A four-year old program designed to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an integrated and automated employee performance and learning management system falls short of meeting operational requirements and has failed to achieve expected cost savings, according to an internal audit report.
DHS entered the Performance and Learning Management System (PALMS) into operations in Jan. 2015 “without verifying that 131 of 481 (27 percent) operational requirements were functional and in compliance with system specifications,” the Inspector General office says in its June 30 report released last Thursday. The auditors say that the program officials didn’t test 97 requirements, approved 21 requirements even though the tests failed, and didn’t verify 13 requirements meeting specifications.
The PALMS program grew out of the Efficiency Review Initiative by former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Various studies showed the need for a management system that combines learning and performance management. In May 2013, DHS awarded Visionary Integration Professionals a potential $95 million blanket purchase agreement for PALMS with operations across the department to be phased in by March 2015.
The report, PALMS Does Not Address Department Needs (OIG-17-91), blames the deficiencies in PALMS on the program office failing to “effectively implement the acquisition methodology for PALMS,” adding that it “did not monitor contractor performance.” DHS spent $24.2 million on the program through Feb. 2017 without it meeting expected benefits or needs.
Cost savings with PALMS are expected to be $52 million over five-years but have fallen short due to delays and not meeting requirements of three major DHS components, the report says.
DHS concurred with all of the IG’s recommendations.