Congress Says Department of Homeland Security Oversaw $15 Billion in Failed Contracts [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post

In the five years since it was created, the Department of Homeland Security has overseen roughly $15 billion worth of failed contracts for projects ranging from airport baggage-screening to trailers for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, according to congressional data to be released today.

The contracts wound up over-budget, delayed or canceled after millions of dollars had already been spent, according to figures and documents prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security. A panel of experts is to testify today before the House Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight on how to fix problems with the DHS acquisitions process. The six-member panel includes an acquisition director from the Government Accountability Office, leaders of watchdog groups and the deputy inspector general for DHS....

The experts are to talk about a series of problem projects: About $351 million was wasted and not properly overseen in the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program after ships were built and then scrapped, according to Homeland Security committee staffers and oversight agency reports. A $1.5 billion Boeing program to help secure U.S. borders with electronic sensors and other equipment is being shelved after it was over-budget, late and had technology problems. A $10 billion program called US VISIT, a computer system designed to record the entry and exit of visitors to the United States at airports and border crossings, is behind schedule and not being managed well, according to figures prepared by the committee staff. And $200 million was mismanaged and poorly spent in buying trailers from Bechtel and Fluor for Hurricane Katrina, according to committee staffers, the GAO and other oversight reports.

"You're talking about a half to a third of the agency's overall budget that's resulted in failed contracts," said Scott Amey, a lawyer for the Project on Government Oversight who is expected to testify today. "DHS is definitely not the poster child for good contracting or management."

DHS was created by merging 22 agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. It has more than 200,000 employees and an annual budget of roughly $50 billion. Its contract spending has grown from $3.4 billion a year to $12.2 billion last year....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603200.html?hpid=moreheadlines