Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s new robot dogs can listen for movement inside a building, alert agents “to the presence of a subject,” and stretch an arm 5 ½ feet to see over closets and bunk beds, according to the agency’s justification for buying them.
When the agency shopped for robots over the summer, two companies responded. ICE rejected one and bought four robots from the other for $1.3 million, without seeking competing bids, according to documents Straight Arrow reviewed.
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The robots come from RADeCO, a Connecticut company that customizes Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, and each costs about $326,000 fully equipped. According to the documents, they are headed to ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs. Project Salt Box first reported the purchase.
The documents raise questions ICE hasn’t answered, including why an eight-day search turned up only one acceptable company and why the agency needs robots that can detect radiation.
How ICE skipped competition
ICE didn’t open the contract to competitive bidding. Instead, it invoked an exception for purchases in which there is “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”
“It’s supposed to be the exception, not the rule,” said Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project On Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog. “Contracts are supposed to be competed.”
Before choosing RADeCO, ICE posted a “Sources Sought Notice” on SAM.gov, the government’s contracting website, asking companies whether they could meet its needs. The notice ran for eight days, from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4. Two companies responded, RADeCO and GovTRobotics, which offered a standard Boston Dynamics Spot robot. ICE deemed GovTRobotics’ robot “not technically acceptable” and noted the company “is not an authorized reseller of Boston Dynamics supplies.” GovTRobotics couldn’t be reached for comment.
Amey said ICE appeared to have “jumped through all the appropriate hoops” to justify the sole-source award, but he questioned the timeline.
“I don’t know what the urgency was here to do something so quickly,” he told Straight Arrow. “I would have liked this to stay open for a little longer, and maybe see if other vendors were willing to step forward.”
The document’s section listing companies that expressed interest in writing says no others did, though it describes GovTRobotics’ submission elsewhere. Amey said he’d give ICE “the benefit of the doubt” that the section meant no companies beyond the two, but added, “I probably would have listed the two.”
ICE is not alone in relying on the exception. Amey said the purchase fits a broader pattern at the DHS, which he said “has used the exception to the competition rule a lot in the last two years,” which can cost taxpayers.
“We don’t always get the best products and services at the best prices, which is wasteful spending,” he said.
Why ICE says it needs robot dogs
DHS said in an August procurement notice that the robots would improve officer safety and help the agency respond to incidents “involving dangerous, confined, unstable, or difficult-to-access areas.”
ICE’s justification for the purchase paints a broader picture. It notes that ICE officers transport detainees and “respond to civil disturbances around detention facilities” and says robots like these are used to “gather real-time intelligence, and perform semi-autonomous patrols.” It lists “immigration enforcement, detention, and investigative missions” among their uses.
A Boston Dynamics spokesperson said “any suggestion that these robots will be used to support immigrant detentions or deportations is false,” adding that ICE told the company the justification’s language on detention is “standard boilerplate contracting language included in all justification documents.”
ICE’s justification ties the purchase to its work against cross-border smuggling tunnels, saying the robots will detect “radiation, toxic gas leaks, and explosive threats” and check whether air is breathable in confined spaces “such as tunnels.” Boston Dynamics said the robots will carry sensors that detect chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive hazards. The justification doesn’t explain why ICE needs radiation detection, a job that has mainly fallen to Customs and Border Protection, according to Project Salt Box.
Amey said it’s too early to know whether the robots will deliver.
“Are they truly, as they put in the justification, going to make things safer?” he asked. “We’ll have to wait and see how they’re utilized, how well they function.”
What’s still unanswered
In a statement to Straight Arrow, an ICE spokesperson said the technology “does not replace law enforcement officers or their judgment” and “simply provides another option to help protect officers and the communities they serve.” ICE didn’t respond to follow-up questions, including whether the robots will be used during arrests.
Boston Dynamics said its terms prohibit customers from weaponizing its robots or using them “for purposes of harm or intimidation.” The company said the guardrails in those terms “still remain in place even when the sale involves a partner” like RADeCO, which it said makes the robots’ hazard-detection sensors.
Amey said the purchase comes down to two questions he asks about every government contract.
“What are we buying, and how are we buying it?” he said.
