The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has not properly documented the reasons for selecting contractors for awards under a privatized aviation security screening program, potentially resulting in not picking the best contractor for the job, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (IG) says in a report.
In four contract awards between January 2011 and August 2012 under the Screening Partnership Program (SPP), TSA hasn’t complied with Federal Acquisition Regulations for documenting its decisions, says the report, Transportation Security Administration’s Screening Partnership Program (OIG-13-99).
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| Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). Photo: U.S. Congress. |
“TSA did not formalize and implement procedures to ensure that SPP procurements were fully documented, and it did not have quality control procedures to verify the accuracy of data used for contract decisions,” the IG says. “As a result, TSA risks not selecting the best contractor offer and not ensuring that it provides the best screening services.”
The report also says that TSA failed to properly document its decisions to approve applications from five airports to participate in the SPP program, including in one case overestimating by more than $162,000 the cost to use private screeners and in another case understating the estimated savings of using private screeners by nearly $424,000.
TSA did not have quality control procedures in place for second reviews of the data, the report says.
The report led TSA critic Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who is a major proponent of privatizing aviation security screening, to charge the agency of having “cooked the books and inflated the cost of private screening under federal supervision as opposed to the cost of operating all federal screening.”
On the other hand, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is skeptical of using private screeners, said the report provides more evidence in support of bill that he introduced earlier this year that calls for more oversight and accountability of contract screeners. He says the report “shows that TSA has failed to accurately and precisely document the factors considered befire approving applications for allowing airports to transition federal screener jobs to contractor work.”
The are currently 16 airports participating the SPP program, which allows airports to apply to opt out of using federal screeners in favor of private screeners hired by TSA. In the airports where private screeners are being used, TSA still has overall management responsibility for security.
The IG made two recommendations including one to expedite improvements in documentation for reviewing SPP applications and awarding contracts and another for ensuring accurate information is used in approving airports’ participation in the private screener program. TSA concurred with both recommendations.