Under an existing Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is beginning round two of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Reader Pilot Initial Capability Evaluation (ICE) as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) development of final regulations for card readers. TSA is interested in receiving information on both fixed and handheld readers. Once the results of the pilot tests are known, TSA will begin a process for a Final Reader Assessment (FRA), which will establish an ongoing reader approval process resulting in readers being listed on the DHS Responder Knowledge Base. In addition to adding another date for the TWIC Reader ICE, the BAA also outlines several initiatives on how the government plans to go from a research and development effort to providing a standardized assessment process- -the FRA–for approving readers when the final TWIC Reader Rule is in place. In addition to the ICE and FRA efforts, laboratory tests will be done to assess the conformance of a limited number of readers to the technical and environmental requirements of the TWIC specification. Sol. No. BAA_TWIC_Reader_08282008. Respond by Sept. 11. Contact: Michelle Schmidt, 571-227-1584, [email protected].