The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Wednesday said it has awarded orders worth up to $1.3 billion to Analogic, Integrated Defense and Security Solutions (IDSS) and Smiths Detection to provide computed tomography (CT)-based carry-on baggage scanners at U.S. airports.
For IDSS, a small Massachusetts-based company, the contract is potentially its largest with any customer.
Analogic will provide up to 426 base units under a potential $344.6 million order, IDSS 359 mid-size systems for $272 million, and Smiths Detection 429 full-size units for $402.5 million if all options are exercised. Deployments are slated to begin this summer.
The full-size units include several parallel divesting stations for multiple passengers at once, automated bin return, and automatic diverter for suspect bags and an automated secondary screening subsystem, powered entry and exit conveyors, and a high-threat containment unit. Smiths Detection will supply its iLane automated security lane along with its 6040 CTiX CT system.
The mid-size units include the powered ingress and egress conveyors and an automatic diverter system. Standard roller tables at the entry and exit points of the CT scanner and a manual diverter for potential threat items are included in the base configuration.
TSA began installing CT scanners at its airport checkpoints several years ago, first with a nearly $100 million contract awarded to Smiths Detection in 2019 for 300 systems under the Advanced Technology/CT standard and then in three contracts worth a combined $979.2 million to Analogic—one in August 2021 and two in March 2022—for base and full-size systems under the checkpoint property screening system program.
Currently, there are about 634 CT systems installed at the agency’s checkpoints and installations are continuing.
The checkpoint CT systems are TSA’s top technology priority but funding to acquire the units has been slim the past two years with Congress providing only about $105 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, respectively. At those levels, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in 2022 that it will take until 2036 to complete the deployment of about 2,400 systems.
In FY ’24, TSA is requesting just $70 million for checkpoint CT, a funding rate that Pekoske said in March will stretch the completion of deployments out to 2042.
The CT technology provides operators with a three-dimensional, rotatable image of a bag’s contents and also applies algorithms to aid in the detection of explosives and prohibited items. In addition to improving threat detection, the CT units are expected to improve passenger throughput through the checkpoint.
“These CT units represent sophisticated technology that helps our professional, dedicated and highly skilled workforce detect new and evolving threats to improve aviation safety,” Pekoske said in a statement. “Deploying these units across our security checkpoints as expeditiously as possible will also improve checkpoint efficiency and the passenger experience.”
Analogic, IDSS and Smiths as of January had been qualified to compete for awards under one or more of the configurations. Leidos [LDOS], which also has a checkpoint CT system, had not been qualified. TSA previously deployed systems from all four companies to evaluate the technology before the first award to Smiths in 2019.
IDSS has also supplied its DETECT 1000 CT system to Customs and Border Protection to screen for fentanyl entering the U.S. through international mail. All of the companies have also sold their checkpoint CT systems to various international airports.