The Transportation Security Administration is in the market for an agile developer to help enhance its pre-flight watch list checking and identity screening capabilities.
TSA wants to transition its Secure Flight IT system “to an ‘agile’ development environment in the near future,” it said in an updated request for information this week. The agency currently employs a waterfall process to maintain and develop applications for Secure Flight, the identity-matching system it uses to crosscheck passengers with government watch lists for suspected terrorists or other possible threats to aviation prior to their boarding an aircraft.
With emerging and advancing threats to airport and aviation security, TSA identified the imperative to to bring in an “application development team” to move Secure Flight toward a more agile development cycle.
“The Secure Flight system continues to evolve as new functionality is added to the mission, as new technologies and processes are added to enhance the development life cycle, and to support infrastructure needs,” the RFI states. “Secure Flight recognizes the need to continually review and improve existing processes, tools, and infrastructure.”
In particular, TSA is looking for a vendor who can supply IT support services and full-lifecycle project management, lead the transition to agile, drive toward a more automated environment and plan for future enhancements to Secure Flight, which could include artificial intelligence.
TSA’s shortlist of possible improvements includes: “faster development cycles, enhanced name matching, improved reporting and data analytics, automated and consistent system builds (Dev-Ops) and cloud infrastructure.
FedScoop reached out to TSA for comment on the RFI, but the agency didn’t immediately respond.
