TSA plan to charge port workers for ID cards draws fire
Plan to gather as much as $118 million from workers may be challenged in public hearings.
A Transportation Security Administration proposal to charge port employees for required Transportation Worker Identity Cards is likely to be challenged during a 45-day comment period.
As many as 850,000 port workers would have to pay between $105 and $139 for the identity cards aimed at better security at ports under the rule, TSA announced late last week. That move was greeted with vehement opposition from union officials. While the cards were not expected to be supplied for free, one source familiar with the development of the program said the price tag may have caught some off guard.
"We have serious concerns about the cost of the TWIC program and the impact it will have on port drivers who are already living at poverty levels," said Leigh Strope, a spokeswoman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
TSA also announced a revised procurement process requiring full and open competition for a contract to create the program. A full version of TSA's 277-page plan had not yet been posted on the Federal Register as of Monday, but once it is available, a 45-day comment period will follow where port workers may challenge the fees.
Public hearings will be held in Newark, N.J.; Tampa, Fla.; St. Louis; and Long Beach, Calif., in late May and early June. Strope would not say what plans teamsters have for these hearings.
TSA's announcement of the change to its procurement process came as welcome news for biometric industry officials who felt the agency needed to open up the program to competition.
But the International Biometric Industry Association argued that a provision included in the fiscal 2006 Homeland Security Department appropriations act directing TSA to handle credentialing for TWIC and a variety of other programs through the American Association of Airport Executives' Transportation Security Clearinghouse -- a private sector entity that investigates workers' backgrounds -- could impede competition.
The association is pushing to have the entire provision removed from this year's spending bill.
Walter Hamilton, chairman and director of IBIA, said legislators are lining up to support the nonprofit trade association's stance, but he declined to provide names.
Hamilton said striking the provision is essential to eliminating ambiguity and ensuring open competition on other initiatives.
In its announcement late last week, TSA said there will be open competition for one integrated solution for TWIC implementation, and it will soon announce a new solicitation for separate ID card programs, including ones for data management and system maintenance. The agency said it aims to "streamline the contracting and implementation process by identifying one party as the lead," which it will need to do in order to meet TSA Assistant Secretary Kip Hawley's goals.
"Working with the Coast Guard and our industry partners, TSA expects that the TWIC process will be under way this year," he said.