Two more airports join the SPP program
The Screening Partnership Program (SPP) was established by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) of 2001 to meet the requirement for the TSA opt-out program; eight airports are already participating
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has selected Eastlake, Ohio-based FirstLine Transportation Security as the private screening contractor for the Gallup Municipal Airport and the Roswell Industrial Air Center under the Screening Partnership Program (SPP). “FirstLine has been providing excellent support to TSA at the Kansas City (Mo.) International Airport,” said George Andler, TSA federal security director for Albuquerque International Sunport, as well as for Gallup and Roswell. “We look forward to that same great support here in New Mexico.” The Gallup and Roswell airports applied to the SPP program last spring. This competitively awarded contract is for security screening services for both the passenger checkpoint and checked baggage operations. The total contract award value, including options, is approximately $1,281,026. The period of performance is one year, from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008. Under SPP, the federal security director at Albuquerque International will remain responsible for overseeing TSA security standards and contractor performance at Gallup and Roswell.
SPP is designed to meet the requirement for the opt-out program established in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) of 2001. Beginning in 2002, ATSA required TSA to conduct a SPP pilot program at five airports, called the “PP5”. When the pilot program ended in November 2004, airport operators with federal screening services could apply to SPP. To date, the original PP5 airports [San Francisco International; Kansas City International; Greater Rochester International, New York; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Tupelo Regional, Mississippi] are participating in SPP. In addition, Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Key West International Airport in Florida, and the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in California have transitioned to SPP. For those who frequently fly to New York on business or pleasure: TSA also signed a three-party contract with New York-based U.S. Helicopter Corporation and Springfield, Virginia-based McNeil Security, under SPP, which established screening operations to support airport shuttle services at the East 34th Street Heliport in New York City.
