Passwordless Authentication Procurement: A Step-by-Step Guide

The RFP hit your inbox at 7:04 a.m., and the clock started ticking. Security, compliance, and user experience hang in the balance. You need a passwordless authentication solution, but the procurement process is a minefield. Buy the wrong thing, and you’ll spend the next year bleeding time into integration issues, vendor lock-in, and angry users.

Step One: Define Requirements With Precision

Map your needs before you talk to vendors. Decide if you require FIDO2, WebAuthn, magic links, biometric support, or all of them. Identify your compliance obligations—GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA. Document supported platforms and identity providers. Note performance expectations: authentication latency, uptime SLAs, failover behavior. These set the baseline for evaluation.

Step Two: Vet Technical Architecture

Request architecture diagrams and API documentation early. Check for open standards support to avoid lock-in. Ensure client SDKs are lightweight, well-maintained, and versioned. Assess how the solution integrates with your existing stack: reverse proxies, IDaaS, CI/CD pipelines. Insist on reviewing sample code and sandbox environments.

Step Three: Evaluate Security Model

Challenge each vendor’s threat model. Look at how private keys are generated, stored, and rotated. Demand clear explanations of cryptographic protocols. Verify phishing resistance, replay attack protection, and risk-based authentication features. Confirm that audit logs are immutable and easily exportable.

Step Four: Test Integration Speed

Do not rely on sales demos alone. Spin up a proof-of-concept against a staging environment. Measure the actual time to implement passwordless sign-in. Track edge cases like device loss, account recovery, and migration from passwords. Speed matters—both now and during future feature rollouts.

Step Five: Analyze Total Cost and Scalability

Compare transparent pricing models. Factor in API usage, monthly active users, and overage fees. Identify hard limits on request volume or concurrency. Estimate projected growth and ensure the solution scales without performance degradation.

Step Six: Check Support and Roadmap

Examine SLAs for incident response. Ask for the public product roadmap. Vendors serious about passwordless authentication will have aggressive timelines for new protocol support and security updates.

Procurement is about cutting risk before it cuts you. A disciplined passwordless authentication procurement process ensures security without slowing your team or your users.

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