DHS taps Kroll for background investigation work

The Transportation Security Administration has awarded a contract to Kroll Government Services Inc. to perform preliminary background investigations of TSA screeners and other employees, the company announced today.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract is for one year, with four one-year options. It is potentially worth $17.2 million.

Kroll Government Services, a subsidiary of the risk consulting firm Kroll Inc. of New York, has done background checks for TSA airport personnel since 2003, when Congress made the checks mandatory.

Under the new contract, Kroll will provide first-phase checks on all screeners, headquarters staff, Federal Security Directors and their staffs, Federal Flight Decks Officers and other aviation industry employees, such as charter flight crews.

These include a credit check, criminal history check and a name check against terrorism databases. Screeners also must clear a second round of checks by the Office of Personnel Management.

Kroll also works with OPM and with Customs & Border Protection to examine job candidates' employment history, law enforcement and military experience, educational history, citizenship status, court and civil records and to perform job interviews.

Kroll is an operating unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., a global professional services firm in New York. Kroll has more than 2,400 employees and annual sales of $485.5 million, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.