The Department of Homeland Security has addressed earlier
recommendations to strengthen management of the development
of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar trade processing
system, the “automated commercial environment,” but much
remains to be done, the Government Accountability Office
has said.
It said DHS has been slow to “proactively manage the
dependencies between ACE and related DHS border security
programs,” something that if not taken care of early could
lead to an expensive fix on down the line to get them to
work together.
As recommended the department has addressed cost and
schedule overruns by revising baselines, but that is
unlikely to solve the problem because DHS has relaxed
system quality standards and is passing milestones without
regard to material system defects, making future overruns
likely, according to GAO-05-267.
“Until the ACE program is held accountable not only for
cost and schedule but also for system capabilities and
benefits, the program is likely to continue to fall short
of expectations,” said GAO.
It also said the usefulness of the fiscal 2005 expenditure
plan for congressional oversight is limited because it
fails to “adequately describe progress against commitments
such as capabilities, schedule, cost, and benefits —
making it hard to judge overall progress compared to
previous plans.
GAO questioned the plan’s usefulness to Congress as an
accountability mechanism in light of recent program changes
such as additional program releases, and changes to the
roles and responsibilities of the ACE development contractor
and program office.
