Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with the TSA along with the accompanying Statement of Joint Objectives (SOJO) required to receive the associated reimbursement funds for Airport Police services.
 

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) were put in place to protect America's homeland.  Since the terrorist attack involved aviation, a significant effort was put toward safe air travel and the screening of passengers.  Because the TSA does not have law enforcement powers, they depend on the Airport's law enforcement officers (LEO) to handle any criminal issues that arise.  The TSA subsequently implemented numerous requirements on the country's airports, including the requirement to have LEO presence at the checkpoint during screening operations, both as a show of force and to respond quickly if needed.  Because this resulted in a significant burden for airports across the country, the LEO Reimbursement Program was initiated.

Since 2002, the City has participated in Reimbursement Agreements with the TSA to partially reimburse the Aviation and Transit Department for the labor costs associated with providing LEO coverage at the TSA's security screening area.  The partial reimbursement is based on the fully burdened labor costs, which includes base salary, social security, 457 plans, health, life, and disability insurance costs, as well as retirement costs up to a maximum of $20 per hour, for the 16 hours per day the TSA screening area is open. The current Agreement expired on December 31, 2018 and was extended numerous times by the TSA for incremental periods to now end on December 31, 2020.  The extensions allowed the TSA additional time to evaluate new applications from interested participants.  To participate in this next program, airports were once again required to apply via a Federal application process.  On November 5, 2019, Billings Logan International Airport submitted an application for participation in the next LEO reimbursement program and only recently received notification of the pending Assistance Award.  The program period for the new Agreement consists of a 12-month base funding period, which begins around January 1, 2021.  The Agreement also includes two 12-month option periods, for a possible term of three years. The options are to be exercised at the discretion of the TSA.  TSA intends to provide additional funding for the option periods on an annual basis, subject to the availability of Federal funds.
 

City Council may:

• Approve the OTA with the TSA, along with the accompanying SOJO for the associated reimbursement funds, to receive a partial reimbursement for the City's fully burdened labor costs to provide law enforcement support for TSA's passenger checkpoint and screening area; or
• Disapprove the OTA with the TSA, along with the accompanying SOJO and forgo the associated reimbursement funds. If this option is chosen, TSA regulations still require the Airport to provide the law enforcement support, but the Airport would not receive any reimbursement for the costs to provide the required law enforcement support for the security screening area.

Under the terms of the OTA, the City will be authorized to receive partial reimbursement of the Airport's LEO's actual wage and benefit costs for the time the officers spend at the screening and checkpoint areas and on other TSA mandated activities.  Approximately 35% of the officers' time is spent on these functions. The Airport estimates the first year's fully burdened costs at $243,060.80.  With approval of the OTA and accompanying SOJO, the TSA would agree to reimburse the City up to a maximum of $20.00/hour for the 16 hours/day of officer coverage at the screening and checkpoint areas, for a total of $116,800/year. Funding for subsequent years of the OTA period is at the option of the TSA and subject to the availability of Federal funds.  If all three years of the OTA were funded at the same rate, the TSA would reimburse the City a total of $350,400.