Maryland will transition to “tap and go” Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards by summer 2026 in an effort to curb benefits theft, which has cost state taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in recent years.
Current EBT cards, which the state uses to transfer benefits to eligible Marylanders for things like disability (TDAP) and food assistance (SNAP), use magnetic strips and have become highly susceptible to skimming and cloning fraud tactics.
Wednesday, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved a state contract to switch to chipped cards, which Maryland Human Services Secretary Rafael López explains are the same as modern bank cards.
“Maryland customers who are receiving SNAP or TANF benefits, etc. deserve that exact same modernized technology, and we want the ‘tap and go’ philosophy that is safe and secure,” López said.
The state serves around 943,000 Marylanders through EBT, which includes 680,000 SNAP recipients.
In December 2024, the federal government stopped reimbursing for EBT theft, which has left Maryland taxpayers on the hook for almost $43 million since March 2023.
“That is a significant amount of money. So what that has led us to is to be really creative around working with our customers to reduce the theft, on doing creative things like changing pin access and ways in which there were alerts,” López said. “And then the logical next step was to be able to join and learn from other states across the country around how to modernize the cards that Maryland customers use.”
California and Oklahoma are the only other states that have begun the transition to chipped cards, and Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS) Chief of Staff Webster Yee told the Board of Public Works that California has seen a significant decrease in stolen EBT benefits.
California used Fidelity Information Services (FIS) to launch its chipped EBT pilot program, and FIS will also be responsible for Maryland’s rollout thanks to the board’s unanimous approval of the maximum $38 million contract.
FIS will be paid $7.7 million during the transition from Maryland’s previous vendor Conduent and then $16.7 million for a six-year contract. FIS will have the option for a two-year extension at the cost of $7 million each year.
López says the cost of the state’s new contract with FIS is fairly similar to its previous agreement with Conduent and notes FIS is the only of the two vendors to have been approved by the federal government to broadly deploy chipped cards.
Maryland initially awarded the contract to Conduent in 2024 to make the new cards, but FIS has succeeded in two legal challenges against that award.
Conduent is currently appealing that decision in the Appellate Court of Maryland, but the Board of Public Works unanimously approved the new contract with FIS amid the litigation.
When asked if the pending legal challenges could affect the new contract, López said: “At the end of the day, the Board of Public Works voted three [to] zero to support new, modernized chip technology. As a Department of Human Services responsible for working on behalf of the Board of Public Works and Marylanders, we are moving forward. We anticipate a thoughtful and a seamless transition with the two vendors.”
The transition to chipped cards was mandated under legislation passed by state lawmakers in 2023.
