The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) this month plans to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new effort aimed at consolidating enrollment services for multiple programs at the agency’s Office of Transportation Threat Assessment & Credentialing (TTAC).
TSA estimates the value of the potential five-year award at $140 million, of which $133 million is based on collected fees as well as award fees through a fixed-price contract.
The RFP is expected to be issued around May 25 with proposals due around June 26 [Sol. No. HSTS-02-11-R-TTC721. Contact Gloria Uria, contracting officer, [email protected], 571-227-2429]
The TTAC office is responsible for conducting security threat assessments to determine whether an applicant that is seeking access to critical segments of the nation’s transportation system poses or is suspected of posing a threat to transportation or national security. The office is currently working to “harmonize” its security threat assessments (STA) it performs for workers across all modes of transportation that are seeking credentials and certificates to be able to access those critical segments of the transportation system.
“TSA is also updating its information technology infrastructure in order to improve the services provided to transportation sector workers,” Stephen Sadler, deputy assistant administrator for TTAC, tells the House Homeland Security Transportation Security Subcommittee in a hearing last week. “Whereas the current infrastructure is not structured to support portable and reusable STAs absent substantial investment and costs, the TTAC Infrastructure Modernization (TIM) system will provide an integrated, end-to-end solution to manage identities, credentials, and assessment results for millions of transportation sector workers.”
Under the forthcoming TIM contract the winning contractor is expected to establish, transition and maintain enrollment centers in over 300 locations, in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and other continents. In addition to establishing and maintaining the enrollment centers, the vendor must be able to support all aspects of the applicant enrollment process such as web-based and phone-in pre-enrollment of biographic data, in-person identity proofing including verification and capture of applicant identity documents, capture and submission of applicant fingerprints and photo–as applicable to the specific program–and provide and maintain and automated applicant status tracking systems.
As to making the STA processes more common, TSA is working on a rulemaking. The goal is to not only harmonize the process but also issues related to redress and user fees across different transportation modes, Sadler says. This will help reduce the need for multiple background checks by allowing STAs to be used across the different modes, he says.
“For example, a driver transporting cargo destined for an aircraft and screened in accordance with TSA security requirements must have an STA,” Sadler says. “That driver may also transport cargo from secure areas of a regulated maritime facility, or transport hazardous materials, which also require that he or she have an STA. Instead of applying for multiple STAs, each of which is subject to particular, and possibly conflicting, statutory and regulatory standards and procedures, as is the case today, this individual would only require a single STA to meet the TSA background check requirement for all of these activities.”
Sadler says that congress will also have to pass new legislation to modify the STA requirements for aviation workers so that they are similar to requirements for workers in other transportation modes. He says the standards that Congress approved for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential provide a more “thorough” STA.