Summary
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a multibillion-dollar program--U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to control and monitor the pre-entry, entry, visa status, and exit of foreign visitors. To deliver system and other program capabilities, the program relies extensively on contractors, some of whom are managed directly by US-VISIT and some by other agencies (including both DHS agencies, such as Customs and Border Protection, and non-DHS agencies, such as the General Services Administration). Because of US-VISIT's heavy reliance on contractors to deliver program capabilities, GAO was asked to determine whether DHS has established and implemented effective controls for managing and overseeing US-VISIT-related contracts.
US-VISIT-related contracts have not been effectively managed and overseen. The US-VISIT program office established and implemented certain nonfinancial controls for those contracts that it managed directly, such as verifying that contractor deliverables satisfied established requirements. However, it did not implement effective controls for overseeing its contracts managed by other DHS agencies and by non-DHS agencies. Moreover, effective financial controls were not in place on any contracts that GAO reviewed. The program office did not know the full extent of US-VISIT-related contract actions, and it had not performed key nonfinancial practices associated with understanding contractor performance in meeting the terms of these contracts. This oversight gap was exacerbated by the fact that the other agencies had not always established and implemented effective controls for managing their respective contracts. These other agencies directly managed more than half (56 percent) of the total US-VISIT-related contract obligations reported to GAO. The program office and other agencies did not implement effective financial controls. Without these controls, some agencies were unable to reliably report US-VISIT contracting expenditures. Further, the program office and these other agencies improperly paid and accounted for related invoices, including making duplicate payments and payments for non-US-VISIT services with funds designated for US-VISIT. According to the US-VISIT program official responsible for contract matters, the program office has focused on contracts that it manages directly and decided to rely on the responsible agencies to manage the other contracts. Further, it has decided to use other agencies to properly manage financial matters for their respective contracts, and it also decided to rely on another agency for its own financial management services. Without effective contract management and oversight controls, the program office does not know that required program deliverables and mission results will be produced on time and within budget, and that proper payments are made.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Randolph C. Hite
Government Accountability Office: Information Technology
(202) 512-6256
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: Given the US-VISIT program's mission importance, size, and heavy reliance on contractor assistance, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to strengthen contract management and oversight, including financial management, should direct the US-VISIT Program Director to, for each US-VISIT contract action that the program manages directly, establish and maintain a plan for performing the contractor oversight process, as appropriate.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Closed - implemented
Comments: The US-VISIT program has established, for each contract action that the program manages directly, a plan for performing the contractor oversight process. More specifically, the program's May 2007 Contracts Administration Management Plan calls for the use of an Individual Contract Oversight Plan for specific contracts, task orders, and delivery orders. Our analysis of individual oversight plans shows that they describe the roles, responsibilities, and authorities involved in conducting contract administration and oversight of the contract action. For example, the individual plans specify that the contracting officer's technical representative (COTR) is to review and analyze the contractor's deliverables, services, and management reports and inspect deliverables and monitor services for conformance to performance standards. Further, each plan states that the COTR is to write an evaluation of the contractor's technical performance at least annually and at the end of performance delivery.
Recommendation: Given the US-VISIT program's mission importance, size, and heavy reliance on contractor assistance, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to strengthen contract management and oversight, including financial management, should direct the US-VISIT Program Director to develop and implement practices for overseeing contractor work managed by other agencies on the program office's behalf, including (1) clearly defining roles and responsibilities for both the program office and all agencies managing US-VISIT-related contracts; (2) having current, reliable, and timely information on the full scope of contract actions and activities; and (3) defining and implementing steps to verify that deliverables meet requirements.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Closed - implemented
Comments: The May 2007 US-VISIT Contracts Administration Management Plan (CAMP) establishes oversight requirements for US-VISIT's use of interagency agreements (IAA) and defines the information that is to be included in each IAA. For example, the providing agency is to plan, implement, and manage all contractual actions and to monitor and report to US-VISIT on whether the contractor is meeting performance requirements. In turn, US-VISIT is to monitor cost and technical performance of the provider and/or contractor, including receipt and acceptance planning and execution. The CAMP also requires that the providing agency supply US-VISIT with copies of each specific contract action associated with the IAA, including current, reliable, and timely information on the full scope of contract actions and activities funded under the IAA. Finally, the CAMP requires that the US-VISIT point of contact monitor the performance of the provider and/or contractor, including verifying that deliverables satisfy requirements, receiving and accepting deliverables in accordance with local procedures and providing copies of all inspection and acceptance documentation to US-VISIT. Our analysis of selected contract actions shows that these practices are included in the IAAs and US-VISIT monitors them on a regular basis.
Recommendation: Given the US-VISIT program's mission importance, size, and heavy reliance on contractor assistance, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to strengthen contract management and oversight, including financial management, should direct the US-VISIT Program Director to require, through agreements, that agencies managing contract actions on the program office's behalf implement effective contract management practices consistent with acquisition guidance for all US-VISIT contract actions, including, at a minimum, (1) establishing and maintaining a plan for performing contract management activities; (2) assigning responsibility and authority for performing contract oversight; (3) training the people performing contract oversight; (4) documenting the contract; (5) verifying that deliverables satisfy requirements; (6) monitoring contractor-related risk; and (7) monitoring contractor performance to ensure that the contractor is meeting schedule, effort, cost, and technical performance requirements.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Closed - implemented
Comments: US-VISIT has amended the language used in its interagency agreements (IAA) to require providing agencies to implement certain practices designed to strengthen contract management and oversight. These requirements are specified in the May 2007 US-VISIT Contracts Administration Management Plan and have been included in each US-VISIT IAA. Specifically, each IAA specifies that the providing agency is to establish and maintain a plan for performing contract management activities, designate a contracting officer and contracting officer's technical representative to manage all contractual actions, train the people performing contract oversight, and document the contract. Further, the providing agency is to verify that deliverables satisfy requirements; monitor contractor-related risk; and monitor contractor performance to ensure that the contractor is meeting schedule, effort, cost, and technical performance requirements.
Recommendation: Given the US-VISIT program's mission importance, size, and heavy reliance on contractor assistance, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to strengthen contract management and oversight, including financial management, should direct the US-VISIT Program Director to require DHS and non-DHS agencies that manage contracts on behalf of the program to (1) clearly define and delineate US-VISIT work from non-US-VISIT work as performed by contractors; (2) record, at the contract level, amounts being billed and expended on US-VISIT-related work so that these can be tracked and reported separately from amounts not for US-VISIT purposes; and (3) determine if they have received reimbursement from the program for payments not related to US-VISIT work by contractors, and if so, refund to the program any amount received in error.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Comments: The program office reports that it has begun efforts to establish the processes that are to (1) ensure that both DHS and non-DHS agencies that manage contracts on behalf of the program clearly define and delineate the US-VISIT work from non-US-VISIT work being done by contractors, (2) record, at the contract level, amounts being billed and expended on US-VISIT related work so that these can be tracked and reported separately from amounts not used for US-VISIT purposes; and (3) determine if they have received reimbursement from the program for payments not related to US-VISIT work by contractors, and, if so, refund to the program any amounts received in error; however, they have yet to demonstrate that these processes are in place and being used by all DHS and non-DHS agencies.
Recommendation: Given the US-VISIT program's mission importance, size, and heavy reliance on contractor assistance, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to strengthen contract management and oversight, including financial management, should direct the US-VISIT Program Director to ensure that payments to contractors are timely and in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Comments: The program office reports that it has begun efforts to establish the controls needed to ensure that payments to contractors are made timely and in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act.
