As part of a compromise under the ATSA (the law that congress passed that created TSA and all the deadlines that went with it) there were a small number of airports (five I think) that were to remain privately run, but with close TSA scrutiny (there is still TSA Federal Security Directors at the airports and a support staff). They are required to have as much training as the current TSA screeners and go through recurrent training and be regularly tested and evaluated. They are also paid for by the federal government based on their performance with required SOP's. It won't be the lowest bidder system as it was previously. After two year the two programs will be evaluated against each other to measure their performance. Republicans think the private industry can do better, Democrats think that the federal government will do better. Some of the airports that are private include Jackson Hole, Kansas City, I think SFO also (there may be more than 5 but for some reason that number sticks in my head).