Aviation Security Technology: TSA Lacks Outcome-oriented Performance Measures and Data to Help Reach Objectives to Diversify its Marketplace
The Transportation Security Administration relies on technologies—such as explosives detection systems—to help secure the travel of about 2.8 million passengers every day. TSA has developed a required strategy with 12 initiatives to promote innovation in security technology and get more diverse small businesses into the market.
We found this strategy includes the required elements, such as the identification of barriers to entering the market that small businesses face. However, TSA hasn't developed ways to effectively measure how well each is working.
We recommended developing these measurements of effectiveness and more.
What GAO Found
The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) January 2020 TSA Efforts to Diversify Security Technology (strategy) addresses the requirements of the 2018 TSA Modernization Act (the Act) and outlines 12 strategic initiatives to increase small business participation in its marketplace. Moreover, the strategy's initiatives are generally consistent with common practices cited by comparable federal agencies, including vendor outreach and linking small businesses together with bigger contractors.
TSA has not developed outcome-oriented performance measures, such as baseline goals or target timeframes to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives in its strategy. While TSA collects some output metrics on its initiatives, leading practices note that outcome-based measures can help track progress in meeting goals. TSA also has not collected data on small businesses' progress across its acquisition phases, such as capturing the overall time, costs, and ability to meet security requirements. Federal standards call for the use of quality information to achieve objectives. Small businesses GAO met with told us they continue to face challenges entering TSA's marketplace—such as navigating it's testing and evaluation process and identifying security requirements—despite TSA's efforts to address them through ongoing and planned initiatives. Developing outcome-oriented performance measures and collecting data, will better position TSA to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives to diversify its security technology marketplace.
Examples of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Security-Related Technologies
Why GAO Did This Study
With the ongoing threat of terrorism, TSA is looking to innovative technologies to improve security. In response to the Act, TSA developed a strategy to promote innovation and increase small business participation in its security technology marketplace.
The Act includes a provision for GAO to review this strategy. This report examines, among other things, (1) the extent to which TSA's strategy includes the statutory requirements of the Act and compares to common practices of federal agencies to increase small business participation and (2) the extent to which TSA has performance measures and data to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives.
GAO compared TSA's strategy to statutory requirements and practices of comparable federal agencies; interviewed TSA and federal officials from five selected agencies responsible for small and disadvantaged business programs, and a nongeneralizable set of small businesses selected to provide various perspectives on participating in TSA's acquisition processes; and analyzed data from the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation.
Recommendations
GAO is making two recommendations, including that TSA (1) develop outcome-oriented performance measures and (2) collect data, where appropriate, on small businesses' progress across TSA's acquisition phases.
DHS concurred with our recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation Security Administration | The TSA Administrator should develop outcome-oriented performance measures to help TSA assess the effectiveness of its strategic initiatives in diversifying its marketplace. (Recommendation 1) |
TSA's Office of Strategy, Policy Coordination, and Innovation (SP&I) leads TSA's effort to assess the effectiveness of the 12 initiatives to increase small business participation in the security technology marketplace. In April 2022, TSA's SP&I developed an approach to assess the effectiveness of the 12 initiatives to increase small business participation within the security technology marketplace. Through the creation of the TSA Innovation Pipeline, TSA will collect information and inputs from its initiatives that collectively will aide in a healthy pipeline. Metrics that TSA plans to use include: the number of solution providers considered through innovation ecosystem; the amount of money spent on prototype projects, and the number of solutions funded and fielded, among others. As of April 2022, TSA was testing the Innovation Pipeline and planned to provide documentation to demonstrate its implementation. We will review this information when received.
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| Transportation Security Administration | The TSA Administrator should collect data, where appropriate, on small businesses' progress across its acquisition phases to determine how, where, and when it can better target its strategic initiatives or if other initiatives should be considered. (Recommendation 2) |
TSA's Office of Strategy, Policy Coordination, and Innovation (SP&I) leads an effort to explore innovative ways to diversify the marketplace through the security technology acquisitions lifecycle. In April 2022, SP&I notified us that it was developing the TSA Innovation Doctrine to define the innovative culture of the agency. Pending publication, it is to serve as the foundation of the TSA Innovation Pipeline to define a repeatable process of an organized approach to examine security technology acquisitions within the transportation security ecosystem. Through the TSA Innovation Pipeline, SP&I plans to monitor, explore and diversify the transportation security marketplace through a disciplined process. As of June 2022, the doctrine was under TSA review. We will review the doctrine when it is received and implemented.
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