBT enables social program recipients to receive funds into an account accessed with a magnetic stripe or Smart Card. The social program recipient can use his or her card, which looks like a credit or debit card, to make purchases at merchants with terminals that accept EBT payment.
VeriFone has deployed more than 100,000 of these terminals and with the Lockheed Martin contract, will be installing and servicing up to another 50,000 terminals in 15 states. EBT.
The VeriFone-Lockheed Martin IMS contract outlines installation, training, and a maintenance service program to be carried out by VeriFone Support Services, a business unit of VeriFone. Over the next 18 months, VeriFone will install systems consisting of the Tranz 330 and Tranz 340 terminals, Printer 250, and the Pin Pad 101 security device in retail locations accepting paper-based EBT coupons.
