Aviation security agency to award $1 billion in technology work

The Transportation Security Administration will award up to $1 billion in information technology and telecommunications services work to a single firm by the end of July, according to a Transportation Department official. TSA is issuing the order under an existing Transportation technology contract that is open for all agencies to use. However, only companies that currently hold a seat on that contract, called the Information Technology Omnibus Procurement (ITOP 2), may compete for the TSA work. The TSA, created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks to guard the nation's transportation systems, has no significant technology or telecom infrastructure in place. The contract will last seven years, said Megan Russell, the Transportation contracting officer in charge of the order. It covers computer management services and the creation of a technology architecture, or overall technology design. "Those are the core things we need to develop as an agency," Russell said. Unlike traditional procurements, in which agencies spell out in great detail what a contractor is required to do, vendors bidding on the TSA order will provide their own proposals on how to meet TSA's needs. The order is also performance-based, meaning that the vendor will be compensated based on its ability to meet specific goals and milestones that TSA and the company will define before any work begins. TSA will evaluate bidders and their proposals using a strict set of criteria that includes past performance on federal contracts and ratings developed by independent technology industry analysts, said Chip Mather, co-founder of Acquisition Solutions Inc., the Chantilly, Va., based consulting firm that crafted TSA's acquisition strategy. The agency wants only the strongest technology firms to compete. "Contractors…are asked to carefully review [the evaluation criteria] and make a realistic self-assessment as to their potential viability," TSA's written submission guidelines advised. Mather said he'd be satisfied if only two or three companies vie for the work. "My dream is to have very highly qualified contractors fighting it out tooth and nail for [TSA's] business," he said. Russell said TSA will pick a "tier one contractor," or a firm with a solid reputation in government and brand name recognition. Such prominent technology companies now on the ITOP 2 contract include DynCorp, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Unisys, Booz Allen Hamilton and Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS). Boeing Service Co., which on June 7 won TSA's highly prized contract to oversee the deployment of explosive-detection equipment to screen luggage at every U.S. airport, is not a vendor on the contract. President Bush wants to place TSA under his proposed Department of Homeland Security. Russell said that any rollover of TSA into the new department wouldn't affect the new technology acquisition. Rather, TSA officials believe this purchasing strategy could be a model for the new Homeland Security Department. Richard Clarke, the White House cybersecurity czar, said in an interview Friday that since TSA is building its technology infrastructure from scratch, officials can implement the highest information security standards. Clarke said TSA officials have asked his office to advise them as they implement security policies. Clarke noted that the TSA order would represent one of the most significant homeland security technology acquisitions. He estimated the proposed Homeland Security Department would directly spend about $1.5 billion on technology, based on the budget requests of agencies that would be included in the new department. That figure doesn't include the TSA contract, Clarke said. Mather said TSA's approach is a significant step towards conducting more performance-based procurements that rely on vendors to shape the scope of their work. The Bush administration wants agencies to use performance incentives more often when awarding services contracts.