TSA names eight finalists to manage TWIC program
Announcement follows May decision to select a single contractor; BearingPoint, Computer Services, Lockheed Martin, and Motorola among competitors still standing
TWIC marches on, hopefully to the beat of a single drummer. In May we reported that the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) had decided after much confusion to select a single contractor to manage the port security aspect of the long-delayed Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program. In the program’s first phase more than 750,000 port and maritime workers will receive a standardized biometric card. Later it will be extended to the entire range of transportation of workers, from train engineers to flight attendants.
TSA originally considered contracting with one company to provide enrollment and help desk-call center services and with another to develop the identity management system (IDMS) portion of the project, which involves collecting biometric data to encode in ID cards and conducting background checks. “We have looked at the entire picture, and the quickest and best implementation of TWIC will be achieved through one integrated enrollment and data integration process,” said DHS assistant secretary Kip Hawley.
TSA announced last week that it had chosen eight finalists to provide this integrated service: BearingPoint, Computer Sciences Corp., EDS, IBM, Integrated Biometric Technology, Lockheed Martin, Maximus, and Motorola. TSA issued the request for proposals to the winning contractors on 1 September, and they must file responses by 2 October.
-read more in Brian Robinson’s FCWreport
