TSA extends Leidos' airport screening equipment contract

The Transportation Security Agency has issued a potential 16-month, $196.5 million contract extension to Leidos for continued logistics support services to screening equipment at airports around the U.S.

This move to bridge the incumbent contract was not unexpected. In their July 27 earnings call, Leidos executives signaled they had anticipated the extension after TSA terminated a $578 million contract that would have transitioned the work to Peraton.

Leidos protested the award after Peraton first won the contract in October of last year, then withdrew the challenge. TSA then terminated the contract in June of this year and extended Leidos’ incumbent contract.

The contract extension has a one-year base period followed by a four-month option period that would extend work to Nov. 30, 2019. In the earnings call, Leidos CEO Roger Krone said he expects TSA to release a solicitation for the successor contract next year.

"(It's) a program that we care a lot about. We all travel through airports, we're committed to support the TSA customer and to keep the equipment well-maintained and allow us all to travel," Krone said. "We'll likely bid on it, and we'll see where that goes."