BioWatchDHS cancels acquisition of BioWatch’s Generation 3 technology
Owing to concerns about BioWatcheffectiveness and high cost, DHS has canceled plans to install an automated technology meant to speed the 24-hour operations of the program, the nation’s system for detecting a biological attack.ASeptember 2012 GAO report estimated that annual costs to operate the Generation 3 technology would be “about four times more” than the existing BioWatch system.
Owing to concerns about BioWatch effectiveness and high cost, DHS has canceled plans to install an automated technology meant to speed the 24-hour operations of the program, the nation’s system for detecting a biological attack.
BioWatch is deployed in more than thirty metropolitan areas throughout the country. DHS secretary Jeh Johnson cancelled the Generation 3 acquisition last Thursday, according to a memorandum circulated by Michael Walter, the BioWatch program manager. Initially, DHS told companies interested in supplying the technology that the department would spend $3.1 billion for the system during its first five years of operation.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in his memorandum, Walter said DHS “remains committed to the BioWatch program and the importance of improving our early warning and detection technologies.”
DHS spokesman S. Y. Lee said the cancellation of the automated technology reflects a commitment to “cost-effective acquisition without compromising our security.”
When Generation 3 technology was unveiled, under the George W. Bush administration, DHS officials told Congress that it was a “lab in a box” which could identify biological threats and relay findings electronically, and that it was a worthwhile investment. Automated prototypes for BioWatch were installed in the New York City subway system in 2007 and 2008, followed by a field testing in Chicago in 2011, but the test installations revealed that the system generated multiple false readings and the need for weekly manual servicing.
In February 2007, Jay Cohen, former DHS undersecretary for science and technology, told a House committee that the automated Generation 3 system would be “four times cheaper to operate” than the current manual system. Last August, House members asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the performance of the existing BioWatch system and assess the additional benefits of the proposed Generation 3 technology. The GAO review has not been released, but a September 2012 GAO report estimated that annual costs to operate the Generation 3 technology would be “about four times more” than the existing BioWatch system.
