Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requesting a slight uptick in funding in FY ’15 for its border security program to help maintain existing and new surveillance systems and technology and begin to bring new capabilities to South Texas which is overtaking Arizona as the preferred route of illegal cross-border activity.
CBP’s Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition (OTIA) is already loaning the Border Patrol tethered aerostats equipped with surveillance sensors for demonstrations and evaluations in Texas and plans to provide it new Mobile Video Surveillance Systems (MVSS) that were originally slated for deployments in Arizona, Mark Borkowski, the agency’s assistant commissioner for OTIA, tells a House panel.
The shift to deploying surveillance systems to the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector instead of just in Arizona comes at the behest of Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher who wants resources diverted to South Texas, Borkowski says. He adds that the Border Patrol units in Arizona will still get some MVSS systems, which will free up other types of mobile surveillance systems already there to be moved to Texas.
Cost savings that are being generated through the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan are allowing CBP to free up resources for deployments to South Texas, Borkowski says.
CBP is expected to select a contractor for the MVSS this July, Borkowski says. The MVSS technology provides a day/night surveillance capability that can be deployed on Border Patrol 4×4 vehicles, giving agents increased situational awareness and the ability to track items of interest. Delivery of 39 MVSS systems is currently planned for the first quarter of FY ’16. Final deliveries are expected by the first quarter of FY ’17.
CBP recently has awarded contract to two companies for border surveillance systems. In February Elbit Systems [ESLT] received a potential $145 million award to begin providing the Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) system for an initial deployment in Arizona beginning in FY ’15. The IFT systems include radar and day/night surveillance systems that feed into a common operating picture at Border Patrol stations.
Last July the agency awarded General Dynamics [GD] a $96.4 million contract to deploy fixed towers equipped with day/night surveillance cameras to remote border areas in Arizona and Texas. The Remote Video Surveillance System (RVSS) will feed sensor images to Border Patrol stations.
CBP is requesting $362.5 million in FY ’15 for its Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology (BSFIT) program, which includes the IFT, RVSS, MVSS and other programs. The request is a modest 3 percent increase above the $351.5 million that Congress provided for BSFIT in FY ’14 and includes $251.9 million to operate and maintain existing systems and $110.6 million for developing and acquiring new systems. The O&M request represents a nearly $61 million increase over FY ’14 while the request for acquiring systems is about $50 million less than the current fiscal year.
Most of the funding in the acquisition request, $89.5 million, is for deploying MVSS and upgraded RVSS capabilities in the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, according to budget documents the Department of Homeland Security provided Congress as part of the FY ’15 federal funding request. While the MVSS systems have day/night capabilities, they will primary be used at night to augment fixed surveillance systems that have line-of-sight coverage gaps.
The RVSS deployments will replace existing analog systems and provide new capabilities in the sector, CBP says. The agency expects Initial Operational Capability with the new systems in the third quarter of FY ’14 with the Full Operational Capability in the first quarter of FY ’15.
Within the O&M account, CBP seeks $35.6 million for its Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which accounts for the largest chunk of the operating funds. There are eight sites for TARS and work is done by Exelis [XLS] with Northrop Grumman [NOC] responsible for the data network.
TARS provides CBP with long-range detection and monitoring of low-level air, maritime and surface narcotic traffickers, and a look-down capability from 10,000 feet for coverage of 200 nautical miles with a single aerostat. CBP expects to issue a Request for Information this spring for commercial radar capabilities to go with the TARS systems.
The next largest pot of funds within the O&M account is slated for the IFT program, which is pegged to receive $25 million. The first IFT units are expected to be installed in the Nogales, Ariz., area of operations in the third quarter of FY ’15. CBP has more than $100 million in unobligated prior year funds targeted for the IFT program.
The MVSS program is slated to receive $20.1 million in FY ’15 for operations.
CBP is also requesting $15.3 million in O&M funds to maintain the predecessor system to IFT, which is currently called Block 1 but was formerly known as SBInet, which is successfully monitoring 53 miles of border in the Tucson and Ajo sectors of Arizona. Borkowski attributes the success of Block 1 as one reason that illegal border activity has shifted to South Texas.
CBP is also seeking $12.6 million to maintain existing Mobile Surveillance Capabilities (MSC) which is provided by FLIR Systems [FLIR]. CBP currently operates 33 MSC systems, which have varying combinations of day/night cameras, ground-based radars, laser range finders, laser illuminators, and command, control and communications systems. The agency plans to acquire and take delivery of 16 more systems by the third quarter of FY ’15.
Nearly $12 million is being sought for RVSS operations, with most of that funding aimed at maintaining systems deployed in two areas of the northern border, Buffalo and Detroit.