Duke told the subcommittee that the department’s management priorities currently are to prepare for the 2009 transition between administrations, improve acquisition and procurement, and strengthen the requirements process and integrate it into the "planning, programming, budgeting, and execution" system.
She said she would approach the transition with three main initiatives, including one covering "internal processes." That initiative entails reviewing directives for sufficiency, strengthening records management, ensuring proper succession planning, and improving processes for incoming and exiting employees.
Another "knowledge management" initiative will be to produce briefings and communicate to career executives and incoming appointees information they need to keep the department running.
Finally, a "training and exercises" initiative will focus on preparing identified senior level career personnel within each component who are expected to serve in an acting capacity upon the departures of the appointees.
The department’s former IG, Clark Kent Ervin, told the subcommittee that the incoming secretary should instantly grant the DHS chief procurement officer, CFO and CIO the power to hire, fire and set the budget of their counterparts at TSA, FEMA, ICE, and CBP – saying the lack of such authority is one reason the department "has not added up to more than the sum of its parts."
He also recommended prohibiting the use of no-bid contracts under any circumstances, saying they are "never justified," and waste resources.
