CBP's SBI Program Mulls Additional Purchases Of Mobile Surveillance Systems.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is conducting market research of mobile tower systems that would be equipped with cameras and possibly radars for a potential follow-on purchase to existing Mobile Surveillance Systems (MSS) for deployments along the country's northern and southwest borders, according to the director of the agency's Secure Border Initiative (SBI) program.

The agency released a Request for Information (RFI) in early July for mobile surveillance platforms that are available commercially or through the government. The RFI will allow CBP to do a "kind of cost versus capability trade," Borkowski tells TR2. "Can I get 90 percent of the capability I'm interested in at 50 percent of the cost?"

Borkowski says he expects there will be more MMS or MMS-like procurements "but that's going to be advised by this process we're going through." The SBI program received $100 million in stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Border Patrol has asked that $15 million be set aside for MSS purchases "or something like them," he says.

The agency …