Leidos [LDOS] on Tuesday said it has received a contract from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide a variant of its VACIS cargo inspection systems for high-energy non-intrusive scanning of rail infrastructure entering the U.S.
The five-year multiple award contract has a potential value of $379 million and began on July 1.
Leidos will provide CBP with its VACIS IR6500 high-energy rail inspection system that includes container optical recognition, a railcar identification system, conveyance cameras, a control subsystem display extensible to biometrics, and the capability to integrate radiation detection equipment.
Leidos already sells VACIS systems to CBP and customers worldwide for detecting concealed threats and contraband in passenger vehicles, commercial cargo and other containers.
It said the VACIS IR65000 is an upgrade of its legacy gamma-ray technology, offering improved material discrimination and image resolutions with double the penetration of items being scanned.
CBP currently uses 26 gamma ray rail inspection systems and one VACIS IR6500 system at rail border crossings in the U.S, a company spokeswoman told Defense Daily. She added that the date for initial orders under the contract is 2021.
CBP said in its Request for Proposals earlier this year that companies receiving awards under the high-energy rail contract would receive initial orders for four systems each.
OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan division also offers high-energy rail inspection systems.
The rail inspection systems support CBP’s mission to safeguard international trade by inspecting railcars to ensure shipments are in compliance with cargo manifests and to provide detection of potential threats, contraband and illegal migrants.