By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required to develop spending plans within 45 days for over $2 billion in fiscal stimulus funds Congress is appropriating as part of the nearly $790 billion economic recovery bill that was nearing final approval last Friday.
The American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, which contains $2.8 billion overall for DHS, was approved by the House on Friday and expected to go to a vote in the Senate later that day (Defense Daily, Feb. 13). Once Congress approves the measure it must be signed by President Obama.
The bill, as previously reported, provides $1 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment. The bill does contain a “Buy American” provision that would likely eliminate one vendor, United Kingdom-based Smiths Detection, from supplying its Advanced Technology X-Ray systems for checkpoint screening at airports in the United States.
Smiths Detection, which has a strong presence in the United States, builds its Hi-Scan 6040 aTiX AT X-Ray systems in Germany and Toronto. The company has a facility in Alcoa, Tenn., that builds older Hi-Scan 6040 X-Ray systems that are also deployed at U.S. airport checkpoints as well as X-Ray machines used in food safety inspections. The older X-Ray systems are being replaced by the AT X-Ray machines.
On the other, that “Buy American” provision could be a nice boost to California-based OSI Systems [OSIS], the other supplier of AT X-Ray systems to the TSA.
However, the spending bill doesn’t divvy up how the $1 billion in TSA funds should be spent. A significant portion of the money is likely to go toward construction and related airport facility modifications so that Explosives Detection Systems used for screening checked baggage can be installed inline with the baggage handling systems.
Language in the House and Senate conference report accompanying the bill requires TSA to “prioritize the award of these funds to accelerate the installations at locations with completed design plans.”
The bill also includes several buckets of funding for Customs and Border Protection, including $100 million for the Boeing [BA]-led effort to deploy technology along the southwest border of the United States. Specifically, the report language calls for “expedited development and deployment” of the border technology. It remains to be seen how CBP can expedite the project given that the agency is working under a carefully revised schedule that includes a slew of operational testing this year prior to achieving initial capability along limited stretches of Arizona’s border with Mexico late this year (Defense Daily, Feb. 9).
Boeing is using equipment from FLIR Corp. [FLIR] and Griffon Corp.‘s [GFF] Telephonics division as part of its Secure Border Initiative (SBInet) solution. Separate from SBInet, CBP has also acquired mobile surveillance systems from two companies, including ICx Technologies [ICXT] for use on the southwest border.
CBP also is receiving $100 million for the acquisition of Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) equipment for inspecting vehicles and containers at the nation’s ports of entry. The agency acquires that equipment from several companies, including Smiths Detection. In this case though, Smiths makes its HCV Mobile high-energy X-Ray scanner at its Tennessee facility.
CBP is also getting $60 million for the procurement and deployment of tactical communications equipment and radios related to border security and $420 million for construction at land ports of entry.