Airport Screening Costs Are Up, Report Says

Some private companies that screen airline passengers are charging more for their services now that the government is footing the bill, says a federal report that found one company had nearly doubled its rates.

The Transportation Department’s inspector general also found cases in which the companies billed the government for absent employees and work that was never completed. And it found lax oversight by government officials.

Before Sept. 11, private companies had contracts with airlines to screen passengers and their carry-on bags. After the terrorist attacks, Congress created the Transportation Security Administration, which was ordered to take over the contracts, worth $1.6 billion, and to hire a federal work force to assume passenger screening duties in more than 400 airports by Nov. 19.

The Transportation Department said one company raised employee pay from $10 to $14 an hour and nearly doubled overhead rates to $28 when the government started paying the bills in February.

The inspector general’s staff visited six unidentified contractors at two undisclosed airports and found no government supervision while contractor employees arrived late, left early and signed in as though they worked an entire shift.

Kenneth Quinn, an attorney representing several screening companies, said the higher costs are justified. He said security screeners were vastly underpaid before Sept. 11 because of pressure from the airlines to reduce costs.

Quinn also said the government appears to be doing a good job of supervising the companies and their screeners. “From my vantage point, the TSA has provided fairly active oversight,” said Quinn, who cited a confidentiality agreement in declining to identify his clients.

The TSA did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

The government was supposed to negotiate prices and terms with the screening contractors after taking over the contracts six months ago, but hasn’t done so yet, the inspector general said. The TSA instead awarded so-called letter contracts to the companies, which don’t spell out detailed terms.

The agency is in the midst of hiring about 30,000 screeners. Currently, screeners who work for the federal government are on the job in 37 of the 424 airports that will have federal workers.