Department of Homeland Security: Better Planning and Assessment Needed to Improve Outcomes for Complex Service Acquisitions

DHS concurred with this recommendation and stated that it would be implemented through revisions to the DHS investment review process. DHS subsequently issued a revised management directive which provides requirements definition guidance, reestablishes the acquisition review process, and calls for department leadership to routinely assess requirements for major investments. DHS also established an Acquisition Program Management Division (now the Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management) to support these assessments, and updated the Homeland Security Acquisition Manual to clarify acquisition planning requirements. Based on these actions we are closing this recommendation as implemented. However, in June 2010 and September 2012, we reported that more work is needed to fully implement DHS's acquisition guidance, and that not all major programs had been reviewed. Further implementation of acquisition oversight initiatives should provide more insight as to whether requirements are well-defined with consistently measurable performance standards, which is reflected in more recent recommendations (see GAO-12-833).

DHS concurred with this recommendation and stated it would be implemented through revisions to the DHS investment review process. DHS subsequently issued a revised management directive that requires department leadership to review all major acquisitions and their acquisition plans before they are initiated. This guidance applies to performance-based major acquisitions. Based on this action we are closing this recommendation as implemented. However, we reported in June 2010 and September 2012 that more work is needed to fully implement the guidance, which is reflected in more recent recommendations (see GAO-12-833).

DHS concurred with this recommendation, and stated that as part of the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) oversight reviews, OCPO validates the accuracy of the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) data samples, including whether contracts have been properly coded as performance-based. DHS participated in developing a May 2008 memorandum issued by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) on improving FPDS data quality. The memorandum builds on and supersedes fiscal year 2007 guidance for verifying, validating, and certifying FPDS data. DHS now submits an annual certification based on statistical sampling to OFPP. Further, the DHS Data Quality Plan provides data accuracy rates for performance-based acquisitions, and since August 2008, FPDS-NG validation rules require users to capture data on performance-based acquisitions. The Data Quality Plan states that the OCPO will institutionalize frequent, systematic analysis of targeted data elements, including those for performance-based acquisitions, and will provide feedback to DHS's Heads of Contracting Activities (HCA) for follow-up corrective actions. In January 2010, DHS issued a policy memorandum to the component HCAs that required FPDS data accuracy goals to be included in contracting officer performance plans, and DHS is in the process of implementing this requirement. In January 2011, DHS certified in a memo to OFPP that the accuracy rate for FPDS data increased by 3 percent from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010. In January 2012, DHS certified in a memo to OFPP that the accuracy rate for FPDS data increased by another percent from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2011, achieving an accuracy rate of 92.9 percent.