§563a Acquisition justification and reports

Summary

Before the Administration buys or uses any security technology, the Administrator must decide if the purchase is justified under the Department’s rules. The review must identify what risk scenarios the technology would address and how serious those risks are, check how the purchase fits the Department Plan, compare total life-cycle costs to the expected measurable and non-measurable benefits, look at alternative solutions (including policy or procedure changes), assess privacy and civil liberties impacts and consult privacy advocates when possible, make sure it follows the Department Privacy Officer’s fair information practice principles, confirm there are no significant health or safety risks, and estimate benefits for commercial airline passengers. For any security technology contract over $30,000,000, the Administrator must send the review results and a certification that the benefits justify the cost to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House at least 30 days before the contract award. If there is a known or suspected imminent threat, the Administrator may shorten that period to 5 days and must immediately notify those same committees.