The Transportation Security Administration’s $23 million pilot test of Transportation Worker Identification Credential biometric card readers at 17 sites failed to prove that the technology actually works as intended, according to a new government report.

Some truck drivers and port workers say they have experienced long delays in receiving three-year extensions to their Transportation Worker Identification Credential that grants them unescorted access to U.S. ports.

Truckers and maritime workers soon will be allowed to extend their expiring Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards by three years at a reduced price because federal officials are facing delays in deploying biometric card readers.

Facing long delays in deploying Transportation Worker Identification Credential biometric card readers at U.S. ports, federal officials will soon allow transportation workers to extend their expiring TWIC cards for three years at half the normal enrollment cost.

A new congressional report charged that transportation workers with criminal records have been issued Transportation Worker Identification Credentials because federal officials are being denied full access to the FBI’s criminal history database.

Transportation workers with potentially disqualifying criminal records are being issued Transportation Worker Identification Credentials in some cases because Transportation Security Administration officials are not permitted full access to information contained in FBI criminal databases, according to a new report by congressional investigators.

The federal government will replace thousands of Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards that were improperly encoded and do not work with card readers, the Transportation Safety Administration said.