TSA cancelled the Gold+ solicitation on August 27, 2026 and stated that no award would be made. For six weeks the agency published nothing describing what replaces it.
On October 6, speaking at an Airports Council International North America conference in Arlington, the Administrator described it. Federal News Network reported his remarks the same day.
He said he decided to sunset the Gold+ initiative, but not the desire to increase membership in the Screening Partnership Program. The reason he gave for ending Gold+ was confusion. The concept, he said, was confusing to people in terms of what it was, what the solution was, and what the carrot was.
Then he explained what the successor adds.
What Was Missing
The Screening Partnership Program is voluntary. Under 49 U.S.C. 44920 an airport applies, TSA approves or denies, and TSA runs the procurement. Nothing happens unless the airport asks. The Administrator put it plainly at the end of his answer: it is up to the airports, not TSA.
So the program has always needed a reason for an airport to ask.
Asked what his vision for the evolved program is, he described what Gold+ had lacked:
That is an accurate description of what plain Screening Partnership Program participation changes. The officers at the checkpoint stop being federal employees and become employees of a contractor. Pay and benefits are governed by a compensation floor. The equipment belongs to TSA. The standards belong to TSA. The oversight belongs to TSA. From an airport's side, the change is almost entirely a change of employer.
What the Successor Offers Instead
The answer he gave is checkpoint technology, and not only at the lanes where modernization is already planned. He described tying the Screening Partnership Program to the modernization of the checkpoints, not just the PreCheck checkpoints but the standard lane checkpoints, where TSA could provide a carrot, an incentive, that airports would want.
PreCheck lanes are a minority of any checkpoint. Standard lanes are the rest of it.
There is a second part of the offer, and it is not about equipment at all. Describing what happens when modernized PreCheck lanes run at twice the current throughput, he raised the prospect of taking away lanes, consolidating standard lanes, and potentially consolidating PreCheck lanes as well. The fewer checkpoints an airport needs, he told the audience, gives them some real estate back.
So the proposition now has two components. Enroll and get the modernized checkpoint. Enroll and need less of the terminal for screening.
What the Technology Does to the Workforce
This is where the two halves meet, and both are documented.
At the same event the Administrator said the newer technology will require fewer staff, that TSA will reduce positions through attrition rather than layoffs, and that there will be fewer positions at PreCheck checkpoints. He put attrition at 15 to 20 percent and higher among newer hires. The agency is modeling a three year payback on a $4 million modernized lane set, with new lanes rolling out at seven airports over the next six weeks.
TSA has made the same case to Congress in writing. The FY2027 budget justification proposes eliminating 2,462 Transportation Security Officer positions and 4,351 officer full-time equivalents, and justifies it in one sentence: "Advances in screening technology and process improvements have enabled TSA to maintain security standards with a smaller workforce."
The Capital Investment Plan for FY2026 through FY2030 states that with remote screening and Image on Alarm Only implemented, the agency anticipates up to a 54 percent increase in checkpoint throughput, and that TSA is exploring capability for equipment to both identify and analyze alarmed material with no additional procedures or equipment needed to clear the alarm.
The Vehicle Is Already There
The same FY2027 request proposes privatizing all category III and IV airports, accounting for 4,528 positions and 4,528 full-time equivalents, increasing Screening Partnership Program funding by $477.3 million against a $529.3 million reduction in officer compensation and benefits. Program funding would rise from $286.3 million to $805.4 million.
The contract vehicle was awarded on May 29, 2026 in twenty-one delivery orders, with a ceiling of $5.3 billion and a ten year ordering period. TSA did not publicize the award. Amendment 00007, filed in March 2026, deleted FAR 52.222-17, Non-Displacement of Qualified Workers, from the solicitation.
That solicitation states that TSA cannot anticipate how many incumbent screening staff will be available or willing to transition, that the contractor bears the risk of obtaining sufficient certified staff by the end of transition, and that the contractor's transition plan must include a mitigation strategy for understaffing at cutover.
Compensation is set as a minimum hourly rate combining wages and benefits, established at the task order level. In American Eagle Protection Services Corporation, B-422346, the Government Accountability Office agreed with TSA that the statute requires a single minimum level rather than a match of each officer's accrued compensation.
For the award itself and the clause that came out, see The Contract That Replaces Gold+ Was Awarded in May.
What This Means for an Airport, and for an Officer
For an airport weighing the question, the proposition is clearer than it was under Gold+. Modernized lanes, extended to the standard checkpoint, and floor space returned.
For an officer, the two things being bundled are the thing that changes who signs the paycheck and the thing TSA has told Congress requires fewer people.
All three airports selected for Gold+ declined. Tampa announced on August 25 that it would continue with federal officers. Des Moines withdrew on August 26. Charleston's chief executive said on September 17 that the airport will not go private.
Those decisions were made against the Gold+ proposition. The proposition has changed.
What Is Still Unknown
No document defining the evolved Screening Partnership Program has been published. The Administrator said the Horizon 25 strategy will launch in November, on TSA's 25th anniversary, drawing on twelve internal working teams that completed initial sprints.
What is not known is whether the technology incentive will be written into a task order, an application process, or a policy statement, and what an airport would be required to accept in exchange.
Against Giants has asked TSA those questions and will report the answers.
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