Private Screening Progresses

The expansion of private security screening forces at airports continues apace, with the announcement Friday that Trinity Technology Group, Inc., of Fairfax, Va., would take over screening at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County (Calif.) Airport under the Transportation Security Administration's Screening Partnership Program. The program has been in place since late 2004, after TSA completed a pilot program to test private screening at five airports: San Francisco International; Kansas City International; Greater Rochester International; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and Tupelo (Miss.) Regional. All five of those airports opted to continue using private screeners at the end of the pilot phase. Since then, Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, S.D., Key West International Airport, and the Florida Keys Marathon Airport also have chosen to go the private sector route.

TSA is now using a streamlined acquisition process under which any interested vendor can apply to an airport's request for proposals for screening services. Previously, companies had to be pre-certified to participate in the program.