TWIC enrollment faces another delay
The program manager for the biometric maritime worker identification card suggested Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security would miss a July 1 legislative deadline to implement the first phase of the program by enrolling workers at the 10 highest risk ports.
Under pressure from Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., about multiple delays over several years to field the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, the Transportation Security Administration’s Maurine Fanguy would not commit to meeting the summer deadline contained in last year’s SAFE Port Act, and was unable to name any of the ports other than Wilmington, Del., for the initial rollout of the program.
TSA “is trying to move out as aggressively as possible. but we want to focus on program integrity,” Fanguy testified at a House Homeland Security Border, Maritime and Global Terrorism Subcommittee hearing. The primary goal is to make sure that the communications network between agencies providing background check information on workers functions well, and that TWIC enrollment and card distribution can be done without disrupting port operations, she said.
Security threat assessments of workers will be based on a check of terrorist watch lists, criminal history and immigration status.
The TSA had planned to begin enrolling workers in Wilmington during late March, but delayed the process because of unspecified technical difficulties.
About 770,000 individuals at more than 3,200 facilities across the country will eventually be issued TWIC cards that use digital photographs and fingerprint identification embedded in a smart chip to verify the card holder as authorized for unescorted access to secure areas of a port. The rule covers longshoremen, truck drivers, railroad workers, port employees and others who have regular business in port facilities. Cards are designed to be tamperproof.
TSA has hired Lockheed Martin to handle the enrollment process. The agency recently published a list of 130 enrollment sites where maritime industry workers can go to provide personal information, submit fingerprints and have their photograph taken. Some sites will be mobile enrollment stations. But Fanguy repeatedly declined to list the first 10 ports that will begin enrollment, saying TSA is still deciding the final deployment plan. TSA plans to field test the process in Wilmington before expanding to the other ports, she said. The next group of ports to undergo enrollment will be selected based on size and other factors.
“We want to frontload the most critical ports,” Fanguy said, but added that may not include all the largest ports because of concern that any glitches in the worker clearance process could negatively impact port operations.
The inability to launch enrollment at more locations indicates TSA “is not confident enough in its test to roll out” the program, said Rep. Mark Soudar, R-Ind.
Fanguy said that a protest by Integrated Biometric Technology, Stamford, Conn., over the $70 million phase one award to Lockheed Martin has been resolved by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition, and will not cause any program delays. One of the reasons Lockheed Martin was selected was because it had the scale to offer many enrollment locations for the convenience of workers, and had the flexibility to add more locations as needed, she said.
The TWIC card will cost workers $137.25, but workers who already undergo background checks to acquire merchant mariner documents, hazardous material endorsements for their commercial truck drivers’ license or cross-border FAST certification, will receive a $36 discount.
Leal Sundet, representing the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said workers should not be required to bear the burden of the TWIC card. He urged the subcommittee to reevaluate the fee and consider legislation obligating the employer to pay the fee if the government won’t do so.
Negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association to get terminal operators to pay the fee have not been successful, he said.
“For some workers at our nation’s ports, the cost of the TWIC card is a day’s pay,” Sundet said. Those types of pay levels, however, are normally associated with independent truckers, not longshoremen. The ILWU does not represent truckers.
The Coast Guard is in the process of completing a companion rule that would consolidate existing mariner credentials and streamline the application process for mariners who have already applied for the TWIC.
Problems with card reader technology led the department to split the rulemaking into two parts, beginning with enrollment of workers. A second rulemaking on installing readers that can automatically read the ID cards is expected after testing of the technology in the marine environment is completed. The split process was an attempt to placate an angry Congress about the delays and get the program going in some form.