Information Technology: Customs Automated Commercial Environment Program Progressing, but Need for Management Improvements Continues

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) program officials established an accountability framework that is used to inform both its annual expenditure plans and its quarterly congressional reports. However, as with prior expenditure plans, the fiscal year 2007/ 2008 expenditure plans did not reflect the most current program information. In particular, status information on milestones, earned value management (EVM) values, and risks was more than 3 months old when the plans were submitted to the appropriations committees. For example, the fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan listed the milestone for the Release 5/Drop A1 Production Readiness Review (PRR) as March 1, 2007, when this milestone had already slipped by more than 4 months (to July 12, 2007) a month before the plan was submitted to the appropriations committees. ACE program officials continue to use the quarterly ACE status reports to provide the appropriations committees with more current, relevant, and complete information about the program than could be provided in the expenditure plan. However, the quarterly reports were generally submitted to Congress 3 to 4 months after the end of each quarter, thus limiting their currency and relevance. For example, the December 2006 quarterly report was not provided until February 26, 2007, and it contained the same outdated PRR milestone as the expenditure plan. Nevertheless, in its fiscal year 2008 ACE expenditure plan, DHS committed to providing future ACE quarterly reports within 45 days of the end of each quarter. Our review of the last three ACE quarterly reports showed that each was submitted more than 3 months after the end of the applicable quarter. A DHS official told us that intend to continue to work on implementing the recommendation.

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) expenditure plans, including the fiscal year 2007 plan, have not adequately reported on progress against previous plan commitments. In May 2006, we reported that the fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan contained several such reporting gaps, such as whether funding amounts were actually obligated and expended as planned and whether releases met schedules. In particular, we reported that the plan did not address whether the design and development for Release 5 was actually accomplished as planned. Similarly, we reported the next year that the fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan did not adequately describe progress against commitments that were made in the fiscal year 2006 plan. For example, the 2007 expenditure plan did not: report progress against milestones in the fiscal year 2006 plan or explain why these milestones were not achieved; report actual obligation or expenditure of funds relative to the planned uses of these funds in prior expenditure plans; or address progress against the milestone dates for each stage of a release that was included in the prior year's plan. As a case in point, the fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan described specific functionality planned for Release 5/Drop A1, such as online registration for trade representatives, but the fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan does not include information on whether these functions were delivered. According to program officials, the quarterly congressional reports provide more current information on the program's progress against prior commitments. However, we found that these reports have also not fully addressed the commitments made in prior expenditure plans. For example, recent quarterly reports described progress against developmental milestones for each release, but did not report whether key functionality associated with each release was delivered. Our analysis of the fiscal year 2009 ACE expenditure plan shows that progress being reported against commitments in prior expenditure plans continues to be limited. For example, progress against cost and schedule commitments were not provided or were vague. Program officials stated that they intend to improve its progress reporting in their quarterly status reports.