<<Back to Article National Association of Government Contractors www.governmentcontractors.org DHS may lack proper acquisition oversight Nov 20, 2008 Tens of billions of dollars worth of Homeland Security Department contracting programs were approved and funded without receiving adequate oversight or top-level review, a new audit finds. The result is that many of those projects have gone over budget and behind schedule, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released today. In all, the department failed to provide adequate oversight necessary to control cost, schedule and performance on 45 of the department’s 48 major contracting projects, GAO said. All major DHS investments — which are those worth more than $50 million each — are required to be reviewed by the department’s Joint Requirements Council, which is made up of senior managers from across the department. Projects worth more than $100 million are reviewed by a higher-level Investment Review Board, which includes the deputy secretary, chief financial officer, undersecretary for management and general counsel. But due to lack of senior management involvement and limited monitoring resources, DHS failed to subject large investments to these reviews 94 percent of the time, GAO said. The projects reviewed by GAO included some of the department’s most controversial programs, such as the Coast Guard’s Deepwater modernization program and the Secure Border Initiative. Of the 45 projects that did not follow the review process, 18 weren’t reviewed at all. At least 14 of the 45 projects “reported cost growth, schedule slips and performance shortfalls,” GAO said. Even when projects were reviewed by the Investment Review Board and the Joint Requirements Council, the boards didn’t track whether project managers actually followed through on the decisions and recommendations made. Over a third of these investments were funded even though they lacked documentation that they met mission needs and requirements, GAO said. In a Nov. 7 letter responding to the report, the department’s chief procurement officer, Thomas Essig, agreed with GAO’s findings. The letter said DHS has adopted a GAO recommendation to track whether ongoing investments are following review board recommendations. It also adopted GAO’s recommendation to ensure acquisitions are reviewed by establishing an Acquisition Program Management Division to oversee and assist the department’s acquisition programs. Article URL: http://www.governmentcontractors.org/articles/a.696.asp © Copyright 2005-2008 The National Association of Government Contractors