Federal Protective Service Police officer John Childs III and his bomb dog Miracle pace in front of the Federal Courthouse

Federal Protective Service contract guards failed to detect guns, knives and other prohibited items brought into federal agencies more than half of the time during covert tests conducted last year by the agency, the Government Accountability Office will reveal in a report tomorrow.

In addition, many FPS contractor guards stationed at federal buildings continue to lack proper training and certification requirements, a problem cited last year in a previous GAO report. The agency still has not taken disciplinary actions against companies who employ those guards for noncompliance. In fact, the agency extended contracts for the seven companies surveyed by GAO, even though none of them was in compliance with training and certification requirements, GAO said in its new report, obtained by Federal Times.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the new report shows FPS continues to face widespread problems with its contractor workforce.

"While it has taken some steps forward in recent months, the Federal Protective Service continues to be an agency in crisis," Lieberman said.

The newest GAO report follows on a series of eye-opening reports GAO issued in the past year detailing security lapses and other shortcomings by the contract guards. In July, for instance, GAO reported that its undercover investigators were able to smuggle bomb-making components into 10 high-security federal buildings.

Since that July report, FPS has conducted 53 covert tests in the same regions GAO visited. The guards identified guns, knives and fake bombs in 18 tests, but failed to identify the items in 35 tests, GAO said in the new report.

GAO accompanied FPS on tests at two large facilities, each employing more than 450 federal employees. Such buildings should have the second-highest security level.

At the first facility, FPS agents failed to detect a fake gun and knife placed in a bag on an X-ray machine, and the undercover official was able to retrieve his bag and proceed to the check-in desk without incident. In another test at the same facility, a knife was hidden on an undercover FPS officer. During this test, the magnetometer detected the knife, as did the hand wand, but the guard failed to locate the knife and the FPS officer was able to gain access to the facility with the knife.

At another location, a guard failed to detect a fake bomb placed inside a bag as it moved through the X-ray machine, and the inspector was able to enter the facility with the bag. In a second test, a guard identified a gun that went through the X-ray machine. But as the inspector was being detained, a second inspector walked through the security checkpoint with two knives without being screened.

The House Homeland Security Committee, which requested the GAO report jointly with the Senate committee, will hold a hearing Wednesday morning on FPS and its increasing reliance on contract guards.



FPS is charged with protecting employees and visitors at roughly 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, yet the agency largely relies on contract security guards to get the job done. There are 15,000 contract guards stationed at federal buildings, compared to just 1,225 FPS officers, investigators and administrative staff.

Guy James, president of the Federal Contract Guards of America FCGOA, said until we address the lack of funding, understaffing problems certification requirements, and the failure to set a uniformed higher level of training requirements for both federal protective service contract companies and guards, which we refer to as security police professionals you will continue to see guns, knives, fake bombs and other prohibited items brought into federal buildings undetected.



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