Who: Port of Oakland, CalEMA, and law enforcement officials along with STEP Partners
What: Celebration/News Conference of success of STEP – STEP reaches major milestone
When: Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Where: Port of Oakland Customer Service Center - 2475 B West 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 in the former Oakland Army Base area
Why: 5,000 trucks part of new security program

Oakland, CA – October 28, 2010 -- Port of Oakland announced and celebrated the successful implementation of the Secure Truck Enrollment Program also known as STEP, a component of the Port's Comprehensive Truck Management Program (CTMP) at the Port’s Customer Service Center, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. STEP was funded through Proposition 1B, a measure passed by California voters in 2006. The first trucking company signed up for the Port of Oakland truck registry program in spring of 2010.

Regarding this event, Port Executive Director Omar Benjamin said STEP had reached a major milestone, “Since April we have successfully gone from zero to five – thousand! We now have more than 5,000 trucks registered in this system.” Benjamin added, “We have been working on the Port’s five-year Strategic Plan. One of our major strategic priorities is to sustain economic growth at the Port of Oakland. An important element of sustained growth is protecting our people and the critical infrastructure vital to Port business. Today we are celebrating another great step in protecting our port, for the region and our nation.” The more than 5,000 trucks in the registry are all associated with LMC’s (licensed motor carriers/trucking companies) that have signed agreements with the Port of Oakland to be partners in a secure Port. Benjamin stated, “We incorporated feedback from the trucking industry, truckers, terminal operators, port staff, local community members, and state and local law enforcement agencies as we moved forward. STEP needed to be implemented quickly and the success of the program is a testament to everyone’s cooperation and recognition of the importance of the program.”

Port Commissioner Margaret Gordon recognized The California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) for its work managing California’s port security program. CalEMA developed an inclusive and precedent-setting process that allowed California ports to work together to prioritize security projects across the state relative to Prop 1B funding. CalEMA’s port peer review process is considered a model for regional port security. It can serve as a valuable benchmark for other states that wish to work directly and cooperatively with their ports.

Port of Oakland Facilities Security Officer Mike O’Brien said, “The Port’s truck registry is a user-friendly database so that it’s easy for us to find the contact information we need and work collaboratively with local law enforcement if we have a report of suspicious behavior.” O’Brien explained, “We now have a fully-functional and centralized trucker database at the Port of Oakland. This new capability adds another significant layer to both maritime and supply chain security here at our Port.” The Port of Oakland contracted a team led by SAIC, Inc. to implement the Port Registry. The SAIC program manager, Taso Zografos, stated, “SAIC fully supports the Port’s vision and efforts to increase domain awareness as it relates to drayage operations through the deployment of the Secure Truck Enrollment Program (STEP) and the STEP Customer Service Center (CSC). STEP uniquely leverages the latest in available technology and applications, paving the way forward on best practices and raising the bar for National Port Security.”

Alan Osofsky with Rodgers trucking, one of the first LMC’s to enroll in the program said, “All of us at Rodgers Trucking understand the need for increased Port Security and willingly embrace the Port of Oakland’s Secure Truck Enrollment Program or (STEP). We thank the Port of Oakland for taking a leadership position on important programs like STEP. Port security is important to the entire community but especially to trucking companies whose livelihood depends on the uninterrupted flow of trucks into and out of the Port and the Region as a whole.”

The Port’s O’Brien also mentioned other benefits from the Port’s truck registry system, “We can also update the LMC’s on the status of our Port and the surrounding area so that they can make timely dispatching decisions. This results in improving their operations.” O’Brien thanked business and law enforcement focus groups for their invaluable feedback when the system was being designed. He said that this system will be able to integrate with other databases and technologies in the future.

The Port Registry increases Port communication and outreach capabilities to the Port trucking community, keeping them updated on the Port's security initiatives. As part of the CTMP, the Port is increasing its maritime safety and security domain awareness, outreach capabilities, and general knowledge of the trucking entities and trucking operations conducted on Seaport property. To achieve these goals, the Port has implemented the truck registry database and Secure Truck Enrollment Program Agreement (“STEP Agreement”), together known as the “Port Registry”.

System Performance
SAIC implemented the first phase of the security component of the Port’s Comprehensive Truck Management Program (CTMP) which includes the design, development and integration of two separate solutions which are a Port Drayage Truck Registry (DTR) and a Truck Asset Management System (TMS). The DTR is a web-accessible registration system that captures important information about Licensed Motor Carriers, their trucks and drivers to qualify their compliance with the Port security requirements. TMS is an operations data repository and assessment tool that provides visibility to the transit movement of trucks performing drayage operations at the Port of Oakland. It is the combination of registration and in-transit visibility of drayage operations that will deliver improved domain awareness from a safety and security perspective.

SAIC deployed both the DTR and TMS systems within 3 months and also established a new Customer Service Center at a Port of Oakland provided facility within 6 weeks from contract. The Port Registry administers and issues secure truck registration certificates and unique decals for every truck serving the Port. Currently, over 420 Licensed Motor Carriers have enrolled in the STEP program and there are more than 5000 trucks and drivers whose data is being retained in these systems. SAIC also developed web-services and EDI (Electronic Data Interface) interfaces with other Public Agencies and is working closely with the Seaport Facility Operators to help control the terminal access of drayage trucks based on Port STEP compliance. The SAIC solution captures the unique identifier associated with the a specific truck and passes that information on to Facility Operators so they know which trucks are STEP compliant and authorized access to perform drayage operations.

Event speakers included – CalEMA’s Director of the Office of Grants Management Mr. Brendan Murphy; Port Commissioner Margaret Gordon; Port Facilities Security Officer Mr. Michael O’Brien; Mr. Alan Osofsky with Rodgers Trucking; SAIC Senior Program Manager Mr. Taso Zografos; SAIC Deputy Project Manager Mr. Paul Larking.

About the Port of Oakland
The Port of Oakland oversees the Oakland seaport, Oakland International Airport and 20 miles of waterfront. The Oakland seaport is the fifth busiest container port in the U.S.; Oakland International Airport is the second largest San Francisco Bay Area airport, offering over 140 daily flights; and the Port’s real estate includes commercial developments such as Jack London Square and hundreds of acres of public parks and conservation areas. The Port of Oakland was established in 1927 and is an independent department of the City of Oakland. Please visit: www.portofoakland.com.

About SAIC
SAIC is a FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. The company's approximately 45,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets. Headquartered in McLean, Va., SAIC had annual revenues of $10.8 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2010. For more information, visit www.saic.com. SAIC: From Science to Solutions® SAIC Contact: Taso Zografos; SAIC Program Manager; Secure Truck Enrollment Program; 510-267-1801; [email protected]

Media Contacts:

Marilyn Sandifur
Port of Oakland Spokesperson
(510) 627-1193 / cell: (510) 815-2665
Click here to contact Marilyn Sandifur