Bills Target Federal Protective Service Legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress to beef up the Federal Protective Service’s management of security at federal buildings. The bills call for studies to determine whether contract security guards should be replaced by federal employees. Last year undercover investigators from the Government Accountability Office smuggled bomb-making materials into 10 federal facilities. In 35 of 53 undercover tests conducted by FPS, guards failed to spot guns, knives and fake bombs, according to a GAO report last spring. Some of the guards had not been trained to operate the metal detectors and x-ray machines at their posts. The House bill is sponsored by Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-TX, and Bennie Thompson, D-MS, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. "Many of us believe that it may be time to un-privatize the contractors of the Federal Protective Service or at least put in higher requirements," Jackson Lee said. Bipartisan leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have proposed separate legislation. “FPS is essentially a dysfunctional agency whose mission is in grave peril,” said committee chairman Joe Lieberman, Ind.-CT. Both bills would set tougher training standards for contract guards and authorize FPS to hire at least 500 more employees to supervise the guards. FPS now has about 1,200 people overseeing 15,000 guards in 9,000 federal buildings. With Congress rushing to adjourn for the year, the prospects for passage of the bills is dim. Jackson Lee said she hopes to attach her proposal to the appropriations bill for the Homeland Security Department, FPS’s parent.