[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
DHS Ending Trucking Security Program
Targets Successor to ATA’s Highway Watch
The Department of 91Ƶland Security has proposed ending funding of a trucking security program, a DHS official said.
“We are eliminating a couple of the programs in the transit security area, specifically the trucking security program,” the official said, according to a transcript of a press conference posted on DHS’ Web site.
“We had a three-year contract with our previous grantee, if you will, so there’s two years left on that period of performance, so there was no need to ask for the $8 million that was from the previous year,” the official said.
Last year, DHS awarded a $15.5 million trucking security grant to an Alexandria, Va., firm, ending American Trucking Associations’ four-year-long Highway Watch program.
The 2008 fiscal year grant was awarded to HMS Company from a field of 11 competitors, according to the Transportation Security Administration, which is part of DHS. It was the first year it was up for competitive bidding.