Computer-services firm Unisys losing TSA job

Unisys Corp. is losing its job as builder and operator of e-mail, Internet and other communications systems at airports, seaports and other transportation hubs for the federal Transportation Security Administration.

The Blue Bell computer-services company has been doing the work under a three-year 2006 contract worth up to $750 million.

That deal expires at the end of this year. Unisys, which had $5.65 billion in revenue last year, tried to win a new contract, but failed to make it into the second phase of the process.

Unisys, which plans to move its headquarters and 225 management jobs to Center City, said in a statement Monday that it had been meeting the current contract's performance requirements.

"We are surprised and disappointed by the selection committee's decision. We are now reviewing our options," Greg Baroni, president of Unisys Federal Systems, said in the statement.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the TSA, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said yesterday that she "was not at liberty to discuss an ongoing procurement process."

Unisys has been working for TSA since its inception after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and helped the agency open its doors by November 2002.

The company's shares closed down 10 cents, or 2.53 percent, at $3.85 on the New York Stock Exchange.