*American Science and Engineering [ASEI] says that Customs and Border Protection has deobligated a $9.1 million contract for the company’s new MobileSearch HE (High Energy) that was awarded last fall (TR2, Oct. 28, 2009). AS&E says that the U.S. government has issued a reevaluation notice of the proposals to full their requirements and that the contract was terminated for convenience. AS&E says that the order was not put in its quarterly bookings and the deobligation will not affect the financial results for the current quarter. AS&E says it looks forward to competing and winning gains under the reevaluation.
*The British Airports Authority (BAA) is about to begin trial testing two whole body imaging systems at London’s Heathrow airport this week, a backscatter X-Ray-based system and a millimeter wave-based system. The backscatter system will be OSI Systems [OSIS] Secure 1000 and the millimeter wave will be Smiths Detection’s eqo. BAA has purchased multiple Secure 1000 single pose units for the testing. Heathrow has had a version of the Secure 1000 deployed for the past four years. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is already committed to buying 150 Secure 1000s and is examining the eqo.
*The Virginia Contracting Activity has selected Battelle, the Midwest Research Institute, Signature Science, and Triton Scientific, LLC, to compete for task orders under a potential five-year, $24.5 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to provide various kinds of support to the U.S. government for CBRNE technologies. The effort includes developing Technical Review Reports, test plans, laboratory and field testing pf CBRNE and forensics collection/detection technologies and projects. Work will also include logistical support and training.