The Department of Homeland Security has made progress on its multiyear, multibillion-dollar acquisition of a trade processing system, but faces long-standing management challenges as well as new risks, the Government Accountability Office has said.
It said the fiscal 2006 expenditure plan, related documentation, and officials’ statements for the Automated Commercial Environment — planned to support the movement of imports and exports and strengthen border security — have either satisfied or partially satisfied legislative conditions, and conditions of GAO reviews, both of which are tied to funding.
However, GAO said more could be done to better address several aspects of these conditions to be met, and that progress has been slow addressing past recommendations aimed at strengthening ACE management.
DHS has to do more to establish an accountability framework ensuring that expenditure plans report progress against commitments made in prior plans, essential to meaningful congressional oversight, according to GAO-06-580.
It said that performance goals are not always realistic, for example, that in fiscal 2005, 11 percent of all Customs and Border Protection employees would be using the system.
While the program has established six program goals, 11 business results, 23 benefits, and 17 performance measures, the relationships among them are not fully defined or adequately aligned, the report said.
It said not every goal has defined benefits, and not every benefit has an associated performance measure.
Further, DHS plans to develop several program increments at the same time, which in the past has led to cost overruns and schedule delays because these “releases” compete for resources, including funds marked for later releases, GAO said.
