diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
index eb2efaa..7c1728b 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
@@ -23,7 +23,11 @@ import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.text.DateFormat;
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
 
 /**
  * Common utilities so that we don't need to include Commons Lang.
@@ -51,6 +55,12 @@ public final class CommonUtils {
         // nothing to do
     }
 
+    public static String formatForUtcTime(final Date date) {
+        final DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");
+        dateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
+        return dateFormat.format(date);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check whether the object is null or not. If it is, throw an exception and
      * display the message.
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
index f339fff..bd1440f 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@ package org.jasig.cas.client.validation;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.authentication.AttributePrincipal;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.authentication.AttributePrincipalImpl;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.opensaml.*;
 
 import java.io.*;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.*;
-import java.text.DateFormat;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 
 import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
 
@@ -108,7 +107,7 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidator extends AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator
             return false;
         }
 
-        final long currentTime = new Date().getTime();
+        final long currentTime = getCurrentTimeInUtc().getTime();
 
         if (currentTime + tolerance < notBefore.getTime()) {
             log.debug("skipping assertion that's not yet valid...");
@@ -162,14 +161,14 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidator extends AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator
         return list;
     }
 
-    private static String getFormattedDateAndTime(final Date date) {
-        final DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");
-        return dateFormat.format(date);
+    private Date getCurrentTimeInUtc() {
+        final Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
+        c.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
+        return c.getTime();
     }
 
-
     protected String retrieveResponseFromServer(final URL validationUrl, final String ticket) {
-        final String MESSAGE_TO_SEND = "<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\"><SOAP-ENV:Header/><SOAP-ENV:Body><samlp:Request xmlns:samlp=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\"  MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\" RequestID=\"" + UUID.randomUUID().toString() + "\" IssueInstant=\"" + getFormattedDateAndTime(new Date()) + "\">"
+        final String MESSAGE_TO_SEND = "<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\"><SOAP-ENV:Header/><SOAP-ENV:Body><samlp:Request xmlns:samlp=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\"  MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\" RequestID=\"" + UUID.randomUUID().toString() + "\" IssueInstant=\"" + CommonUtils.formatForUtcTime(new Date()) + "\">"
                 + "<samlp:AssertionArtifact>" + ticket
                 + "</samlp:AssertionArtifact></samlp:Request></SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>";
 
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidatorTests.java b/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidatorTests.java
index 6619fc8..b943da4 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidatorTests.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidatorTests.java
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 package org.jasig.cas.client.validation;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.PublicTestHttpServer;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
-import java.text.DateFormat;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Date;
 
 /**
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidatorTests extends AbstractTicketValidatorTes
         final Date now = new Date();
         final Date before = new Date(now.getTime() - 5000);
         final Date after = new Date(now.getTime() + 200000000);
-        final String RESPONSE = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\"><SOAP-ENV:Header/><SOAP-ENV:Body><Response xmlns=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\" xmlns:saml=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:assertion\" xmlns:samlp=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" IssueInstant=\"" + getFormattedDateAndTime(now) + "\" MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\" Recipient=\"test\" ResponseID=\"_e1e2124c08ab456eab0bbab3e1c0c433\"><Status><StatusCode Value=\"samlp:Success\"></StatusCode></Status><Assertion xmlns=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:assertion\" AssertionID=\"_d2fd0d6e4da6a6d7d2ba5274ab570d5c\" IssueInstant=\"" + getFormattedDateAndTime(now) + "\" Issuer=\"testIssuer\" MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\"><Conditions NotBefore=\"" + getFormattedDateAndTime(before) + "\" NotOnOrAfter=\"" + getFormattedDateAndTime(after) + "\"><AudienceRestrictionCondition><Audience>test</Audience></AudienceRestrictionCondition></Conditions><AuthenticationStatement AuthenticationInstant=\"2008-06-19T14:34:44.426Z\" AuthenticationMethod=\"urn:ietf:rfc:2246\"><Subject><NameIdentifier>testPrincipal</NameIdentifier><SubjectConfirmation><ConfirmationMethod>urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:artifact</ConfirmationMethod></SubjectConfirmation></Subject></AuthenticationStatement></Assertion></Response></SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>";
+        final String RESPONSE = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\"><SOAP-ENV:Header/><SOAP-ENV:Body><Response xmlns=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\" xmlns:saml=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:assertion\" xmlns:samlp=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:protocol\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" IssueInstant=\"" + CommonUtils.formatForUtcTime(now) + "\" MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\" Recipient=\"test\" ResponseID=\"_e1e2124c08ab456eab0bbab3e1c0c433\"><Status><StatusCode Value=\"samlp:Success\"></StatusCode></Status><Assertion xmlns=\"urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:assertion\" AssertionID=\"_d2fd0d6e4da6a6d7d2ba5274ab570d5c\" IssueInstant=\"" + CommonUtils.formatForUtcTime(now) + "\" Issuer=\"testIssuer\" MajorVersion=\"1\" MinorVersion=\"1\"><Conditions NotBefore=\"" + CommonUtils.formatForUtcTime(before) + "\" NotOnOrAfter=\"" + CommonUtils.formatForUtcTime(after) + "\"><AudienceRestrictionCondition><Audience>test</Audience></AudienceRestrictionCondition></Conditions><AuthenticationStatement AuthenticationInstant=\"2008-06-19T14:34:44.426Z\" AuthenticationMethod=\"urn:ietf:rfc:2246\"><Subject><NameIdentifier>testPrincipal</NameIdentifier><SubjectConfirmation><ConfirmationMethod>urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:artifact</ConfirmationMethod></SubjectConfirmation></Subject></AuthenticationStatement></Assertion></Response></SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>";
         PublicTestHttpServer.instance().content = RESPONSE
         .getBytes(PublicTestHttpServer.instance().encoding);
 		try {
@@ -57,15 +56,5 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidatorTests extends AbstractTicketValidatorTes
 		} catch (final TicketValidationException e) {
 		    fail(e.toString());
 		}
-
     }
-
-        public static String getFormattedDateAndTime(final Date date) {
-            final DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
-            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");
-        // Google Does not set this.
-        // dateFormat.setTimeZone(UTC_TIME_ZONE);
-        return dateFormat.format(date);
-        }
-
 }