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Federal Protective Service: Actions Needed to Assess Risk and Better Manage Contract Guards at Federal Facilities

GAO-12-739 Published: Aug 10, 2012. Publicly Released: Sep 10, 2012.
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Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Protective Service (FPS) is not assessing risks at federal facilities in a manner consistent with standards such as the National Infrastructure Protection Plan’s (NIPP) risk management framework, as FPS originally planned. Instead of conducting risk assessments, since September 2011, FPS’s inspectors have collected information, such as the location, purpose, agency contacts, and current countermeasures (e.g., perimeter security, access controls, and closed-circuit television systems). This information notwithstanding, FPS has a backlog of federal facilities that have not been assessed for several years. According to FPS’s data, more than 5,000 facilities were to be assessed in fiscal years 2010 through 2012. However, GAO was unable to determine the extent of FPS’s facility security assessment (FSA) backlog because the data were unreliable. Multiple agencies have expended resources to conduct risk assessments, even though the agencies also already pay FPS for this service. FPS received $236 million in basic security fees from agencies to conduct FSAs and other security services in fiscal year 2011. Beyond not having a reliable tool for conducting assessments, FPS continues to lack reliable data, which has hampered the agency’s ability to manage its FSA program.

FPS has an interim vulnerability assessment tool, referred to as the Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST), which it plans to use to assess federal facilities until it develops a longer-term solution. According to FPS, once implemented, MIST will allow it to resume assessing federal facilities’ vulnerabilities and recommend countermeasures—something FPS has not done consistently for several years. Furthermore, in developing MIST, FPS generally followed GAO’s project management best practices, such as conducting user acceptance testing. However, MIST has some limitations. Most notably, MIST does not estimate the consequences of an undesirable event occurring at a facility. Three of the four risk assessment experts GAO spoke with generally agreed that a tool that does not estimate consequences does not allow an agency to fully assess risks. FPS officials stated that they did not include consequence information in MIST because it was not part of the original design and thus requires more time to validate. MIST also was not designed to compare risks across federal facilities. Thus, FPS has limited assurance that critical risks at federal facilities are being prioritized and mitigated.

FPS continues to face challenges in overseeing its approximately 12,500 contract guards. FPS developed the Risk Assessment and Management Program (RAMP) to help it oversee its contract guard workforce by (1) verifying that guards are trained and certified, and (2) conducting guard post inspections. However, FPS faced challenges using RAMP, such as verifying guard training and certification information, for either purpose and has recently determined that it would no longer use RAMP. Without a comprehensive system, it is more difficult for FPS to oversee its contract guard workforce. FPS is verifying guard certification and training information by conducting monthly audits of guard contractor training and certification information. However, FPS does not independently verify the contractor’s information. Additionally, according to FPS officials, FPS recently decided to deploy a new interim method to record post inspections to replace RAMP.

Why GAO Did This Study

FPS provides security and law enforcement services to over 9,000 federal facilities under the custody and control of the General Services Administration (GSA). GAO has reported that FPS faces challenges providing security services, particularly completing FSAs and managing its these challenges, FPS spent about $35 million and 4 years developing RAMP—essentially a risk assessment and contract guard oversight tool. However, RAMP ultimately could not be used because of system problems.

GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which FPS is completing risk assessments; (2) the status of FPS’s efforts to develop an FSA tool; and (3)FPS’s efforts to manage its contract guard workforce. GAO reviewed FPS documents, conducted site visits at 3 of FPS’s 11 regions, and interviewed FPS officials and inspectors, guard companies, and 4 risk management experts.

Recommendations

GAO recommends that FPS incorporate NIPP’s risk management framework in any future risk assessment tool; coordinate with federal agencies to reduce any unnecessary duplication in FPS’s assessments; address limitations with its interim tool to better assess federal facilities; develop and implement a comprehensive and reliable contract guard oversight system; and independently verify that its contract guards are current on all training and certification requirements. DHS concurred with GAO’s recommendations.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Homeland Security Given the challenges that FPS faces in assessing risks to federal facilities and managing its contract guard workforce, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Under Secretary of NPPD and the Director of FPS to incorporate NIPP's risk management framework--specifically in calculating risk to include threat, vulnerability, and consequence information--in any permanent risk assessment tool.
Closed – Implemented
Federal Protection Service (FPS) provides security and law enforcement services to over 9,000 federal facilities under the custody and control of the General Services Administration (GSA). FPS faces challenges providing security services, particularly completing facility security assessments and managing its contract guard program. GAO reported in 2012 that to address these challenges, FPS spent about $35 million and 4 years developing the Risk Assessment and Management Program (RAMP)--essentially a risk assessment and contract guard oversight tool. However, RAMP ultimately could not be used because of system problems. GAO reported that FPS developed an interim vulnerability assessment...
Department of Homeland Security Given the challenges that FPS faces in assessing risks to federal facilities and managing its contract guard workforce, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Under Secretary of NPPD and the Director of FPS to coordinate with GSA and other federal tenant agencies to reduce any unnecessary duplication in security assessments of facilities under the custody and control of GSA.
Closed – Implemented
The Federal Protective Service (FPS) provides security and law enforcement services to over 9,000 federal facilities under the custody and control of the General Services Administration (GSA). In 2012, we reported that multiple federal agencies, including GSA, have been expending additional resources to conduct their own risk assessments, while also paying the Federal Protective Service (FPS) for this service. According to FPS's Chief Financial Officer, FPS received $236 million in basic security fees from federal agencies to conduct FSAs and other security services in fiscal year 2011. Specifically, GSA was expending additional resources to assess risk. We reported in October 2010 that...
Department of Homeland Security Given the challenges that FPS faces in assessing risks to federal facilities and managing its contract guard workforce, the Secretary of Homeland Security should address MIST's limitations (assessing consequence, comparing risk across federal facilities, and measuring performance) to better assess and mitigate risk at federal facilities until a permanent system is developed and implemented.
Closed – Implemented
In 2012, we reported that Federal Protective Service (FPS) developed the Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST)--an interim vulnerability assessment tool--that FPS planned to use until it could develop a permanent solution to replace the Risk Assessment and Management Program (RAMP). However, MIST had some limitations as an assessment tool, which could affect FPS's ability to protect federal facilities and provide security services. Specifically MIST's limitations included the: (1) inability to assess consequence, a critical component of a risk assessment-important as it evaluates the potential effects of an adverse event on a federal facility-which limited federal tenant agencies...
Department of Homeland Security Given the challenges that FPS faces in assessing risks to federal facilities and managing its contract guard workforce, the Secretary of Homeland Security should develop and implement a new comprehensive and reliable system for contract guard oversight.
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service (FPS) relies on a privately contracted guard force to provide security to federal facilities under the custody and control of the General Services Administration. GAO previously reported that FPS faced long-standing challenges overseeing its contract guard program. In 2012, GAO reported that FPS did not have a comprehensive and reliable system to oversee its approximately 12,500 contract guards. Specifically, FPS lacked an oversight system that allowed the agency to verify that guards had the requisite training and certifications to be on post and use FPS inspectors to conduct guard post inspections as required. Without...
Department of Homeland Security Given the challenges that FPS faces in assessing risks to federal facilities and managing its contract guard workforce, the Secretary of Homeland Security should verify independently that FPS's contract guards are current on all training and certification requirements.
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service (FPS) relies on a privately contracted guard force to provide security to federal facilities under the custody and control of the General Services Administration. In order to be deployed at federal facilities, contract guards must meet FPS's training and certification requirements. GAO previously reported that FPS had experienced difficulty using the Risk Assessment and Management Program (RAMP)-which has been replaced-to ensure that its guards met training and certification requirements, primarily because of issues with verifying RAMP's guard data. In 2012, GAO reported that FPS continued to face challenges in overseeing...

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Risk managementRisk assessmentLaw enforcementLabor forceHomeland securityFederal facilitiesAuditsFederal agenciesCybersecurityFacility securitySecurity services contracts