Homeland Security criticized for lax oversight of programs worth billions

Auditors with the Government Accountability Office have found that 45 of 48 major investment programs managed by the Homeland Security Department were not evaluated according to department policies, and 18 of those were not reviewed at all.

"Consequently, DHS has not identified and addressed cost, schedule and performance problems in many major investments," GAO stated in a report (GAO-09-29) released on Thursday. Auditors found that at least 14 of the programs had experienced such issues.

Among the investments that did not receive mandatory oversight board evaluations was the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Consolidated Alert and Warning System, a $1.6 billion program to update the Emergency Alerting System. Another was Customs and Border Protection's Secure Freight Initiative, a $1.7 billion program designed to test the feasibility of scanning all U.S.-bound cargo containers at foreign seaports.

While those programs are still in the concept and technology development phase, other major investments that haven't been reviewed are now operational, a stage at which problems are much more costly to fix. For example, FEMA's Total Asset Visibility program to improve emergency response logistics and the Transportation Security Administration's Hazardous Threat Assessment Program to evaluate applicants for licenses to transport hazardous materials were on the list.

The problems stem from the failure of the department's Investment Review Board and Joint Requirements Council to carry out oversight responsibilities, GAO reported. The decision-making bodies are supposed to manage risk by systematically assessing and tracking major acquisitions projects, but department leaders lacked time for the evaluations and staff members were unavailable to organize meetings.

Formal department-level review and approval are required for investments categorized as level 1, meaning they have acquisition costs greater than $100 million, or level 2, indicating costs between $50 million and $100 million.

The Investment Review Board is chaired by the deputy secretary and includes senior department executives. It is responsible for evaluating and approving level 1 investments. The Joint Requirements Council includes senior managers from each agency and line of business within Homeland Security and is responsible for reviewing and approving level 2 acquisitions.

"In the absence of IRB and JRC meetings, investment decisions were reached outside of the required review process," GAO said. Even when meetings were held, decisions were not consistently enforced because the department didn't track whether agencies and offices took the actions required by the board.

To circumvent the broken review process officials sometimes sought approval for programs directly from Homeland Security's deputy secretary. That was the case with CBP's Secure Border Initiative in late 2006. At the time, Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner reported that officials bypassed the oversight process in pursuit of the program's aggressive schedule, which resulted in key decisions being made without rigorous review and analysis or transparency.

Homeland Security officials told auditors that acquisition management practices are still new to many components of the department. In fact, GAO found 24 investments did not have certified program managers. As a result, many programs lacked required documents needed to guide and measure performance, auditors found. "DHS cannot ensure that annual funding decisions for its major investments make the best use of resources and address mission needs," GAO said.

Homeland Security largely concurred with auditors' findings and officials have initiated steps to improve adherence to the review process.