After terminating its contract with the firm responsible for guarding secure areas of El Paso International Airport following ongoing violations and investigations by federal authorities, the city will hire temporary security companies while a new bid for the work is issued.
The violations involved inattentive guards, personal device use and failure to properly display badges for secure airport access, according to documents obtained by El Paso Matters through the Texas Public Information Act. Records also show guards skipped required TSA screenings, ID checks and aviation worker security screenings.
“The detail of the violations cannot (be shared) because that does expose the airport to the vulnerability and any perceived weaknesses,” Deputy City Manager and City Engineer Yvette Hernandez told El Paso Matters. “What I can say is that the airport followed all policies and procedures with regards to violations, with regards to working closely with TSA and given that there were these recorded notices it was best to terminate the contract.”
The $10 million contract with Maryland-based KR Contracting Inc. was terminated by the City Council on Feb. 3 for non-compliance. The firm had accumulated 28 violations and four Transportation Security Administration letters of investigation in less than 18 months, the documents show. The security firm’s last day is March 19.
KR Contracting did not respond to El Paso Matters’ request for comment.
The city, in the meantime, is preparing a new competitive bid for long-term airport security services, city spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta told El Paso Matters in an emailed statement.
“In the interim, the city will utilize a cooperative contract to ensure security services continue without interruption while the city’s competitive procurement process is completed,” she said.
Hernandez said she’s confident in the procurement process for the next security firm, but acknowledges lessons learned from KR Contracting. It’s not common to terminate city contracts early, she said.
“This was just unfortunate that KR wasn’t able to meet their contract obligations,” Hernandez said.
The firms available through Education Service Center Region 19 Allied States
Cooperative are American Surveillance Co. based in Brownsville, Defenz, Special Systems LLC from McAllen and Mike Garcia Merchant Security LLC of El Paso, records show. A cooperative agreement allows multiple public entities to quickly secure goods and services through pre-screened companies.
KR Contracting was awarded the security bid in 2024 for an initial three-year term for about $6 million with an option to extend for five years, totaling about $10 million, to control access to secure areas of the airport, such as passenger terminals, boarding gates and departure lounges as well as areas used for aircraft operations like taxiways, according to bid documents obtained by El Paso Matters. The security guards were also responsible for screening aviation employees with pat downs, security wanding and biometric hand swabbing to detect and identify trace-level explosives and precursors, including all personal property entering restricted areas.
The monthly cost for security services through the cooperative will be about the same as what KR Contracting was getting paid – about $180,000 per month, Cruz-Acosta said.
The airport paid KR Contracting about $4 million before the contract was terminated, city staff said during the Feb. 3 City Council meeting. Funding from the airport’s operating funds that come from revenues such as airline fees, concessions, parking and other airport-generated sources will be used for the temporary security services which is the same funding used for the previous contract, Cruz-Acosta said.
The airport serves about 4 million passengers annually and operates as a gateway for domestic and international travel, air cargo and regional business development.
Systemic failures lead to contract termination
Five months after KR Contracting began work, the firm began accumulating security violations. The first noted violation was July 2, 2024. In all, 28 violations from the city and four letters of investigation from the TSA were issued from that date through July 17, 2025, documents show.
The city is seeking a Texas Attorney General opinion on whether details of the violations can be withheld from release to El Paso Matters. As part of the open records request the city is withholding documents related to the specifics of the violations, but released other documents including letters from the city to KR Contracting and the company’s corrective action plan.
On Aug. 21, city airport and procurement staff held a meeting with KR Contracting to notify them of the violations, according to an Oct. 15 letter the city sent to the firm. The October correspondence was a formal cure letter that included the list of dates of the violations to the firm, which then had seven city working days to submit a written corrective action plan to address the performance issues.
In its Oct. 24 response, KR Contracting acknowledged the seriousness of the violations and accepted full responsibility. The firm also identified systemic issues that led to the “deficiencies,” according to the corrective action plan sent to the city.
Multiple violations reflected inattentiveness, the use of personal devices at their posts and failure to wear the appropriate security identification display area, or SIDA credentials, KR Contracting said in the response letter to the city. SIDA credentials are specialized badges issued to airport employees, contractors and airline staff that grant unescorted access to secure and high-security areas at airports like tarmacs and baggage areas, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
KR Contracting guards also failed to consistently apply El Paso airport and TSA screenings, ID verification and SIDA access procedures and missed aviation worker screenings, or AWS screenings which are TSA-mandated security checks for airport employees aimed at preventing insider threats, documents show.
The security firm attributed the shortfalls to poor communication between site captains and shift lieutenants. It also cited a lack of qualified leadership in the site captain position, insufficient line-level supervision and lack of structured accountability among the site captain and shift lieutenants.
KR Contracting said there were no civil penalties from the TSA and they took immediate action with the individual guard or guards involved with the TSA warning notices with disciplinary action including terminations.
The post El Paso airport scraps security contractor amid violations, hires temporary guard firm appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More