Implant Sciences Corp. [IMSC] has received a potential $162 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract from the Transportation Security Administration to provide the agency with desktop explosive trace detectors for baggage and passenger screening.
The award is the largest in the company’s history and is its first with TSA to provide the agency with the desktop devices, which are typically used at aviation security checkpoints to screen carry-on bags for explosives and at checked baggage screening areas.
In August TSA approved Implant Sciences’ Quantum Sniffer-B220 desktop ETD for passenger and baggage screening at airports in the Untied States, the first time the agency has approved the company’s technology for these applications. Last year the system was qualified by the agency to screen air cargo in the U.S.
TSA typically competes the contract for ETDs for passenger and baggage screening on an annual basis with previous awards going either to Britain’s
Smith Detection, or Morpho Detection, which is part of France’s Safran Group.
It’s unclear whether the agency’s award to Implant is a winner-take-all and if so if it’s for one year or more. TSA hadn’t responded to questions about the contract by Defense Daily’s deadline on Wednesday.
For Implant Sciences the potential award is significant. It’s largest previous awards include one with India in 2012 valued at around $6 million and another with China’s Railway Administration about six years ago that the company said at the time was worth multi-millions of dollars. The company reports its first quarter results on Friday.