Lockheed Chosen For ID Contract

TSA Deal Is Entry To Growing Sector

The Transportation Security Administration has decided to award a closely watched contract to supply high-tech identification cards at ports nationwide to Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, according to sources familiar with the choice.

The initial value of the contract, which involves issuing ID cards to 850,000 maritime workers, was estimated at $70 million. The contract could prove far more valuable, however, if it leads to other, related deals for the firm: Identity technology is a fast-growing sector for government contractors, and the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, known as TWIC, is the first of many identity contracts slated to be announced in the next few years.

The program, a key element of the government's attempts to secure the nation's ports, was initially supposed to provide transportation workers with ID cards embedded with microchips by the end of 2003. But it has been bogged down with technology glitches and privacy concerns, and now Lockheed will have 18 months to finish rolling out its cards.

Darrin Kayser, a TSA spokesman, would not confirm yesterday that the agency had made its decision but indicated that an announcement is imminent. "It is fundamental to our nation's security that individuals who pose a security threat do not gain access to our nation's ports," Kayser said. "The TWIC contract, which will be awarded in the coming days, allows us to move forward and begin enrollment at selected ports in March."

A spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, Leslie Holoweiko, referred all questions to the TSA, as did other competitors for the contract. "We haven't heard anything yet," she said.

However, multiple sources familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it had not been made public, said Lockheed is the winner.

The company, which is the Defense Department's biggest contractor, beat out a relatively large field of competitors to win the work. The TSA had narrowed the competition late last year to eight finalists.

Among the finalists was BearingPoint of McLean, which had held the contract to run a prototype program. This is the second time in three months that BearingPoint has been disappointed on an identity contract. In November, the General Services Administration opted to rebid a deal to supply federal employees with new ID cards rather than renew a contract it had awarded to BearingPoint just two months earlier.

The new security card program is likely to come under scrutiny from Congress.

"History tells us that large security programs emanating from the Department of Homeland Security have a tendency to be fraught with waste and poor management," said Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, in a statement. "Important security initiatives like TWIC provide no room for error."

Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, said labor unions worry the government will require that workers foot the bill for new credentials, which some have estimated will cost $150 per ID. "The technology issues are still being reconciled," Wytkind said. "So for us, it's a $150 tax on our members with no real measurable security results."