The Transportation Security Administration on Sept. 26 notified Congress that it has awarded OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division a potential $67.1 million contract for 550 Advanced Technology (AT) X-Ray systems, which are used to screen carry-on bags at aviation security checkpoints in the U.S.
The initial award is for $59.8 million and covers AT-2 X-Ray systems with Tier One capabilities, which represents a threat detection capability lower than Tier Two.
Deliveries of Rapiscan’s AT-2 X-Ray systems are slated to begin in November and continue through Sept. 2014.
The win for Rapiscan comes three months after the company avoided a potential long-term debarment from receiving new federal contracts and task orders. The Department of Homeland Security last spring notified Rapiscan that it faced potential disbarment from federal contracting due to concerns by TSA that the company failed to disclose issues related to automated threat recognition software the company was developing for its whole body imaging systems it had already provided the agency to screen airline passengers.
The award for the AT-2 systems, which refers to upgraded versions of the original AT X-Ray systems, is exclusively for Rapiscan. The agency previously purchased the systems mainly from both Rapiscan and Britain’s Smiths Detection, with L-3 Communications [LLL] providing a relatively small quantity of systems.
The award to Rapiscan did not sit well with Smiths Detection, which says the detection standards TSA set and Rapiscan’s recent contracting issues were ignored.
“TSA’s decision ignored its own stated needs for higher levels of detection capability, which the agency itself has deemed critical to insuring the safety of air travelers,” Mal Maginnis, president of Smiths Detection, says in a statement. “The decision also minimizes the future cost of ownership and the time and investment needed to ensure detection of new and emerging threats.”
Maginnis says that Smiths Detection’s AT-2 X-Ray system meets the tougher detection requirements. He’s also unhappy with how TSA factored in past performance in the competition.
“We are also very concerned tat TSA is awarding this contract to the same manufacturer who it recently moved to debar from federal contracting and significantly scrutinized for a lack of acceptable business quality and compliance management,” Maginnis says. “If past performance is a factor in this decision, as TSA has stated, it is difficult to understand the choice they made.”
Maginnis did not say whether Smiths Detection is considering a protest of the award and a TSA spokeswoman tells HSR that the agency has not been notified of a protest.
Under the original AT X-Ray contracts, TSA has purchased just over 1,000 AT X-Ray systems from Rapiscan, 740 from Smiths, and 52 from L-3.
The TSA spokeswoman tells HSR that the award for Rapiscan does not include options for additional AT-2 systems beyond the 550 in the contract. She says that “currently fielded AT systems have been upgraded to the same functionality as the newly acquired AT-2s, therefore TSA does not anticipate replacing this equipment until their normal end of life.”
TSA awarded the original AT X-Ray contracts in Oct. 2007. The technology is based on dual-view imaging capabilities, which generate two images of the contents of a bag to provide the operator with greater clarity.
With the additional image, the dual-view systems are supposed to provide enough data so that software algorithms can be created to automatically detect threat objects and explosives inside a bag, lessening the burden on security screeners that operate the X-Ray machines. However, while this capability is used in some international airports for hold baggage screening, the TSA has never relied on it for checkpoint screening.