Smiths Detection has received a $22 million contract from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to deliver 500 devices that will be used to screen liquids at airport checkpoints, the first large scale award for Bottled Liquid Scanners (BLS).
The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity award is valued at over $55 million and is for a modified version of Smith’s RespondeR RCI, a portable Raman spectrometer typically used by emergency responders and hazardous materials teams to identify liquids and powders. The award was made using funds from the Recovery Act. Deliveries will begin later this year.
The RespondeR RCI is integrated in a pelican case, using a laser that penetrates glass and plastic bottles and compares the results to an onboard library of known threats, including white powders, common chemicals, explosives, narcotics and toxic industrial chemicals. Included in the case are consumables for sample collection and testing.
The sale to TSA opens a new market for the RespondeR product and potentially more opportunities, Mark Laustra, vice president for Homeland Security at Smiths Detection, tells TR2. The system is not routinely used at checkpoints, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere.
Smiths and ICx Technologies [ICXT] each received small contracts from TSA about two years ago to supply systems for detecting potential liquid threats at airports. However, TSA never made large additional purchases of the systems and in the case of Smiths, which initially provided its SABRE system, began working with the company on modifications to the RespondeR RCI.
Laustra says that changes to the RespondeR were to make it more user friendly for the checkpoint environment.
The RespondeR system typically provides results within 30 seconds and can identify a substance.