Only two of 22 major acquisition programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are meeting their initial targets for cost and schedule estimates, one a program for buying explosives detection systems to screen checked bags at airports and the other an electronic portal to facilitate the importing and exporting of trade goods, a congressional audit agency says in a new report.
Of the 22 programs, six don’t have a DHS-approved baseline, making it impossible to determine whether they are on track with regards to cost and schedule, and seven other programs are experience both cost and schedule slips, says the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report, Major Program Assessments Reveal Actions Needed To Improve Accountability (GAO-15-17SP).
The lack of approved baselines means “accountability is obscured,” making it impossible for overseers to “know if the program is performing as intended,” Michele Makin, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management at GAO, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency on Wednesday. This issue has been highlighted previously, she said.
Makin also said that of the 14 programs that are either delayed or over cost, or both, schedule delays on average of 3.5 years and a total of $9.7 billion over cost estimates.
The main reasons in general for the delays and cost overruns are challenges in meeting requirements, funding gaps between what a program receives and what it expects to receive, capability add-ons after a program has begun, and unsound schedule or cost estimates to begin with, Makin said.
The policies guiding DHS acquisition, codified in the management directive 102-01 are sound, Makin said, but adhering to them continues to be a problem.
The two programs on cost and schedule are the Transportation’s Electronic Baggage Screening Program and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Automated Commercial Environment. The six programs lacking approved baselines are CBP’s Land Border Integration, the Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems, which are for cargo scanning, the Strategic Air and Marine Program, and the Tactical Communications Modernization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Logistics Supply Chain Management System, and the Coast Guard’s Medium Range Surveillance Aircraft.
The six programs that hare behind on schedule and cost include CBP’s TECS Modernization, the National Protection and Programs Directorate’s National Cybersecurity Protection System, also called Einstein, and its Next Generation Network-Priority Service, the Coast Guard’s HH-65 helicopter conversion and sustainment projects, HC-130H/J long-range surveillance aircraft, and the National Security Cutter, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Transformation program.
CBP’s program to install electronic surveillance towers along portions of the Southwest Border, the Integrated Fixed Tower system, is 21 months behind schedule but Chip Fulghum, the acting Under Secretary for Management at DHS, said the program is moving forward following the GAO’s rejection of a protest by the losing bidder last year. GAO also says the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter, Fast Response Cutter and C4ISR programs are behind schedule as is TSA’s Passenger Screening Program.
Fulghum said that following DHS Secretary Johnson’s Unity of Effort initiative launched one year ago the department has take steps to correct its management and acquisition oversight deficiencies. He said that Johnson on Wednesday afternoon was expected to provide an update to the Unity of Effort initiative that would direct him to begin a new effort called Acquisitions Innovation in Motion (AIM).
“AIM is simply a set of ongoing and reoccurring activities designed to enhance how the department does business and its continued improvement of our acquisition process and industry engagement to maximize our capability to deliver and procure the best solutions possible,” Fulghum said.
Fulghum also said that Johnson’s reinstitution of the department-wide Joint Requirements Council (JRC) last June shows “good progress addressing the requirements development process.” Last week Fulghum approved a Joint Operational Requirements Document for aviation commonality that was analyzed and validated by the JRC, he said. He also said the JRC is developing “an enduring component-driven joint requirements process.”