GAO Recommends Actions to Potentially Save Billions in Future DHS Research and Development Programs
(Washington, DC) -- In a new report the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) take quick actions to ensure that the agency learns from its past mistakes and benefits from best practices in the future. The report, “COMBATING NUCLEAR SMUGGLING: Lessons Learned from Cancelled Radiation Portal Monitor Program Could Help Future Acquisitions,” examines the long and troubled history of the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) program, originally estimated to cost between $2-to-$3 billion, that was begun in 2004 and ultimately cancelled in October 2011. The report was requested by Rep. Dan Maffei, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Ms. Donna F. Edwards, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Space.
The program was managed by the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), part of DHS, with the ultimate goal of providing the advanced radiation portal monitors to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents responsible for screening cargo at U.S. ports of entry. The ASPs were intended to both detect and identify the source of radioactive substances, discriminating between naturally occurring radiation sources and potentially dangerous radioactive material. The hope was that this next-generation radiation portal monitor would help to speed up and improve the process by which CBP currently screens for radioactive material at our borders. But the program was riddled with testing, operation and performance problems from the start.
The final and unsuccessful field validation test of the ASPs occurred in November 2010 and the Secretary of Homeland Security informed Congress of her decision to cancel the program in October 2011. According to the GAO report, DHS guidance calls for “lessons learned” reviews to be conducted immediately after programs are cancelled. But GAO noted that this is only “guidance” and not a mandatory “requirement.” In addition, DNDO did not produce a lessons learned report on the ASPs until November 2012, and only after specifically directed to do so by DHS management. The report cited 32 lessons learned from the ASP program.
Most disturbingly, GAO found that the ASP lessons learned report is the only lessons learned review that has been conducted by DHS despite the fact it has had numerous failed or cancelled programs worth billions of dollars. The “inability” of DHS’s Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management (PARM) “to identify any lessons learned reports from cancelled DHS programs suggests that the problem is broader than this one program,” the GAO concluded.
Although GAO credited DHS for producing the ASP report, they faulted DHS for not having documented processes in place that require agencies conduct timely lessons learned reviews that are disseminated widely. The GAO report recommends that DHS make the reviews a mandatory requirement, rather than the voluntary guidance that it is today. The GAO warned that “until DHS makes lessons learned reviews an institutional requirement…DHS may be missing opportunities to improve its chances of success for billions of dollars in future acquisitions.”
“The Department of Homeland Security spends billions of dollars each year on researching, developing and acquiring technology to help secure our Nation,” said Mr. Maffei, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight. “In this era of budget cuts and overall fiscal constraints it is imperative that DHS ensure it is getting its money worth on its programs. They need to ensure that each DHS agency and component is benefitting from both the failures and successes of other programs so they can address known challenges and implement best practices. With billions of dollars at risk, it is critical that we are vigilant with taxpayer dollars.”
Ms. Donna F. Edwards, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Space, added: “It is unfortunate that the DHS office in charge of accountability and risk management is not holding DHS’s component agencies accountable or informing them of problems on other failed programs. It is imperative that they routinely notify them of potential risks to improve their performance and ultimate success in delivering programs and products.”
In response to the GAO report DHS is revising its acquisition guidance regarding lessons learned reports, but they have not agreed with GAO’s recommendation to require DHS agencies and departments to conduct and prepare lessons learned reviews. “I find this particularly troubling given the fact that GAO determined the lessons learned report on the failed ASP program appears to be the only lessons learned report DHS has ever formally conducted,” said Mr. Maffei. “Obviously asking agencies and DHS programs to voluntarily conduct these reviews and prepare these reports is not working. They should be required to do so,” said Mr. Maffei.
“Mandating the preparation of these reports and sharing them widely would be a tremendous benefit to agencies throughout DHS,” said Ms. Edwards. “Secretary Napolitano should revisit this issue and require reviews for all major DHS programs regardless of their success,” she said. “This simple step will enhance DHS program management and improve our use of taxpayer resources in the future.”
Over the life of the ASP program GAO officials have testified multiple times before Congress and they have conducted multiple investigations regarding problems with the program. In the 111th Congress, the Committee on Science, Space and Technology also took an active role investigating the mismanagement of the ASP program holding three hearings related to technical problems, faulty testing, and poor management of the program. The lessons learned from this and other DHS programs would help current and future DHS research and development initiatives avoid repeating past mistakes, benefit from sharing best practices and potentially avoid wasting billions of dollars in cancelled or unsuccessful programs.
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