DHS does not adequately manage or have the enforcement authority over its components’ fleet operations to ensure that its motor vehicle fleet composition is right-sized, the DHS inspector general has said.
It said each DHS component manages its own vehicle fleet, making it difficult for the DHS fleet manager to provide adequate oversight and ensure compliance with federal laws, regulations, policies, and directives.
Further, the department does not have a centralized fleet management information system, relying instead on multiple information systems that contain inaccurate and incomplete vehicle data from the components.
For fiscal 2012, all components the IG reviewed had underused vehicles, and DHS did not ensure the components justified retaining the vehicles or removed them from their fleets, the IG said, adding that for that year, the cost of operating those vehicles was between $35.3 million and $48.6 million.
DHS agreed with recommendations to ensure that the fleet manger has adequate oversight and the necessary enforcement authority over component fleet managers’ efforts to acquire vehicles, right-size their fleets, and eliminate underused vehicles, as well as to implement a single centralized system of record for the department’s motor vehicle fleet to improve visibility, identify data gaps and inconsistencies, and facilitate collection of vehicle inventory, cost, and usage data.