Sec. 221. Third party canines
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Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, to increase the supply of canine teams for use by the TSA and aviation stakeholders, the Administrator shall develop and issue standards that a third party explosives detection canine team must satisfy to be certified for the screening of individuals and property, including detection of explosive vapors among individuals and articles of property, in public areas of an airport under section 44901 of title 49, United States Code.
Subject to subsections (c), (d), and (e), not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall enter into an agreement with at least 1 third party entity to test and certify the capabilities of canine teams in accordance with the standards under subsection (a). In entering into an agreement under subsection (b), the Secretary shall use— the other transaction authority under section 114(m) of title 49, United States Code; or such other authority of the Secretary as the Secretary considers appropriate to expedite the deployment of additional canine teams.
Before entering into an agreement under subsection (b), the Administrator shall— evaluate and verify a third party entity’s ability to effectively evaluate the capabilities of canine teams; designate at least 3 evaluation centers to which vendors may send canine teams for testing and certification by the third party entity; and periodically assess the program at evaluation centers to ensure the proficiency of the canine team beyond the initial testing and certification by the third party entity.
To determine best practices for the use of third party entities to test and certify the capabilities of canine teams, the Administrator shall consult with the following entities before entering into an agreement under subsection (b): The Secretary of State. Non-profit organizations that train, certify, and provide the services of canines for various purposes. The Administrator shall establish a process to ensure appropriate oversight of the certification program and compliance with the standards under subsection (a), including periodic audits of participating third party entities.
The Administrator shall develop and implement a process for the TSA to procure third party explosives detection canine teams certified under this section. The Administrator shall authorize an aviation stakeholder, under the oversight of and in coordination with the Federal Security Director at an applicable airport, to contract with, procure or purchase, and deploy one or more third party explosives detection canine teams certified under this section to augment public area security at that airport.
Notwithstanding any law to the contrary and subject to the other provisions of this paragraph, an applicable large hub airport may provide a certified canine contracted with, or procured or purchased under subparagraph
(A)on an in-kind basis to the TSA to be deployed as a passenger screening canine at that airport unless the applicable large hub airport consents to the use of that certified canine elsewhere. Not later than 30 days before an applicable large hub airport begins training a canine under subparagraph (B), the airport shall notify the TSA of such training and the Administrator shall assign a TSA canine handler to participate in the training with that canine, as appropriate. The Administrator may not reduce the staffing allocation model for an applicable large hub airport based on that airport's participation in canine testing and certification under this paragraph. In this section: The term applicable large hub airport means a large hub airport (as defined in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code) that has less than 100 percent of the allocated passenger screening canine teams staffed by the TSA. The term aviation stakeholder includes an airport, airport operator, and air carrier.