The Transportation Security Administration in December said it has made a number of new additions to its qualified vendor list for next-generation checkpoint baggage scanners, increasing competition ahead of the next contracting round.
Under the checkpoint property screening systems (CPSS) program, TSA now has nine qualified systems across its three configurations, base, mid-size and full-size.
Last year and again early this year, TSA awarded Analogic the first contracts under the CPSS program. At the time, the company was the only one whose checkpoint computed tomography (CT) system was on the qualified product list.
As of mid-December, TSA had deployed 259 of Analogic’s ConneCt system, mostly in the mid-size configuration, an agency spokesman told HSR. Deployments of the company’s base system just began and full-size deployments begin in January.
Last fall, Smiths Detection earned the mid-size qualification of its HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX system and last week, TSA said the company’s scanner was added to the base and full-size qualified list as well. Smiths Detection several years ago won the original TSA contract for 300 checkpoint CT systems, but that was under an earlier program called AT/CT. The CPSS program requires a higher threat detection standard.
The 6040 CTiX systems supplied by Smiths under the AT/CT effort have all been deployed to various U.S. airports.
Also added to the qualified products list are Integrated Defense and Security Solutions (IDSS) in the mid-size category, and the Dutch company Scarabee, for both mid- and full-size configurations. Scarabee doesn’t make a CT system but the company does provide the screening lanes that the scanners are integrated with.
Notably, Leidos [LDOS] did not make the qualified list for its checkpoint CT system. The company, along with Analogic, IDSS, and Smiths are the only ones that have been developing CT systems for the checkpoint.
Analogic’s mid-size CT system was placed on TSA’s Qualified Products List on May 27, 2021, and its base and full-size systems on Nov. 3, 2021. IDSS’ mid-size system was put on the QPL on Dec. 14, 2022. Scarabee was added to the mid-size list on Sept. 26, 2022, and to the full-size list on Dec. 14, 2022. Smiths Detection’s base system was added to the list on Dec. 14, 2022, its mid-size system on May 24, 2022, and its full-size system on Oct. 28, 2022.
TSA is expected to eventually purchase about 2,400 checkpoint CT systems. The next contracting round is expected around March 2023.
The base configuration refers to the CT system integrated with traditional ingress and egress roller tables for passengers to load and retrieve their carry-on items. The base lane also includes a manual diverter for potential threat items.
In addition to the CT scanner, all configurations also include primary and alternate viewing stations.
The mid-size screening lanes have powered ingress and egress conveyors, roller tables on the front and back ends of the scanner, and an automatic diverter system for suspect items. The full-size system includes three parallel divesting stations for multiple passengers, automated bin return, an automatic diverter system for suspect bags and an automated secondary screening subsystem, powered ingress and egress conveyors, and a high-threat containment unit.