*The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has awarded a $3.5 million contract to ADR Vantage, Inc., a small women-owned business, for the supply of conflict management practitioners (CMP) as part of the agency’s Integrated Conflict Management Support services. The types of CMPs include facilitators, trainers, coaches, curriculum designers, organizational development professionals, and other professionals to support this work. The work is being done as part of TSA’s effort to build a culture of conflict competence, where employees and managers have the skills and tools to effectively raise and resolve issues through informal and formal channels. Work will be done at headquarters, airports and other field locations.
*OSI Systems [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division has received a $3.2 million contract to provide multiple screening systems in support of the 2010 Winter Olympics that will take place in Vancouver next February. The systems include Rapiscan’s 600 series of dual-energy X-Ray machines for baggage and parcel screening that can be quickly relocated and deployed in various checkpoints.
*Unisys [UIS] says in a new forecast that despite the difficult budget environment, government and commercial organizations in 2010 will be more proactive in taking security measures such as biometrics and cyber defenses. “Given the potential harm that can result from new and more dangerous forms of attacks, both physical and virtual, organizations can no longer afford to wait until they are attacked to defend themselves,” says Sid Pearl, global director, Risk Intelligence Solutions Management at Unisys. “They will begin to more closely monitor behaviors and identities in an effort to predict and prevent attacks before they happen.” Unisys believes that the proactive security approach will be led by financial institutions and defense agencies with ports and other organizations quickly following. The company also believes that 2010 will be the “tipping point” in the use of biometric identification tools to verify identity at the border and customs areas in airports.