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Union Calendar No. 371 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4561 

[Report No. 115–498] 

To provide for third party testing of transportation security screening 

technology, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 6, 2017 

Mr. BILIRAKIS (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. KATKO, and Mr. DUNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

JANUARY 9, 2018 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 6, 2017] 


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A BILL 

To provide for third party testing of transportation security 

screening technology, and for other purposes. 


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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Feasibility for Equipment Testing and Evaluation of Capa6 bilities for our Homeland Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE TECH Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra10 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Administra11 tion. 

12 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis13 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor14 tation Security Administration. 

15 SEC. 3. THIRD PARTY TESTING OF SECURITY SCREENING 

16 TECHNOLOGY. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in con19 sultation with the Under Secretary for Science and Tech20 nology of the Department of Homeland Security, shall de21 velop a program to enable a vendor of transportation secu22 rity screening technology to obtain testing, including as an 

23 alternative to the Administration’s testing process under 

24 paragraph (9) of section 114(f) of title 49, United States 

25 Code, by an appropriate third party, as determined by the 


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1 Administrator, in consultation with the Under Secretary, 

2 of such technology before procurement or development of 

3 such technology. 

4 (b) DETECTION TESTING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The third party testing pro6 gram authorized under subsection (a) shall include 

7 detection testing to evaluate the performance of a se8 curity screening technology relating to the probability 

9 of detection, the probability of false alarm, and other 

10 indicators that such technology is able to meet the Ad11 ministration’s mission needs for detection of— 

12 (A) explosives; and 

13 (B) prohibited items. 

14 (2) COORDINATION WITH FINAL PROCESSES.—To 

15 the extent practicable, and without compromising the 

16 integrity of the Administration’s testing process under 

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

18 States Code, or the Department of Homeland Secu19 rity’s oversight of such testing process, or increasing 

20 costs to the Administration, the Administrator shall 

21 coordinate the third party detection testing under 

22 paragraph (1) with any associated subsequent final 

23 Department of Homeland Security testing. 

24 (3) INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS.—To the ex25 tent practicable and permissible under law, and in 


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1 accordance with national security interests of the 

2 United States, the Administrator shall— 

3 (A) share with appropriate international 

4 partners detection testing information and 

5 standards; and 

6 (B) coordinate with such appropriate inter7 national partners to align such testing informa8 tion and standards to maximize the capability to 

9 detect explosives and other threats. 

10 (c) ALTERNATIVE TESTING FACTORS.—Third party 

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

12 at the discretion of the Administrator, the testing at the 

13 TSA Systems Integration Facility of the Administration, 

14 including testing for— 

15 (1) health and safety factors; 

16 (2) operator interface; 

17 (3) human factors; 

18 (4) environmental factors; 

19 (5) throughput; 

20 (6) reliability, maintainability, and availability 

21 factors; and 

22 (7) interoperability. 

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

24 consultation with the Under Secretary for Science and 


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1 Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, 

2 shall— 

3 (1) establish a framework for the third party 

4 testing under this section to determine if the security 

5 screening technology that is the subject of such testing 

6 satisfies the Administration’s requirements before such 

7 technology may enter or re-enter, as applicable, oper8 ational testing at an airport or other transportation 

9 facility; and 

10 (2) use phased implementation to allow the Ad11 ministration and the third party concerned to estab12 lish best practices. 

13 (e) PRIORITIZATION OF THIRD PARTY TESTING.—The 

14 Administrator may prioritize, when appropriate, the field 

15 testing of security screening technology and equipment by 

16 third parties. 

17 (f) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

18 (1) UNITED STATES OWNERSHIP.—An entity 

19 providing third party testing under the program de20 veloped pursuant to subsection (a) shall be owned and 

21 controlled by a citizen of the United States. 

22 (2) WAIVER.—The Administrator may waive the 

23 requirement specified in paragraph (1) with respect 

24 to an entity that is a United States subsidiary of a 

25 parent company that has implemented a foreign ownVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:01 Jan 10, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4561.RH H4561

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1 ership, control, or influence mitigation plan that has 

2 been approved by the Defense Security Service of the 

3 Department of Defense prior to seeking to engage in 

4 third party testing. The Administrator has complete 

5 discretion to reject any proposal from a company to 

6 provide testing under subsection (a) that requires a 

7 waiver under this paragraph. 

8 (3) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The Adminis9 trator shall ensure, to the extent possible, that an en10 tity providing third party testing under this section 

11 does not have a contractual, business, or other pecu12 niary interest (exclusive of any such testing) in— 

13 (A) the security screening technology subject 

14 to such testing; or the 

15 (B) vendor of such technology. 

16 SEC. 4. RECIPROCAL RECOGNITION OF SECURITY STAND17 ARDS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in coordination 

19 with the European Civil Aviation Conference, shall con20 tinue development of a validation process for the reciprocal 

21 recognition of security validation processes for recognition 

22 of security screening technologies or certification authorities 

23 for deployment. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENT.—The validation process under 

25 subsection (a) shall ensure that the certification process of 


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1 each participating international security partner or recog2 nized certification authority complies with Administration 

3 standards. 

4 SEC. 5. GAO REVIEW. 

5 Not later than two years after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 

8 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com9 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a study 

10 on the third party testing program developed under this 

11 Act. Such study shall include a review of the following: 

12 (1) Any efficiencies or gains in effectiveness 

13 achieved in the Administration’s operations as a re14 sult of such program. 

15 (2) The degree to which the Administration con16 ducts timely and regular oversight of entities engaged 

17 in such testing. 

18 (3) The effect of such program on the following: 

19 (A) The introduction of innovative detection 

20 technologies into security screening operations. 

21 (B) The availability of testing for tech22 nologies developed by small to medium sized 

23 businesses. 

24 (C) Any vulnerabilities associated with such 

25 program including with respect to the following: 


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1 (i) National security. 

2 (ii) Conflicts of interest between enti3 ties carrying out such testing and entities 

4 with such technologies to be tested. 

5 (iii) Waste, fraud and abuse. 


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Union Calendar No. 371 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4561 

[Report No. 115–498] 

A BILL 

To provide for third party testing of transportation 

poses. security screening technology, and for other purJANUARY 9, 2018 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS