Key components of DHS’s Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program are at various stages of completion, but an integrated and reliable schedule is needed, GAO has said.
US-VISIT stores and processes biometric and biographic information to control and monitor the entry and exit of foreign visitors, and currently an entry capability is operating at almost 300 US ports of entry, but an exit capability is not, according to GAO-10-13.
It called on the US-VISIT program director to develop and maintain an integrated master schedule for the comprehensive exit project, saying that without one that DHS cannot reliably commit to when and how the work will be accomplished to deliver a comprehensive exit solution to its almost 300 ports of entry, and it cannot adequately monitor and manage its progress toward this end.
The exit project consists of six components that are at varying stages of completion.
GAO credited the US-VISIT program office for having established integrated project management plans for – and for adopting an integrated approach to – interacting with and involving stakeholders in its exit project.
However, it said the program office has not adopted an integrated approach to scheduling, executing, and tracking the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a comprehensive exit solution.
Rather, it is relying on several separate and distinct schedules to manage individual components and the US-VISIT prime contractor’s work that supports these components, the report said.