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GAO-15-612R 1 (2015-06-10)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaizf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 




G                     U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
441 G St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20548



June 10, 2015


The Honorable John Hoeven
Chairman
The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate

The Honorable John Carter
Chairman
The Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives


Screening Partnership Program: TSA's Cost and Performance Independent Study

Every day, approximately 1.8 million passengers travel through U.S. commercial airports.1 As
the U.S. agency with primary responsibility for civil aviation security, the Department of
Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) takes action to ensure
the security of such passengers through, among other things, the screening of passengers and
baggage traveling by aircraft.2 To fulfill this responsibility, TSA maintains a federal workforce of
screeners at a majority of the nation's commercial airports and oversees a smaller workforce of
private screeners employed by companies under contract to TSA at airports that participate in
TSA's Screening Partnership Program (SPP). The SPP, established in 2004 in accordance with
provisions of the Aviation Transportation Security Act (ATSA), allows commercial airports an
opportunity to opt out of federal screening by applying to TSA to have private screeners perform
the screening function.3


The Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, directed
TSA to allocate resources for an independent study (the Study) of the performance of screening
at federalized airports (non-SPP airports) in comparison with the performance of screening at

'For purposes of this report, the term commercial airport includes all airports in the United States at which TSA
performs or oversees the performance of security screening activities.
2See generally Pub. L. No. 107-71, 115 Stat. 597 (2001); see also 49 U.S.C. §§ 114, 44901.
3See 49 U.S.C. § 44920. In November 2002, in accordance with the ATSA, TSA began a 2-year pilot program at five
airports using private screening companies to screen passengers and checked baggage. See 49 U.S.C. § 44919.
TSA subsequently established the SPP in November 2004.


GAO-1 5-612R Screening Partnership Study


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