IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4561 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 10, 2018 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To provide for third party testing of transportation security 

screening technology, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Security Assessment 

3 Feasibility for Equipment Testing and Evaluation of Ca4 pabilities for our Homeland Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE TECH 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra9 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis10 tration. 

11 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis12 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor13 tation Security Administration. 

14 SEC. 3. THIRD PARTY TESTING OF SECURITY SCREENING 

15 TECHNOLOGY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 

18 consultation with the Under Secretary for Science and 

19 Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, 

20 shall develop a program to enable a vendor of transpor21 tation security screening technology to obtain testing, in22 cluding as an alternative to the Administration’s testing 

23 process under paragraph (9) of section 114(f) of title 49, 

24 United States Code, by an appropriate third party, as de25 termined by the Administrator, in consultation with the 


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1 Under Secretary, of such technology before procurement 

2 or development of such technology. 

3 (b) DETECTION TESTING.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The third party testing pro5 gram authorized under subsection (a) shall include 

6 detection testing to evaluate the performance of a 

7 security screening technology relating to the prob8 ability of detection, the probability of false alarm, 

9 and other indicators that such technology is able to 

10 meet the Administration’s mission needs for detec11 tion of— 

12 (A) explosives; and 

13 (B) prohibited items. 

14 (2) COORDINATION WITH FINAL PROCESSES.— 

15 To the extent practicable, and without compromising 

16 the integrity of the Administration’s testing process 

17 under paragraph (9) of section 114(f) of title 49, 

18 United States Code, or the Department of Home19 land Security’s oversight of such testing process, or 

20 increasing costs to the Administration, the Adminis21 trator shall coordinate the third party detection test22 ing under paragraph (1) with any associated subse23 quent final Department of Homeland Security test24 ing. 


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1 (3) INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS.—To the 

2 extent practicable and permissible under law, and in 

3 accordance with national security interests of the 

4 United States, the Administrator shall— 

5 (A) share with appropriate international 

6 partners detection testing information and 

7 standards; and 

8 (B) coordinate with such appropriate inter9 national partners to align such testing informa10 tion and standards to maximize the capability 

11 to detect explosives and other threats. 

12 (c) ALTERNATIVE TESTING FACTORS.—Third party 

13 testing under subsection (a) may include as an alternative, 

14 at the discretion of the Administrator, the testing at the 

15 TSA Systems Integration Facility of the Administration, 

16 including testing for— 

17 (1) health and safety factors; 

18 (2) operator interface; 

19 (3) human factors; 

20 (4) environmental factors; 

21 (5) throughput; 

22 (6) reliability, maintainability, and availability 

23 factors; and 

24 (7) interoperability. 


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1 (d) TESTING FRAMEWORK.—The Administrator, in 

2 consultation with the Under Secretary for Science and 

3 Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, 

4 shall— 

5 (1) establish a framework for the third party 

6 testing under this section to determine if the secu7 rity screening technology that is the subject of such 

8 testing satisfies the Administration’s requirements 

9 before such technology may enter or re-enter, as ap10 plicable, operational testing at an airport or other 

11 transportation facility; and 

12 (2) use phased implementation to allow the Ad13 ministration and the third party concerned to estab14 lish best practices. 

15 (e) PRIORITIZATION OF THIRD PARTY TESTING.— 

16 The Administrator may prioritize, when appropriate, the 

17 field testing of security screening technology and equip18 ment by third parties. 

19 (f) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

20 (1) UNITED STATES OWNERSHIP.—An entity 

21 providing third party testing under the program de22 veloped pursuant to subsection (a) shall be owned 

23 and controlled by a citizen of the United States. 

24 (2) WAIVER.—The Administrator may waive 

25 the requirement specified in paragraph (1) with reVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Jan 11, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4561.RFS H4561

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1 spect to an entity that is a United States subsidiary 

2 of a parent company that has implemented a foreign 

3 ownership, control, or influence mitigation plan that 

4 has been approved by the Defense Security Service 

5 of the Department of Defense prior to seeking to en6 gage in third party testing. The Administrator has 

7 complete discretion to reject any proposal from a 

8 company to provide testing under subsection (a) that 

9 requires a waiver under this paragraph. 

10 (3) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The Adminis11 trator shall ensure, to the extent possible, that an 

12 entity providing third party testing under this sec13 tion does not have a contractual, business, or other 

14 pecuniary interest (exclusive of any such testing) 

15 in— 

16 (A) the security screening technology sub17 ject to such testing; or the 

18 (B) vendor of such technology. 

19 SEC. 4. RECIPROCAL RECOGNITION OF SECURITY STAND20 ARDS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in coordina22 tion with the European Civil Aviation Conference, shall 

23 continue development of a validation process for the recip24 rocal recognition of security validation processes for recVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Jan 11, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4561.RFS H4561

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1 ognition of security screening technologies or certification 

2 authorities for deployment. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENT.—The validation process under 

4 subsection (a) shall ensure that the certification process 

5 of each participating international security partner or rec6 ognized certification authority complies with Administra7 tion standards. 

8 SEC. 5. GAO REVIEW. 

9 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu12 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

13 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

14 a study on the third party testing program developed 

15 under this Act. Such study shall include a review of the 

16 following: 

17 (1) Any efficiencies or gains in effectiveness 

18 achieved in the Administration’s operations as a re19 sult of such program. 

20 (2) The degree to which the Administration 

21 conducts timely and regular oversight of entities en22 gaged in such testing. 

23 (3) The effect of such program on the fol24 lowing: 


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1 (A) The introduction of innovative detec2 tion technologies into security screening oper3 ations. 

4 (B) The availability of testing for tech5 nologies developed by small to medium sized 

6 businesses. 

7 (C) Any vulnerabilities associated with 

8 such program including with respect to the fol9 lowing: 

10 (i) National security. 

11 (ii) Conflicts of interest between enti12 ties carrying out such testing and entities 

13 with such technologies to be tested. 

14 (iii) Waste, fraud, and abuse. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 9, 

2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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