Department of Homeland Security: Better Planning and Oversight Needed to Improve Complex Service Acquisition Outcomes

Abstract

Over the past several years, we have found that if agency service acquisitions, including those that are performance-based, are not appropriately planned, structured, and monitored, there is an increased risk that the government may receive products or services that are over budget, delivered late, and of unacceptable quality. Several prior GAO and DHS Inspector General reviews of major DHS investments using a performance-based approach point to such shortcomings. For the report we are releasing today, we reviewed contracts for eight major investments at the Coast Guard, CBP, and TSA and found that all had outcome-oriented requirements as required in acquisition regulations and policy. However, contracts for four of these investments did not have well-defined requirements, or a complete set of measurable performance standards, or both at the time of contract award or start of work. These service contracts experienced cost overruns, schedule delays, or did not otherwise meet performance expectations. In contrast, service contracts for the other four investments had well-defined requirements linked to measurable performance standards and performed within budget meeting the standards in all cases where contractors had begun work. DHS components conducted quality assurance surveillance, and for the contracts that had negative outcomes, surveillance helped to identify contractor performance weaknesses and corrective action was taken. In managing its service acquisitions, including those that are performance based, DHS has faced oversight challenges, including a lack of reliable data and systematic management reviews. Although contracting and program staff at DHS components told us that they used a performance based approach to the maximum extent practicable, the department does not have reliable data to facilitate required reporting or perform management assessments of these acquisitions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 08, 2008
Accession Number
ADA481285

Entities

People

  • Amelia Shachoy
  • Don Springman
  • Jeffrey Hartnett
  • John P. Hutton
  • Karen Sloan
  • Sean Seales

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Business Administration
  • Coast Guard
  • Congress
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Management Personnel
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procurement
  • Security
  • Systems Engineering
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Systems Analysis and Design