The Border Patrol has established baseline staff levels for its agents at certain duty locations but has not determined specific staffing requirements for each and needs to do more to be confident about its cost assumptions, GAO has said.
The planning document was required as part of the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014, in which agents choose one of three work schedules with 0, 1, or 2 hours of overtime per day, with a corresponding overtime pay supplement of 0, 12.5, or 25 percent.
That law was enacted after criticism that the agency was routinely paying “administratively uncontrollable overtime” of 25 percent even to those who were not working two hours of overtime a day.
In its comments, DHS said the law has provided agents with more stable and predictable work schedules and pay, and has increased CBP’s mission capability. “DHS also noted that achieving cost savings was a key driver in CBP’s report and that achieving such savings will continue to be a key driver of CBP’s future staffing decisions,” GAO said.
