SAIC Contract Up For Bid - $17 million For... Recycling

[Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers@xxxxxxxxx>]

I KNEW there was money to be made in recycling, but I wasn't going to
make it...

Deluge of Lighters Prompts Re-thinking at TSA

Ever since cigarette lighters were added in April 2005 to
the list of items that air travelers are prohibited from
carrying onto commercial airplanes, the amount of hazardous
materials abandoned at airport screening checkpoints has
nearly quadrupled.

So, the Transportation Security Administration has decided
to award a revised contract to a nationwide company -
either the incumbent, Science Applications International
Corp., or a new contractor -- that can dispose of all these
hazardous items in a safe and environmentally sound fashion.

"TSA did not anticipate the volume of lighters being
abandoned at the checkpoint to remain at such a high
level," acknowledged a solicitation TSA May 16.

Typically, when an air traveler chooses to abandon a
prohibited item at the airport - rather than leaving it
with a friend or relative who is not flying, or storing it
in a vehicle - TSA turns over that abandoned item to the
surplus property department of the state government in
which the airport is located. Those state property offices,
in turn, dispose of the items, usually in bulk, in a
variety of ways, including in-person sales from state
warehouses, charitable donations and online sales via eBay.

However, in those instances where the state property
offices do not want the abandoned item, and in all
situations involving hazardous materials - such as
cigarette lighters, matches, fireworks, fuels, hunting
ammunition, small alkaline and lithium batteries, paints,
butane and self-defense sprays - SAIC is responsible for
collecting and disposing of those items.

When the original contract to SAIC was announced in October
2003, the company was given a seven-month award valued at
$2 million, with the potential value reaching $17 million
if all four option years were exercised. SAIC was expected
to use at least three small business subcontractors: Clean
Harbors Environmental Services, Inc., of Braintree, MA;
South Pacific Environmental, of Guam; and HazMatPac, of
Houston, TX.

"While a contract for VAP [voluntarily abandoned property]
was awarded previously, the requirement has changed
substantially from its original inception and this
procurement far exceeds the scope of the original
requirement," said TSA in its most recent solicitation.

Under the announced schedule, TSA is expected to hold an
"Industry Day" for interested candidates at TSA
headquarters in Arlington, VA on May 23, accept technical
proposals until June 23 and award a contract by September 15.

The agency said it expects to make a single award to SAIC
or a competitor for a base year, plus four optional years.