Aviation Security Technology: TSA Lacks Outcome-oriented Performance Measures and Data to Help Reach Objectives to Diversify its Marketplace
Fast Facts
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.
Highlights
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) |
In March 2023, TSA provided its Innovation Doctrine and details on how it developed its Innovation Pipeline, which is TSA's framework for connecting innovation activities into an accountable and evidence-based system. TSA described how the Innovation Pipeline links to the strategic initiatives in diversifying its marketplace we reviewed and demonstrated how specific outcome-oriented metrics for the Pipeline align with the initiatives. Specifically, TSA identified metrics to support diversification in each of the Pipeline's five phases that follow the acquisitions lifecycle. To track these metrics, TSA plans to establish quarterly data calls in which respective program offices can help address diversification, which will allow TSA to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives and the Innovation Pipeline in diversifying its marketplace as well as help identify areas that need to be addressed. We consider this recommendation closed as implemented.
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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) |
In March 2023, TSA provided its Innovation Doctrine and details on how it developed its Innovation Pipeline, which is TSA's framework for connecting innovation activities into an accountable and evidence-based system. TSA described how the Innovation Pipeline links to the strategic initiatives we reviewed and described specific data that it is collecting across the five acquisition phases of the Pipeline and how they align with the initiatives. Further, TSA noted that this effort was led by its office of Strategy, Policy, and Innovation, along with Acquisitions Program Management, and Contracting and Procurement to ensure that data was being collected from relevant phases through a repeatable process and monitored. TSA plans to conduct quarterly data calls in which observations based on these data can be discussed among the respective program offices to address problems affecting the diversification of TSA's marketplace that will help TSA determine how, where, and when in the five phases of the Pipeline to better target its efforts. This recommendation is closed as implemented.
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