With over 2.1 million TWICs in the field the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched a program to qualify card reader conformance to the TWIC Reader Hardware and Card Application Specification (dated May 2008). Readers determined to be conformant to TSA TWIC Reader requirements will be placed on a Qualified Technology List (QTL) maintained and made available to the public by TSA. QTL qualification requirements vary by reader type and claimed features of the vendor. All functional reader testing for the new QTL program will be performed by a National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) accredited laboratory. Reader conformance with TWIC environmental specifications, such a temperature range, humidity, shock and vibration, will require the vendor to supply to TSA certificates of conformance for all mandatory environmental requirements and any additional environmental qualifications.

For clarification, in order to obtain qualification and listing on the TWIC Reader QTL, all TWIC readers, including readers on the current ICE List, will need to meet all QTL approval requirements. Details and documentation for the QTL testing are included in this section of the TWIC website.