TSA wants AAAE to face competition for its airport worker credentials processing

TSA is moving forward with a plan to inject more competition into the traditional process of gathering biometric and biographic information from airport employees and channeling that data to TSA so it can perform security assessments on those airport workers.

For more than eight years, this “aviation channeling” has been performed exclusively by the American Association of Airport Executives, (AAAE) which has established what it calls the Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC) to handle those data processing functions.

“The TSC is the nation's largest civilian clearinghouse processing over 1.3 million TSA mandated Security Threat Assessments (STA) and more than half a million biometrically-based Criminal History Records Checks (CHRC) in the last year alone,” according to a description posted on the AAAE’s Web site.

However, based on requests from dozens of U.S. airports regarding a choice in the aviation channeling service provider they are allowed to use -- and resulting pressure from Congress to integrate such competition into the system -- the TSA has recently issued a presolicitation notice aimed at achieving that goal.

“TSA is contemplating the establishment of a Qualified Product List (QPL) based on the overall performance of each offeror’s technical solution for meeting TSA specifications,” said the announcement, issued by TSA’s contracting officer, Melissa Conley. “The QPL is being established to allow airport operators and aircraft operators to select qualified vendors to provide channeling services for aviation populations and to qualify vendors who will be capable of transmitting data to TSA.” TSA envisions establishing the QPL, adding several companies’ names to that list, and then enabling individual airports to choose which channeling company or organization they wish to use.

The AAAE says it “supports competition” in this arena, but in a letter sent last June to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, the AAAE suggests several reasons why they disagree with the Congressional mandate.

“The House bill establishes an arbitrary timeline for competition and fails to provide safeguards to ensure that the current TSC-facilitated process – which has served the federal government, airport operators, and aviation workers extremely well for nearly eight years – continues to function without disruption,” wrote Charles Barclay, the AAAE’s President.

“Our goal remains to ensure that competition is facilitated in a way that does not disrupt current background screening operations and that airports – rather than contractors selected by TSA – dictate how these services work at their facilities,” Barclay wrote.

As a first step in this process, TSA is planning to hold an Industry Day, via a Webinar, on May 25, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EST). No more than two representatives from any interested party will be allowed to participate in this Webinar.

In answers to vendor questions, TSA promised additional details about the precise definition of “channeling services” and how the vendor qualification process will unfold.

“A primary objective of this initiative is to minimize the impact to airport operations,” said TSA.

Further information is available from Melissa Conley, the contracting officer, at 571-227-2036 or melissa.conley@dhs.gov.